Monday, July 25, 2011

Ford Museum

After the ACD, our guidebook said that the Ford Museum in Detroit was the grandfather of all museums and not to be missed. As it was on the way to Canada, we thought, hell, why not? The Ford is almost like the museum of Presidential death; there's the chair that Lincoln was sitting in when he got shot while watching the opera and there's the limo that Kennedy was shot in while driving through Dallas. But then again, as the richest man in America for a while, Ford did collect everything under the sun (including one of Amelia Earhart's planes). It was definitely, again, worth the splurge ($15 per ticket). We were here in September 2010...I'm just terribly late in getting all this posted up.
A mail carriage used to deliver mail in Minnesota, circa 1900. There's a little pot bellied stove in there to keep the mailman warm during the winter. The outside is covered in graffiti from ages ago.

Motorized roller skates!


The original Wienermobile by Oscar Meyer
Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House. One of the first kit houses, suitable for any terrain or environment, first developed in 1929 and then redesigned in the 50's to cater to the housing boom. Unfortunately it never took off, and if I understand it correctly, this is the last complete example.

Hood Ornaments




LinkAuburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum

Bobby Darin's Ride




Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum

The Auburn-Dusenberg-Cord Museum in Auburn, Illinois was a total splurge when Conner and I passed through. Although, by this point (in September 2010) we had been on the road for a couple months and felt like we hadn't really seen or done anything because we were afraid of spending the money. So we decided to just forget about our dwindling bank account and have some fun. Plus, if we needed to then we could make a pit-stop in North Carolina, stay with my folks, get jobs, and save up some more gas money. At $10 per ticket, this museum was a total splurge, but one of the nicest I've been too.The whole museum is housed in the old Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg (aka the ACD Museum) headquarters; a beautiful art deco building. The thing I loved most about these cars was all the details...I took a lot of detail shots. We posted all of the photos here.
The smaller headlights are attached to the steering shaft so that when you turn the wheel, the lights turn in the same direction; and look at that cute little horn.
Turn signal with a little arrow.





Hey, Got Any Ice?

We left Terry, Merilyn, and Conner's parents in Peoria and headed to Auburn, Illinois near the Michigan border. We wanted to hit up the Auburn-Duesenberg-Cord Museum the next morning, so we pulled off onto a cute little neighborhood side street to camp for the night. We were playing cards and drinking bloody marys that evening when we heard a bunch of people our age having a camp fire in the yard of the house we were parked outside of. It took us forever to work up the courage to "go make friends". We planned a ruse to gain access to their fenced-in back yard; taking our cups and some bloody marys, we asked for ice, saying we were parked by the road and were traveling around the country. The girl who answered the door looked at us funny, went and got some ice for us. She handed the small bag to us while closing the door and said, "Well, there you go. Have a good night." Our grand plan of making friends on the road was completely foiled. And on top of that, later we heard them all saying, "What kind of people camp in a neighborhood for the night? That's so weird..." Needless to say, Auburn, Illinois is not on the top of our list for Friendliest Towns In America.

Friday, July 22, 2011

It's Friday

It's Friday and everyone at the Bayfield, Colorado fire department, where I am the receptionist for the summer, is gone; it's just me and the IT guy. Having done everything I can to keep myself occupied up until a couple hours ago, I've begun going through some more of the photos from our road trip. If you don't keep up with these things then they just become overwhelming. I've gone through all the photos I took when we went to the Auburn-Deusenberg-Cord Museum and the Ford Museum. Oh my goodness, and I've just merely scratched the surface.

Peoria, Illinois

After our stay visit to Chicago/Crete, and our counting rabbits adventure in Chillicothe, we meandered down to Peoria, Illinois to rendezvous with Conner's parents and their friends, Terry & Merilyn. This was back in September-ish. Now Terry & Merilyn are the kind of couple that I strive to be when I'm in my 60's. They travel, they have a lovely house with lovely friends coming over for dinner, and they laugh a lot. Super cool people.They were telling us that back in the mafia heyday, Peoria was where the mobsters would go to dodge the police for a bit; and also where Frank Lloyd Wright spent some time.

Monday, July 18, 2011

In The Car

Back in September 2010, Conner and I drove through Illinois on our way to Peoria. It was corn fields the whole way, nothing but flat corn fields. I made Conner stop and take some photos...these are the fruits of our labor.

Butterflies

Driving across Illinois~September 2010