6.5.24 Ford museum

When booking our trip we asked for an extra day in Detroit. I'm not sure when or if I will ever go there again and therefore didn't want to miss seeing the Ford Museum and production plant. 

Years ago after Greg won the NAtional troubleshooting contest and scored highest on the written test they were awarded a trip to see the Ford facilities. They talked with research and development and someone high up. He was impressed with the plant and the museum. I wanted to see those things too so we stayed the extra day to be tourists. 

As noted earlier ADdie is not one for sitting around. We went for a walk after dinner and found a very long row of new Ford pick-ups. At the end or maybe the beginning of the row we found this with lots of skid marks in front and behind it. 

We toured the Rogue production plant witnessing in real time the assembly line. It was mind-numbing to realize the monotony of the same 5 steps all day every day. But truly amazing how many vehicles are produced in those plants. I look at automobiles completely differently now. And Greg saw why it is so impossible to repair some items just because of the layering during production. There were no pictures allowed but evening seeing the huge pile of iron ore outside the steel production plant was astounding. I wasn't prepared for the largeness of the buildings. I really hadn't thought about how much it takes to create the vast fleet of vehicles that cover the planet. 

This had to be about a mile of parked pickups. All versions of the F150. The security guard told Greg he was hired to watch them but he wasn't sure what was going on with them. IT was a lovely although humid evening to just stroll. 

The next day we started our tour. Aliza was on her weekly missionary Monday call so I walked the museum talking to her exclaiming over this and that and telling her what I saw. It was so nice to share with her. One thing about traveling some space is nice after a few days.  This is a clay concept car. 

The fiberglass versions. 

A ginormous snow plow train. 

The beginnings of the automobile age. I was impressed with how many school tours were at the plant. During the whole trip I was really struck by the differences in our rural education and other educations and opportunities around the country. 

A replica of the spirit of St. Louis. We cannot fathom how important and popular Charles Lindberg was to that time period. 

A gun boring machine. The whole exhibit or museum was dedicated to showing how machinery revolutionized consumerism and capitalism. We have so much stuff. Multiples of almost everything in our home. We take it for granted how easy it is to mass-produce items. Yet this really showcased how people had to invent ways to produce quicker, more economically, and more reliable products. It was truly inspiring to see the steps or a glimpse into what it took to bring us the life of ease and abundance we just take for granted today. 

A loom. 

A fancy chair of Vanderbilt I believe. The fashion was organic products. This just looks unreasonable to me. Who would sit in such a knotty mess? There is no comfort in this design. But we live in an age of excessive comfort and ease. 

This startled me and made me laugh we have similar models around the farm. In fact many of the agricultural pieces we have are very similar although used and aged versions in our farm yard. The children that passed by the combine all begged to stop. And cried when they were removed from the cab. It is so human to want to be in control of something so large. 

A fascinating exhibit of dollhouse replicas of time periods and actual houses in America. 

Kitchens through the ages. How much work and toil happened doing the same things I do more or less. Cooking cleaning teaching my children in my kitchen. 

More modern with a hand pump, and a stove contained in iron. A larger table and another chair. 

The color! Electricity and color came into being. 

I thought this was an interesting display of the car all taken apart to show what is under the hood. 

To make the grids on paper they use to do it by hand with one person pulling the sheets of paper steadily while another helds pens in a tool to make the grid. Wow. 

Americana icon. 

Old time travel was a large stagecoach. Not comfortable so dirty and relatively slow. Yet a first foray into connecting America. 

We had lunch at the diner in the museum. Sandwiches and chips. It was nostalgic for a time we did not experience. We had a toll house cookies for dessert. It was a quaint experience. 

Regan's lincoln Continental presidential car. I don't remember it looking so old on TV. 

First cars. 

The watch exhibit was really eye opening. 

An expensive pocket watch. 

This man revolutionized clock availability. I love that it took three years. The first year to make machines and gauges to make the parts. The second year to make interchangeable parts and the third year to make a record 4000 clocks. He didn't start with the clock but rather the tools to make the parts then the parts then the clock. Breaking life into what truly comes first is so important to success. 

Digital clocks run off electric current signals. I had no idea how they worked so reliably. 

The evolution of the family car. The minivan is in the front. I remember people in my ward getting mini-vans just like the one on display. 

A baby rocker swing. So common in every home now and so much more comfortable. 

Greg even sat in the combine. He alone could have made it work. His dad had one like it years ago but their's was diesel not gas powered. 

At the end of the day ADdie finally with her popcorn. We had smelled it all day and finally found the spot that sold it. Being closing time they just gave her a bag. Which sustained her for the long night of travel ahead. 

Back at home with the ones I missed. LIa showing me John's fancy cap. 

Back in the tractor with my cuteys to return farm equipment. 

I was so thankful to be back home. I sincerely enjoyed the time away, the glimpses of life far different than our day-to-day, and the new perspectives. But I wouldn't trade my very different and very same days and I'm so thankful to be surrounded by dirt and my family. It's always hard to come back from vacation but we were blessed with grad parties at night so not much cooking responsibility, and celebrations for end of school. Life is good.