Meet Mr. Henry Ford!!

How could we possibly be in Dearborn Michigan without meeting up with Henry Ford.  Turns out he was a rather entrepreneurial person with interests in lots of things, including soybeans and this place ... Greenfield Village.  What he did was go about the country gathering up buildings ... that's correct ... buildings and equipment mostly from the "old" days which he dismantled and had rebuilt on this property so you can see how things were made.  People demonstrate much of the equipment while other pieces stand in immaculate condition as a reminder of how things used to be made.  For example, when a beautiful jeweler/watchmakers building was to be torn down, he not only bought and moved the building brick by brick, but he found and purchased the original display cases and pieces of jewelry.

The working farm was the first we saw upon entering, where these guys were picking up sheaves of hay by pitchfork, throwing them on the wagon for transport to the barn way out back.  I'm guessing maybe they put it back at night and again pick it up ... but that's just a big guess!!

Tractors became the way of the future and I'm sure this one still works.  If you have any questions, just stop someone and ask ... they are all wearing period clothing and more than happy to talk to you. The soybeans??  Henry tried to figure out how to use them in manufacturing, and did use the oil in his enamel paint for the cars, among other things.

We took a coal fired steam train around to the back of the property.  It's quite a walk to one of Edison's power plants with original coal fired ovens for steam engine operation.  Speaking of coal ... we were covered with it by the time we exited!!  Henry Ford wanted you to have the REAL experience of living in this time!

This engine and coal tender are used to demonstrate the turnaround at the round house where they actually perform maintenance on the engines.  Both Barbara and Tom had Engineers in the family, so they knew everything about THIS operation!!

Inside the round house is every tool imaginable to work on these huge steam engines.  Most every building had an entrance with an introduction, then a stairway taking you to a great view of the processes, down another set of stairs and out the back door ..  a great setup that kept traffic flowing!!

This is one of the original manufacturing buildings of Ford Motor Company for making the early automobiles.  Henry's family home is here also, along with Noah Webster's home, you know, the Webster dictionary??  George Washington Carver's cabin, Robert Frost's home, Luther Burbank's home and garden office, along with William McGuffey's home (McGuffey Readers) and the oldest home in America, the Plympton House with brick from 1640.  

This Ford was parked inside the Ford Motor Company building.  We were told the price actually got down to $300-400 because Henry thought everyone should be able to afford a car.  His partners and kids thought otherwise!!

There is an entire complex for Thomas Edison, including this building with his lab upstairs.  Henry Ford set this up exactly as it was the day Edison displayed his new light bulb to the nation, using his neighbor Sarah Jordan's boarding house ... which is also here, having been moved across the street.    When in his eighties, Thomas Edison came here and sat in the chair in the middle of the room, approving of Henry's re-creation, except he thought it too neat and clean.  When he left, Henry Ford nailed the chair to the floor where it has remained ever since.

These were the chemicals Edison used in his inventions.  He didn't sleep much since his idea was to invent/create something every week.  Many of Edisons buildings are here, including his office and desk where he held many newspaper interviews.  Greenfield Village is an amazing place to visit and well worth the entry fee, about $16-22 each.

Many local critters take advantage of the ponds displaying how water wheels worked to power just about everything until steam came along!!

Liberty Craftworks is a village, just as in the old days, where tin smiths worked their magic.  This one is showing how to solder tin with a jewelers lamp.  I have two of these but never knew how they worked.  Filled with alcohol, they are lit by a match, turned on their side and with a small pipe-like tool, you blow air into the flame, resulting in a 500 degree flame for soldering.  

There was a pottery shop where this gentleman was making salt bowls, a weaving shop, a sawmill, printing office and gristmill, among others.  Many villages were designed around a central pond so everyone could use the water to run their water wheel, which in turn ran whatever equipment they had.  The original building used in silk worm thread manufacture is also here, surrounded by a grove of mulberry trees ... food for the worms.  Henry Ford thought of everything!!

They even had a glass blowing factory with demonstrations on how to make a glass trophy!!  We didn't stay long in here ... it was hot and humid enough without adding flame to the fire!!

This is Orville and Wilbur Wright's family home with his bicycle shop in back.  It was in that shop that the idea of flying took flight!!  I mean really ... the family home is right HERE!!!

All around the village are many of Henry Ford's creations that you can actually ride in.  This was a 1914 convertible.  Our driver was very friendly and knowledgable about the houses around the village.  He put the top up because of rain predictions ... which turned out to be correct!!!  There were many options to ride, with all having original engines.  They don't have to crank start any since the electrical ignition was actually an option way back then ... and of course all of these included all the bells and whistles!!  Our driver said they get around 15 miles per gallon ... not bad!!

Here's a few more local singles checking out the pond for opportunities!!

When we got to the 101 year old carousel, Barbara insisted on a ride ... and I fully expected her to climb on to this beauty sporting the American Flag.

But no .. she climbed on to this chicken instead!!  Tom took the inside route on a horse!!  For $14.00 you can buy a wristband that allows you to ride everything for free ... the horse drawn carriages, the old cars and the carousel.

Here's an interesting display.  These are original slave quarters.  The owner of the slaves that lived here, had a brick manufacturing plant, so he told them if they wanted a house to live in, they could build it themselves from brick ... which they did!!  Inside you can hear several stories of life as a slave.

This was the Grimm Jewelry store.  An amazing piece of art that was to be demolished, Henry dismantled it one brick at a time, numbering every one, according to the lady working inside.  Mr. Grimm and his family lived upstairs for something like 45 years.  Course when you have LOTS of money, you can save buildings like this.  I'm glad Henry appreciated the history and the beauty.

We took this Omnibus, pulled by Orville (4 years old) and Wilbur (ten) around one side of the park.  An ingenious leather band system allows the driver to shut the back door and latch it from where she is sitting so no one will fall out!!  This form of transportation was very popular and affordable in the old days.  If you come here, go EARLY to the Village.  We could have spent another three hours before seeing everything, but ran out of time.  Plan on staying all day!

Immediately after the carousel ride, we started to feel drops of rain, which turned into a downpour!!  We jumped on a motorized bus, barely squeezing in to the seats, for a ride back to the entrance.  By the time we arrived, it was pouring buckets and there was no way we were getting off.  Another round or two driver ... we'll exit when the rain quits!!  In about 5 minutes, the rain let up enough that I jumped ship and ran to a covered building, while Barbara and Tom made another round of the village.  Meet you in the gift shop ... only there was more than one, and of course we didn't end up at the same one.  By now, Barbara was getting warnings of big time hail, so we made a fast exit back to the rigs.  Amazingly, the big storm split in the middle and went around either side of us.  Today however, is supposed to be another story ... with gully-washers, so we plan to visit INSIDE the Henry Ford Museum!!  

Rush Hour Traffic On Sunday!!

About the time we were ready to leave the Tiki RV Campground, they dropped a tree right in the middle of the road.  I inched around some vehicles and low hanging branches, found a park exit, then went back in the main gate to hook up my Jeep.  The lady was so happy I had caught the cat, she offered us another night free, but since we are trying to skirt around the storms, it was time to hit the road.  Crossing South on the Mackinac Bridge cost $14.00!!

The approach to the bridge is pretty spectacular.  I expected to see the steel grating, but it was much further up.  It is rather high and VERY long!!  Loaded trucks can only go 20 mph ... and wouldn't you know, we got stuck behind one, lucky for us!!  There are no lane changes allowed, so we had lots of time to appreciate this awesome structure.

Surprise!!  The right hand lane is regular asphalt the entire way.  The left hand lane has the grating I wasn't looking forward to.  It's much easier to drive on pavement!!

I have to admit, other than a couple of quick pictures, it was a two-handed driving bridge.  The lanes are pretty narrow, even at only 20 mph!!

And we're OFF!!!  It's going to be a long day driving all the way to Detroit!!  No worries, I have lots of snacks, a pepsi and some water.  Unfortunately, I ran out of everything rather quickly!!

In no time at all we hit traffic.  In fact, traffic was bad from the Mackinac Bridge all the way to Detroit.  I've never seen so many boats, bikes and kayaks strapped every way conceivable to all kinds of vehicles.  I'm pretty sure EVERYONE in the South went to Mackinac Island and were returning home Sunday, as this line of vehicles passing us, never quit the entire trip.

Seriously, traffic was the worst, even out in the middle of nowhere.  We didn't even have to be near a town!!  SEVEN hours later .... yup seven hours of traffic that looked like this, we finally were getting close when the signs said our highway was closed and there was a detour.  This looks like LA!!

Ugh ... I was so tired from  1) keeping my rig in MY lane and  2) staying AWAY from all those weekend drivers who don't know their 36 foot fifth wheel is wider than the front of their pickup.  I thought Barbara said we were 15 minutes out ... YAY ... but she must have said 50,  because it was 60 by the time we pulled off the freeway at this unique contraption that holds up the overpass bridge.  What in the world???  I'm not sure if it's supposed to be art or some new cheaper-to-build design!!

A few minutes later we were parked at the Moose Lodge in Taylor Michigan outside of Dearborn.  Since they sold the building, we're not sure if we will be allowed to stay three days in order to tour some of Henry Ford's attractions.  Tomorrow morning, we will either be happy as clams with a 30 amp parking spot, or we'll be packing up and looking for Walmart.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

In the meantime, we'll be stocking up on water.  Seems Lake Erie has a huge algae/bacteria problem at this end of the lake, causing 400,000 people to be without their normal water supply.  Consequently there was a run on bottled water at the stores and they are now OUT!!!  New supplies are being shipped in, but I think we'll fill up before we leave here!!  It's just another story to tell about the Great Adventure!!!

Where's Tom?? Kitty Kitty? It Was The Geese!!

There's always days when everything just doesn't go right, do you know what I mean?  Yesterday was one of those days!!  We decided to drive downtown to check out St. Ignace and do a little geocaching.  After finding the perfect parking space next to a great store, the shopping bug took hold and Barbara and I couldn't resist.  Tom disappeared.  After hauling all our purchases ... really all MY purchases ... back to the car, we began the hunt for Tom ... who conveniently or not, left his phone home.  Are you with me ladies???

Barbara and I scoured the streets up one side and down the other, cruised through museums and shops, to no avail.  In the meantime, since there were a couple of geocaches along the way, we stopped long enough to find one.  Still no Tom.  I spied a hardware store way down the street and figured he might be there, but we again got sidetracked by a geocache.  I'm sure at least two hours passed (probably 30 minutes) before we returned to the original store to pick up the car and drive the back streets, before calling out the National Guard, when out walks Tom from the original store, saying he was "just next door".  Okay then ... onward and upward!!

We stopped in at the Shepler Ferry dock to see where we might watch the Saturday night summer fireworks show, which happened to be right behind their building, before looking up Clyde's Drive-in for lunch.  In Sault Saint Marie, Clyde's was great ... good food, good service.  THIS Clyde's had an older waitress who had been at this service business WAY too long.  She basically ignored everyone who entered for at least 15 minutes before finally coming to take our order.  It's not like we were looking at menus ... there were none.  The place is exceedingly popular with the locals however, as we had to squeeze off our stools and out the door between 15 people packed like sardines waiting to order.  I'm pretty sure many of them are still there waiting for the waitress!!!

Back at the rigs, I was watching TV ... yes, I FINALLY figured out that I can turn my antenna to get local channels when the dish is blocked by trees ... when there was a knock at the door.  The lady from check-in had been sitting on the table close to my rig when she saw the lost kitty underneath.  The second hunt was on!!  I got some more kitty food from Tom and Barbara, sat down by a tree and waited for kitty to come eat, at which time I would grab him!  I was inches away ... inches ... when a huge blast went off, sending kitty scurrying back to the woods.  I kept meowing (with no idea what I might be saying) ... following and shaking the food bowl.  Finally, food won him over and I was able to snatch him!!  Poor kitty wasn't happy about that, but having been declawed, he wasn't going to last long in the forest!!  Kitty's mom was called and I'm sure he will be home soon!!

By now it's time for fireworks, so off we went again ... Tom with his phone this time ... to the Sheplers back dock where we had a birds eye view.  Across the lake the Saturday night Music Fest was going on, so we were serenaded with Margueritaville.

What a beautiful night ... no jacket required ... as we watched the lights on the water.

THAT'S when these guys walked by ... all lined up in a row, snickering under their breath!!  They knew I couldn't resist a picture, but it being so dark, it required I change the ISO on my camera.  I heard them laughing out loud as they sauntered on by.

After several fireworks test shots (that's what scared the kitty away an hour earlier) it finally got dark enough to start the program.  Let me just start by saying the tripod I have is not made for this camera.  It's very difficult to move when the fireworks go off above or to one side.  Hmmm I'm not getting very good results .... I change a couple of settings.

Several blasts went off right in the area I had the camera pointed ... I change another setting.

What am I doing wrong???  These just aren't coming out good at all!!  I should have just left it at this wide angle shot, but no ... I kept adjusting and changing!!

By now, all the fireworks are going off way to one side, completely out of my camera range.

I change the exposure length of time ... that muddied things up nicely!!

FINALLY my brain kicked in ... it was the GEESE!!!  It was all their fault ... THAT's what they were laughing about!!  They knew I would change the ISO to take their picture ... which is totally the opposite setting that you would use for fireworks!!  Geeze Louise!!!  I switch it back ... and voila!!  The first good image at almost the end of the show!!

I'm snapping away like crazy now!!

And finally get a few nice images!

Those darn geese ... next time I will totally ignore their taunts and turn my back!!!

We were planning to move on South today, but are having trouble finding a place to stay around Dearborn Michigan.  It may be a Walmart night!!  At least there won't be any geese sneaking around!!

Nick, This One's For You!!

If you haven't heard of full-timers Nick and Terry Russell who publish the Gypsy Journal paper for RV people, check out their website.  They have been on the road for many years, and their site is the best you'll find for information on everything (and I mean everything) RV and travel related, whether you're a full-timer or a weekender!!  While you're at it, purchase a copy of Miss Terry's cookbook ... full of YUMMY recipes!!!  Anyway, I got off track ... Nick doesn't like to drive across long, tall bridges ... especially those that you can look over the side AND through the bottom.  This one I'm sure is his favorite, so I took these images just for him!!

We arrived in St. Ignace at the Tiki RV Park & Campground (Escapee price $15/night, 30 amp with water) just in time to catch the very last ferry boat that will take you under the bridge before continuing on to Mackinac Island in Lake Huron.  It was a beautiful sunny day ... perfect for photography.  Isn't she pretty, this bridge???

As we pulled underneath, they explained that this is one of the few bridges with open grating for the deck ... you know, the part you drive on??  The grating allows water and snow to fall through the deck so it doesn't get so heavy as to collapse it into the water.  I imagine that's Nick's favorite part about this beautiful structure.  

I haven't driven over it yet ... that will be in the next day or so, and I'll let you know how I fare.  You never know, Nick and Terry might hear me screaming all the way to Lebanon Ohio!!

As the boat came up to the island, there is a row of exquisite Victorian houses lining the cliff.  I think I'm going to like it here!!!

Talk about a quaint Victorian Village ... this is it.  The church is in the middle, with several small boat docks along the edge.  This little town has about 300 residents that live here full time.  In winter when the snow comes, basically the entire place closes up.

The best part of all ... there are NO vehicles allowed here.  You either walk, ride a bike or take a horse-drawn trolley or carriage.  THIS part is my favorite ever!!  We could see probably 20 or more horses on the street at any one time, pulling all sorts of carriages.  Some were provided by the hotels, but most are simply for transportation.  Maybe I can get a summer job here!!!!

It must be amazing to see the transformation from winter to summer in this small town.  As we walked down Main Street, there were huge flower baskets everywhere with the most brilliant colors. This building has been beautifully restored with white brick and green porcelain shutters.  When we walked off the docks at around 1:30 pm, the streets were full of bicycles, people and horses ... watch out for those bicycles being ridden by novice individuals ... they can run you over ... and watch out for granny on her hoveround who tried to jump an 8" curb, knocking over ten bikes like dominos!! The by-product of the horses in this picture was quickly swept up by what else ... a guy riding a bicycle with a trash can attached!!

The shopping here is nothing short of amazing!!  Yes, there are a couple of "cheap cheap" T-shirt stores, but for the most part, there are some great things to find here ... AND you can graze through all of the 20 fudge shops for tasting!!  We liked Joann's Fudge on the West end of Main Street the best!!  The hotels are spectacular too ... in the most unassuming way.  Wouldn't you like a room on the third floor in this yellow building ... the Main Street Inn??

Up towards the park on the East end are a line of carriages that will take you anywhere you want to go, like up to Fort Mackinac where the British originally fought the United States in the American Revolution (we won), but then in the War at Mackinac in 1812, the British took it back.  When the war was over in 1814, the United States got it again in the peace treaty.  From fur trading to commercial fishing to a resort when it became a National Park in 1875, this island has flourished!

Barbara, Tom and I helped it flourish a little more with our purchases ... I found these great Keens on sale ... along with some turquoise and silver jewelry, an unexpected surprise!!  

Doud's Market has been in business here since 1884.  Someone spent a lot of time planting these colorful flowers in boxes along the front.  How could you not love it here??  I suppose when it's 30 below it may not be much fun ... but just stock up on yarn!!!

So you were wondering how all the store's product gets here if there are no vehicles??  THIS is how ... the UPS truck is loaded up on a ferry and when it gets to the dock, all the boxes are dumped on the landing.  They are then loaded onto wagons pulled by two white horses ... and building by building, they hand deliver them down Main Street.  In case one or two boxes are too heavy, the hand truck is attached to the last trailer!!  THIS UPS guy deserves a raise!!

At the Indian Drum Store, owned by a native of the Chippewa tribe, I couldn't resist purchasing this hand drum, made by Red Hand Quick.  It's about 20 inches across and beautifully painted.  If you're in Indio this year and hearing some drums beating, don't worry ... the Indians aren't attacking ... it's just me!!!

Your next question I'm sure would be "if there are no vehicles, how do they dispose of the garbage"???  This is it, right here!!   Horse drawn wagons and manual labor!!  It appears the wagon, with horses still attached, rides the ferry to the mainland for dumping.  Tom saw the boatman kicking some "droppings" off into the water.  That's it folks ... back to the old days!!!

Around 5:30 we stopped in at one of the many restaurants for some sandwiches and ribs and watched the traffic go by ... a great place to people watch.   Lunch ran about $14 each and the food was excellent.

Not sure if these were for sale, but in the window there were four of the most amazing displays of paper art.  I'm definitely going to try this!!  Where's the nearest Hobby Lobby???

Since my puppies had been locked up most of the day, we headed back on the ferry at 7:00 pm having barely scratched the surface of Mackinac Island.  I re-parked my rig in another space where I wasn't draped with tree limbs.  The previous campers had lost their kitty in the woods ... a very wild kitty at that, and when Cooper discovered it camped out under my rig, we tried to lure it in with Pansy's food.  It didn't work, even though I stayed up late calling "kitty kitty" like a crazy woman ... but it definitely knew where to come back to, so today we'll notify the owners and hope they can recover it soon.  

I have no idea what's on the schedule today, but every day I say to myself "it just can't get any better", yet every day is better than the last!!!  

Looks Like Salmon For Dinner in the Sault!!

There will also be electricity in the surrounding four counties thanks to this beautiful building!  Water diverted from the Saint Mary's River comes through a canal and dumps into 70 or 74 turbines, depending on who you talk to!   When we heard there was a salmon-raising facility here, Barbara went on the hunt and found we could get a private tour ... all it took was a phone call!

The REAL story inside this building is what we learned from Ryan, a student at the Lake Superior State University Aquatic Research Laboratory located in one end, replacing four of the original turbines.  Students looking for degrees in wildlife science management can find summer employment (and great work experience) in this research center that raises Atlantic salmon for the huge sport fishing industry in the Great Lakes.  What is known as Fish and Game in California, is the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Michigan.  You would never know this was here unless you rode the Soo Locks Tour Boat!!

Students run this facility that catches salmon, takes the female eggs and the male sperm, mixes them together and sends the buckets to the DNR, who hatch the eggs and raise them to small fry size.  40,000 are then transferred back to this facility where they are kept in four huge vats, in the dark (so they are more relaxed, eat more and therefore grow faster) and fed every hour during the day with special food from both Canada and Oregon.  They are monitored in a controlled oxygen environment with water flowing directly from the canal into the tanks and out the bottom screen you see under the babies here.  When about six to eight inches long, they are dumped out the hole in the floor (under the screen), directly into the river.

Other salmon like the Coho, Pinks, Chinook and King are too aggressive towards the Atlantic, so they survive in the Great Lakes only thanks to this project.  When the Atlantic are released, the fins are clipped to denote the year.  As you can tell from the line of boats fishing above, they are very popular eating!!

One of the other thesis projects a student wrote had to do with lake sturgeon, two of which they still have at this facility.  Sturgeon are not prolific here, and can only be caught by locals, and only one per year is allowed.  

The students not only take care of all these fish, they do research projects in the river with the DNR on many other types of fish to keep them all happy.  One of the big problems in the Great Lakes is the Lamprey, a nasty creature that grabs on to fish with it's sucker like mouth, eventually killing them.  They are always working on ways to eradicate the lamprey without hurting the other fish.  

Just a few steps away, the first in a line of 70 turbines was whining away ... quietly!  There was very little noise and no vibration at all, either from the wall of water directly behind the stairway or the row of machines pumping out electricity. 

This is our last morning in Sault Saint Marie as we pack up and head South this time, to Mackinac Island ... better known as "that place the great fudge comes from"!!!