
I was fairly worried about our camp site for this leg of our
journey.
Detroit has a terrible
reputation
However, I was relieved to see that the area
we were in (Ypsilanti----I have no idea how to say it) was quite suburban and
quite nice.
Peter
had chosen very well in light of his planned
work trip to Austin, TX for two days; leaving the pugs and I alone.
The park was situated on a large lake with a
one mile walking path around the lake.
Swans paddled around the lake, there was a swimming area and a couple of
water slides.
All in all, very nice.
right now due to huge unemployment and poverty.

Old Ford Museum Piquette:
Our first day trip was to the very first Henry Ford “factory” in
downtown Detroit.
This was little more
dodgy.
Lots of factories with
broken-out windows.
Lots of
graffiti.
The museum was fabulous,
however.
This was the first factory
building cars that Henry Ford managed to make successful (he failed in business
twice previously).
Our tour took 3
hours and I learned a tremendous amount.
At the time Ford started this business there were 2,500 car development
companies in the United States.
What he
did that was unique was institute a system of “just in time” delivery.
This is the system that Boeing uses
today.
In the Piquette factory a car
was built by a group of men.
Parts they
used were delivered and staged at the work station.
This took an amazing amount of orchestration.
Henry Ford began his career working for
Thomas Edison.
He worked for Edison for
about 8 years as a chief engineer at a DC power generating plant.
There was a synergy of really talented people
in Detroit at this time.
There were
machine shops, steel was being produced here, mills were being supplied by ore
ships in the great lakes.
The Dodge
Bros. had a machine shop building a lot of mechanical devices.
Henry Ford’s success was helped by right
place, right time, right contemporaries.

Trip to Canada to Spa---Peter left yesterday for Texas.
I used the time to get a pedicure AND a
manicure.
Today I am headed to Canada
to the town of Windsor, which is right across a tunnel from downtown
Detroit.
I am going to Caesar’s Palace
for a spa day.
I had a wonderful massage
and scrub and won enough in the casino to cover the costs. Everything was perfect
until I came back
I
decided to take the bridge rather than the tunnel.
It was all fine as I approached the U.S.
border.
“Where are you from?” asked the
border patrol.
“Seattle.” I
replied.
“What were you doing in
Canada?” he asked.
“I went to the
spa.”
I replied.
“Aren’t there spas in Detroit?” he asked in
what I perceived as a snotty tone.
“Not
ones as nice as this one in Canada.” I replied sweetly (although I think he
thought my reply was rather tart).
“Hmmmm,” he said, “Who is this car registered to?”
I paused.
“It better be registered to my husband and I, but it could be just my
husband.”
I should not have opened that
door.
“Where is your husband?”
Uh oh.
“I’m not really sure. . . . .but I think Texas.”
I was getting a little rattled and my memory
was failing fast.
“What’s he doing in
Texas?” he asked.
“You know I’m not
really sure, it’s usually secret.”
I was
on the receiving end of the most incredulous look.
“You don’t know what your husband does?”
“Well, you see, we have separate careers and
his work is with the government.
I
don’t really pay attention.”
across the border.
He shook his head clearly signifying that he was thankful he
was not married to me, handed me my passport and waved me through.
Ford Rouge Assembly Plant:
We began with a tour of the Ford Rouge plant.
This is where they build the F-150
trucks.
However, this was the first of
Ford’s major factories.
It employed a
new system of manufacturing called “vertical integration”
Placed on a river adjacent to Lake Erie Ford
brought in by barge raw materials iron ore, coal and limestone.
From these they manufactured all the metal
parts for the cars.
He also developed an
assembly line where the cars moved and the workers built the cars as they moved
by.
Using this method, the raw
materials
of iron ore, etc. a brand new
car every seventy-two hours.
This was
how he built so many Model Ts.
He was
dependent on no one for parts, because he manufactured all his parts.
His designers developed the Model T to be
incredibly hardy and flexible to better handle the rough roads of the
time.
Additionally, employing over
100,000 workers, he doubled the going wage of $2.50 per day to $5.00 per day to
staff his factory.
The Museum:
This is a
museum featuring the Ford family’s collections.
Of course, there were cars.
But there was also a lot of Lindberg
memorabilia since Henry Ford and Lindberg were close friends.
There was the car that Kennedy was riding in
when he was shot.
The chair that Lincoln
was sitting in when he was shot.

George
Washington Carver’s microscope.
The bus
that Rosa Parks was riding when she refused to give up her seat,
and
Buckminister Fuller’s Dymaxion house built by Ryan Aircraft in San Diego.