On the way home

We left Indiana on Sunday morning heading home via central Kansas.  The quick detour through central Kansas was to visit Dean’s home town.  We are really looking forward to the Arizona sun shine after driving for two solid days across 5 states and never seeing the sun or really getting out of the bad weather.  We got into some really heavy weather just west of St. Louis and it continued all the way past Kansas City.  We finally found sun in Dalhart Tx.  The countryside was really pretty along the way with lots of green.  Between Offerle and Spearville KS we came across the largest wind farm that we think we have ever seen.  The wind generators stretched as far as the eye could see.  In addition, there were many under construction along the way.  We were really encouraged with the condition of the wheat crop across most of Kansas as it looks almost perfect.  Hopefully the weather will corporate over the next couple months.  

We are staying at the Corral RV park in Dalhart Tx.  The park is ok for a stop over with nice level gravel parking area.  It is located right in town so there is a little train noise but it is not too bad.  The rate was $25 for full hookups.

Hundreds of wind generators…

 

Wheat field..

Southern Indiana

We have moved on south to the Daviess County area of Indiana.  This is the area of Indiana where Dean’s great-great grandparents lived back in the mid-1800’s.  We are currently staying at the West Boggs Lake campground just north of Loogootee.  The park is really nice and we understand why some of the reviews call this the best park in Indiana.  The sites are fairly isolated and are tucked amongst the trees.  In the afternoon we spend some time exploring some of the smaller roads in the area which was really interesting.  This area has a number of Amish settlements and it was really interesting to see all the buggies on the road.  We were fortunate to see a farmer plowing his field with a team of horses.  The countryside is so gorgeous with all the green trees and fields.

A team of 5 or 6 horses pulling the plow

Buggy at the local feed store

A beautiful setting on one of the farms

Dean at his great-great grandfather’s grave

Geese and Covered Bridges

We are continuing our family history search in the Seymour IN area which is about half way between Indianapolis IN and Louisville KY.  RV parks are few and far between in this area but we were luck to find a really nice place at the Starve Hollow Rec Park.  The park is really nice with most of the sites in the woods around a small lake.  The lake is home to a few pairs of Canadian Geese who have small babies.  They are so cute as they float around. 

The happy family…

This afternoon we visited a couple covered bridges in the area.  They are quite amazing with one being over 460’ long.  Neither bridge is in use anymore but they have been restored as historical sites.  Based on some info we picked up at a visitor center there are about 20 covered bridges in the area.

The Medora Covered Bridge near Medora IN.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Odon IN area with  is about 50 miles south west of here.

Researching our Roots in Indiana

Monday we drove from Ann Arbor to Franklin Indiana which is just south of Indianapolis.  For the last three days we have been digging through old marriage and death records at the library and historical society.  Our camping location is south of Franklin at the Johnson County Park which is on what once was Camp Atterbury.  This camp was a huge army base build shortly before the start of WWII and used in various degrees since.  About a third had been turned over by the army for other uses and the county built a fairly nice RV park there.  The park is quiet and at $16 a night for water/electric it’s a good value.  It is really interesting to bike around the area and see where all the old army buildings were located.  At its peek the base had something like 1500 buildings.  There was also a POW camp located nearby for German and Italian prisoners.  Many of the Italians were skilled craftsmen who worked on the base.  In 1942 they received permission to build a small chapel in their camp.  The chapel was restored in 1988.

Tomorrow we will go about 40 miles south to Seymour.

POW Chapel

Ford Factory Tour

Yesterday we had the opportunity to tour the Ford Rouge Factory where the F150 trucks are made.  The Rouge Factory was built in 1917 and first produced the Model A.  The factory was unique at the time in that basic raw materials such as iron ore came into the factory at one end and finished cars came out the other end.  Over the years the factory declined and it was nearly closed at one point.  However, a few years ago Ford decided to rebuild it as an ultra-modern factory and to serve as a model for future factories.  They not only rebuilt the factory but also built it to LEED standards for energy efficiency and used green sustainable techniques.  For example, the roof of the factory is a living roof where it is covered by living plants.  This not only protects the roof enabling it to last over 50 years but it provides significant insulation which reduces operating costs.  Likewise, the walls are covered by vines for insulation.  This factory shows that building green can make business sense.

The tour is self paced as you walk around a cat walk above the production floor and you can watch the production as long as you like.  Above the cat walk were conveyors that deliver the larger parts to the work stations.  One thing that was amazing is that the assembly line was full of many different F150 models and colors but yet the correct parts were installed on each vehicle.  Flexibility is one of the main features of the factory so it can adapt to production needs.  They also proved a multi-sensory movie that shows the complete build process.  The movie was very good.  When the video on the screen was showing a stamping press making body panels the floor would shake in time with the press.  When they were welding you could smell the welding smoke.  Likewise, when they were showing rain testing of the trucks you could feel the cold mist blowing in your face.  Unfortunately photos were not allowed in the production area.

Tour entrance

View of the factory from the observation deck

View of the roof.  The green and red surfaces in the photo are living plants.

Car gallery in the plant lobby

After the factory tour we went to the Henry Ford Museum.  They have a huge collection of life in America.  You could easily spend a full day or two in the museum.  Some of their collections are trains, cars, presidential limousines, Rosa Parks Bus, and much more.

Entrance to the Museum

The Reagan Limo.  They also have the Roosevelt and Kennedy Limos

No visit to Ann Arbor would be complete without a photo of the beautiful flowers.

Tomorrow we are off to Franklin Indiana.

Made it to Ann Arbor

We had a nice drive from Champaign IL to Ann Arbor MI yesterday.  The only thing that was a little nerve racking was once we were in Michigan the interstate has a speed limit of 60 for trucks and 70 for cars which really creates a dangerous situation with all the passing and lane changes.  We were able to bypass the Chicago area by taking some smaller roads around the city and rejoining the main interstate near Gary IL.  We are now at the Hell Creek Campground north west of Ann Arbor.  It is a really nice park and we are only the second visitor this season.  We are the only ones here so it is really quiet.  The weather is really nice with the temps in the upper 60’s so not sure why people are not out camping.  Suspect this park would be really busy in the summer.  Seems like we are finding parks with strange fee structures this trip.  The park changes $25 for a site with electric but if you want to hook up to water at the site it is an extra $5!  On the way to the park we drove through Dexter MI which is the town that was hit by a tornado last month.  There are still in the mist of clean up and rebuilding.

Our daughter came out to meet us and later she took us in to see her work location.  She works for a high tech company which was a small startup that was acquired by a a larger company a few years ago.  They have a very interesting work environment…. very much like the Google environment.  A much more relaxed and productive environment then the old school defense industry we are familiar with. 

Today we took a tour of Ann Arbor and spent most of the day visiting with our daughter.  Tomorrow we plan to visit the Henry Ford Museum and take a tour of the plant that makes the Ford F150 truck which should be really interesting.  We have had a little rain today and it has cooled off but still not bad for this time of the year.

The Lincoln Museum

Today we visited the Lincoln Museum and Tomb.  We found the museum to be simply outstanding and very well presented.  They have two major exhibits areas.  One deals with Lincoln’s life from a child until he was a candidate for President and the second exhibit area was about his life as President.  All through out the museum were life like figures of various people and the quality was unbelievable.  The skin tones and eyes looked life like and at times it almost seemed like they were alive.  According to one of the guides the figures are made out of silicon using a new process.  We found the slave exhibit and the civil war exhibit to be the most memorable.  Unfortunately they did not allow photos in the exhibit area so no photos.  The attention to detail in the exhibits was unbelievable.  For example, they had an exhibit of the white house kitchen and you could feel heat coming from the stove!  Another thing we found interesting is the political environment of Lincoln’s presidency which is really no different from today.  The names and issues are different but the level of fighting between the two parties is really no different.

Abe as a boy

The Lincoln family

Gen Grant

At the Lincoln tomb

Lincoln’s tomb

Grave

After leaving the museum and tomb we decided to head on down the road and ended up D & W RV Park north of Champaign IL.  The park is relatively small and very nice.  It is located on the banks of a small fishing lake and we would recommend it if you are in the area. 

Tomorrow it is on to Ann Arbor.