Spring 2013: Detroit, MI July 5-11, 2013

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.