This post is for all you motorcycle fans!!! We drove to Kansas City, MO just to tour the plant where they make Harley-Davidson Motorcycles! They do not let us take any photo’s inside the plant, but they did let us take as many as we want in the lobby/gift shop area. So here we are!
How do we look on the Harley’s?
Our guide told us that at the moment they are only making one model of Harley. Last month the plant laid off 350 employees out of 1,000. So you all need to go buy a new Harley to help the economy.
This is the V-Rod. It is the only liquid cooled bike that Harley makes. It has lots of CC’s and goes really, really fast. (That’s the kind of information a non-biker remembers!)
Each bike has it’s own individual pedigree. The plastic sleeve in the lower center of the picture has this particular bikes pedigree, numbers, etc and stays with the bike throughout assembly.
The finished V-Rod.
This shows the different phases of building a Harley.
This is one of the custom bikes they build.
OK, I enjoyed the tour, no I’m not going to learn to ride one now. Yes, they really are beautiful. And they are really first class. Just knowing how they paint the bikes and all the steps that are taken to make sure the bike is perfect is really amazing. The other part that is very interesting is all the robotics that are used in cutting the steel, shaping the steel, welding the steel and keeping the right parts for each bike together. There is still an assembly line where parts are put on the bike by hand. Each wheel is bolted on by an assembly line worker, for instance. One thing I did learn, that if you want to buy a brand new Harley, make sure it has about 30 miles on the odometer, because that means it has gone through an extra step of quality control and everything on it is perfect!
By this time is was lunch time, and we had one more place that I wanted to visit. We grabbed a couple of slices of pizza and headed to the Hallmark Greeting Card Company. They have a self guided tour for free. Man, do I like the free stuff! So, in one day we go from Macho to getting in touch with feelings!
The first thing you see when you walk in is a wall mural done all in metal. There are four different kinds of metals used to create this mural. It was stunning.
Hmmm, I wonder if they get any of the scrap metal from the Harley Plant? Harley is into recycling big time. Guess I should have asked!
We missed the Grandma Moses Museum in Bennington, VT, so here his a picture that is in the Hallmark Museum that she did and a plaque of her story. I remember that Hallmark had some Christmas Cards using her paintings many years ago.
Some of the Santa’s that were created and put on this tree ended up as pictures on Christmas cards.
This tree is all pearls and jewels. It is absolutely stunning
The tree above is the final tree, and it was finished after he died.
Every year the staff would surprise their boss with a unique Christmas tree dreamed up by the designers. Above is only three of many on display. They truly admired and respected the man in charge. It is quite a tribute.
This is where they put the foil embossing on the cards. We were a little late to see how it was done. It was almost quitting time by the time we arrived at this part of the museum.
Did you realize that Hallmark make Crayolas? I didn’t know that. See I learn something new every day!
I thought this was unique. I hope you can click on the heart and read about how this quilt came to be in the museum.
We left the Hallmark tour and received our free talking card. I thought this was a great treat and made for another wonderful day of learning and seeing new things.
Now it is time for dinner! We have the name of a good Kansas City BBQ restaurant, and that we cannot leave Kansas City without trying the BBQ that it is famous for. So off we go to eat—again! It was good, but I prefer Memphis, TN BBQ!
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