A family tries to be Dale Jarrett's pit crew
Big thunderstorms last night, including one blast that must have been very, very close (no discernable difference between the lightning and the thunder). It was loud.
There were a couple of things on my list of things to do in the Detroit area, and given the weather, I opted for the indoor ones. It was 11am before I actually got on the road and out to the Henry Ford Museum. This is a huge place! It's really all about how technology has affected American culture in the last 120 years or so. They have the oldest steam engine there. Naturally there are also a huge number of cars at this place.
But it's not just engines and cars and machinery -- there's also home appliances. I found the vacuum cleaner exhibit fascinating (really!).
Unfortunately, the place is so jam-packed that I couldn't get any good pictures. I needed a wider-angle lens.
I hadn't realized just how inefficient real work was before the advent of the electric motor. They have a model of a machine shop from the steam engine days. Basically there was this humongous steam engine in a corner, that, via a belt, turned this large shaft in the ceiling, which in turn, turned via belts each of the machines in the shop, like the lathe, the drill press, etc. Naturally this meant that the layout of the shop couldn't really be changed around much, and it's a huge labyrinth of belts!
Anyway, I loved this museum. It's a must-see if you're in the Detroit area. The museum is on the grounds of a Ford facility, and right across the way is a salute-to-Ford sort of place. Lots of Ford concept cars, as well as a design center. They had a Dale Jarrett race car, where they had a pit-stop competition with museum-goers. When I was there, they were training a (very) Jewish family. The whole thing was quite funny, with the dad being the primary tire changer. He was pretty bad. I would have liked to try, but I didn't stick around for the next attempt, a half-hour later.
I also went to the Automotive Hall Of Fame, which commemorates the people who have had major influences on the whole industry. While the Ford museum was packed, this place was absolutely empty. Literally. I was actually the *only* person in there.
After I left those things in Dearborn, I went to downtown Detroit. I considered, briefly, riding the people mover and also just walking around downtown, but it just wasn't the day for it. Oh well.
Tomorrow -- the Motorsports Hall of Fame, then off towards Indianapolis (guess what's there?) Sounds like there are a couple of interesting things along the way too, like the Michigan Space and Science Center, the National Automotive and Truck Museum, and a place called "Science Central" which sounds like the Exploratorium.
And hopefully it won't be raining.