When we left the campground this morning we headed straight to Dearborn to visit The Henry Ford. It is a collection of attractions that includes The Museum of American Innovation, the Greenfield Village, and the nearby Rouge Ford Factory. The lady at the information desk told us there was no way to see everything in one day so we chose the museum and the factory tour and saved Greenfield Village for a visit at some other time.
We got our tickets and were signed up for the 11:20 AM factory tour. We boarded the complimentary shuttle bus for the ten minute ride to the Ford factory. Upon arrival we watched two short movies and visited a showroom featuring cars from the earliest models to the most current Ford F-150 Raptor model.
The entire roof of the factory is a "Green Environment" planted with a special ground cover that insulated the building and saves the company millions of dollars in energy costs every year.
The 4th stop on the tour was a four sided catwalk looking down on the assembly line where they assemble Ford F-150 trucks. It was fascinating to watch how quickly each step in the process happens. It takes about 4 1/2 hours to complete a truck and a finished truck comes off the assembly line every 53 minutes.
After the factory tour was done the shuttle took us back to the Museum of American Innovation. It is an enormous one story museum with full-sized trains, planes, automobiles, race cars, Presidential limousines, furniture, steam engines, and even a special exhibit on fabric in America.
By the time we were finished at the Henry Ford it was almost 4:00 PM. We continued on our route and stopped to see the Stepping Stone Falls near Flint, Michigan. The falls are the result of a unique man-made dam in the Flint River. We didn't see it lit up the during warm months the falls are illuminated with colorful lights.
I was unable to find a campground but the Walmart in Clio allows overnight camping. We bought few supplies and will have a quiet, comfortable, and FREE overnight stay.
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