At last... my first trip into a car factory. Well, a truck factory. A kid’s dream. And at The Rouge, Henry Ford’s famous raw-materials-in/cars-out complex west of Detroit. Not what it once was, The Rouge now boasts one of the most modern and eco-friendly plants that makes a decidedly un-Green product, F-150 trucks. Oh well.

No photos are allowed inside the Dearborn Truck Plant, but it was interesting to watch the workers putting on windshield wipers, seats, dashboards and other goodies. There’s a good movie on the history of the Rouge in the visitors’ center, a display of Fords through the years, exhibits on the living roof and earth-happy goodies in the plant.

Catch the bus at the Henry Ford Museum; tickets can be booked ahead online. I figured there would be a crowd, it being mid-July. No dice. Plenty of seats available. I guess Detroit in the summer isn’t the tourist attraction it once was.

Inside the Dearborn Truck Plant. (Courtesy Ford Motor Company)