Montgomery Capitol and Hyundai Factory 75 Miles
"The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart."
~Mencius
The guard, a big black guy with a pressed uniform, shaved head, gun and nightstick at his side, twice said, "No guns or knives."
I decided to use some humor on him. There wasn't a sign like at the airport that said not to, so it must be okay, right? Right?
I said, "So if we need guns and knives, they'll be available inside, right?"
Ever have one of those moments where you think you've said something really stupid and would like to take those words back? I was afraid this was one of those moments.
He smiled and thought it was pretty funny, as he attached the handcuffs to my wrists. Okay, maybe not. He liked it.
I thought the Capitol buildings were becoming mundane after seeing more than thirty of them, and Florida's and Georgia's seemed to be yawns. Alabama's rocked, first with protestors. Actually it was a rally for Higher Education. Apparently Alabama forbids higher education, so the college students took a day off school to gather and said, "We need higher education, darnit!" Oops. "Darnit, y'all!" Well a bunch of congress people were there too and they said, "You know, you're right, we hear you, and we do need higher education. And strike up the band!" One guy got the crowd pretty worked up chanting something or other, like "Yum yum yum, we don't wanna be dumb!" But it was peaceful.
Built in 1850, the Capitol is now almost totally museum, as the lawmakers (when they aren't outside yelling how they are behind us for education) are in other buildings, slashing budgets like higher education. The Secretary of State and a few others still work in the offices in the old place.
While not an elaborate structure, they decorated it well, and it has deep history, dating back to the1700s. The walls are painted lovely lavender and peach colors, and some look like they have moulding like picture frames.
Governor Wallace served there for three or four terms, and his wife served as gov too, and passed away while in office. Of interest was their Confederate state seal.
QG stayed back while I visited the Hyundai plant, a huge facility that manufactures two models. I learned how to make a jillion dollars manufacturing cars:
Make crappy ones for three decades and earn a lot of money selling them in third world countries.
Find the best manufacturer in the world. Honda would be good.
Steal their technology. Well, what goes around comes around. The Japanese stole the technology from us.
Build cars like theirs.
Make your name almost like theirs.
Make your logo almost indistinguishable from your competitor's.
Build a factory as far from Detroit as you can.
Build great cars indistinguishable from their's and stick a 100k mile warranty on them.
Cash those checks.
I would love to tour their plant, but even though I knew I needed to make reservations, I tried to schedule one for tomorrow. Nope. Full. So we've currently missed four factories; Harley engines, Harley, Corvette, and Hyundai. The next factory I'm going to storm it and take my own tour. Okay, maybe not.
And now, ignorant of the minutiae of Hyundai's, Quilter Girl!
I had a nice little nap while Kevin checked out the Hyundai Visitors Center. I was very impressed with the Capitol. The rotunda was very impressive, with eight paintings all around the walls under the dome. The dome itself was highly decorated with stained glass at the very top. The main staircases were right inside the front doors, circular on either side of the door, very elegant and impressive.
Dinner tonight was a quick trip to Scholtsky's deli. I was looking for soup and I know they have good soup. They did not disappoint as we both loved our soups, chicken enchilada for Kevin and beef vegetable for me. Sorry, it is a chain, but sometimes familiar is good.
QG
Tomorrow we head to Tuscaloosa and meet some old friends.
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