A UNION CITY PHILANTHROPIST

What are the odds of standing on a street corner and meeting a guy who bought a firehouse? I was on a bike and he was in one of those 4 wheeled runabouts;  his name is Dick Wilcox. He and his wife Linda bought the Union City Fire Department Station #1.
Why?
Dick doesn't call himself a philanthropist. "I retired at 59...," he told me, "but I can't see myself ever really retiring. I always find something to do."  He intends to turn station # 1  into a small community center for the townspeople to enjoy. In that center will be a huge pipe organ that he bought in Florida and is having installed. I call him a philanthropist. He's named the organ Frankenstein since it is cobbled together from several organs.
I looked in at this mess of pipes and tooters and pedals and drums laying all over the place. At this stage its a bit tough to envision what it will eventually look like.  Dick pointed out the holes cut into the high back wall for the sound to flow. He and Dave Blodgett are putting it together piece by piece. Dick invented and  developed Uniflex, the software that hooks to a computer and seamlessly runs pipe organs.

Here are the horns.

These are percussion parts, drums and symbols, etc.

All those pedals that wire to a pipe, or drum that let air in or out as a player touches the organ keys.

This is the xylophone with soft little mallets that strike the metal bars.The insides of these major organs are ingenious.

Dick pointed out the gigantic blower that actually
activates the various pieces to produce the melodic sounds of a lusty bass pipe, or trill of a soprano pipe. The firehouse is destined to shake with sound and joy for the people of Union City, Indiana. (Population 3,400.)  Marvelous.

He also bought this calliope to put in parades and advertise coming events at Firehouse Pipes. It has an oogah horn, a siren and a train whistle. Should be a big hit. Must be fun to be retired and just play with your toys.
For two websites, one where progress on Firehouse Pipes will be posted, has just begun. And the other on uniflex systems that are used in pipe organs all over the world.
http://www.uniflex.com/
http://www.firehousepipes.com/

WORKHORSE CHASSIS

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...whoops! I believe that is a movie.  Its trucks, tractors and motor homes that took up our day.  The Workhorse Chassis assembly plant, to be specific.You couldn't ask for more congenial people. Carol and Terrence, with great courtesy, allowed us to inspect the Workhorse Chassis Assembly Plant here in Union City. Most of their tours are groups of kids, or company reps.
Our Motor Home has a workhorse chassis. We are so pleased with the power we have going over hills towing our "toad" we were curious about the difference between the Workhorse and those we saw at the Fleetwood plant.
(No pictures are allowed inside.)
We found a union shop with a considerable number of women working the line, more older workers, and a much less intense attitude. It was nice to see happy faces that could take a moment to smile at you.

Every chassis has a "birth certificate" with every part, when and where it was placed, by what team of workers, on a computerized  sheet that follows that chassis by Vin number, and two other numbers, so that if something goes wrong, it can be traced and replaced. For instance, if  you lose your keys, a new one can be made for you. Workhorse can diagnose any part with its computer. I guess that is standard to the industry now.

I learned the difference between a drive shaft and a shock and a catalytic converter. Seriously!
I learned that machines can boil away every bit of moisture inside a metal tank to prevent it from fouling fuel. We watched a vacuum that sucks so hard it can detect any minute leak in a metal joint. Everything here is quality. Testing and retesting. They have a "return" line should any test fail, it goes on the return line for more testing and a fix, before it is ever driven off the floor. Then, when it is driven out of the plant, it is rechecked and inspected again to make sure nothing is loose and that tires are still working in concert.

Workhorse Chassis has a case full of awards for safety and excellence. I may not be very mechanical, but I was impressed with excellence and that was visible throughout the plant.

UNION CITY, INDIANA

We left Decatur and moved to beautiful Harter Park in Union City, Indiana. The park is extensive and one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. It has hookups for the motor home, electric and water, besides. Over grassy hills and dales I biked and viewed the various sections and found several places to have group barbeques; an equestrian arena with barn; fishing pond with a small island; numerous playgrounds for all ages; a canine area for dogs to play within a fenced enclosure. A skateboard area; tennis courts, volley ball, baseball, olympic sized swimming pool. A small creek with several bridges runs through it. Let me tell you I was impressed. So, what do I choose as a single picture since we are limited by Verizon on our uploads?
An Amish woman rounding the corner in her buggy.
 I don't know why we become so fascinated by what we consider unusual. I heard someone mention, in fact it was our tour guide at Fleetwood, Tom was a Mennonite,  there are many in the area who farm in Decatur and here in Union City as well, we learned.

I got curious about the difference between a Mennonite and an Amish person. I learned the Amish are a subset of the Mennonites. I suppose it isn't anything unusual around here, but it made for interesting reading on Wikipedia. And thus, the woman in the photo above is probably a Mennonite, not Amish at all. She wears blue and when we visited the Amish Community in Pennsylvania, black was the only color dresses they wore. Click on the links below for more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite

We'll be holding up at a Thousand Trails over the busy holiday weekend and I'll catch up with the museum, the park and such when we are set.