Ohio has a lot going on...

After a short drive on Wednesday to our next stop, and after getting settled in the KOA campground in Van Buren, we drove over to the Ball Canning plant in Findlay [nicknamed Flag City] for a tour of how cans are made. In 1880 five founding Ball Brothers initially made wood-jacketed tin containers to hold paint, varnishes and kerosene and soon expanded to tin-jacketed, glass-lined containers. In 1884, they began making the Ball home canning jar, which became a household name. They are now the largest supplier of metal beverage cans in North America and one of the largest in the world. This place produces 725 million steel food cans and 1.725 billion aluminum soft drink cans every year, not to mention 16 billion aluminum ends. Do you think maybe Americans drink too much soda pop? They work 24/7 for 360 days every year and have 320 hourly non union employees plus 40 salaried employees! It was so noisy and hot in the plant while the machinery was running, I could hardly stand it. We had to wear long pants and closed toe/heel shoes which made it even hotter. I'm glad we weren't here in July/August when it gets up to 120F in the plant! They don't have air conditioning but at least they have heat during the winter months. All of the people who toured our group through the plant were a great. You could tell they were proud to work there. 

The next morning was an early one and I decided I needed to catch up on my sleep while Kris went to see how Wilson makes official NFL game balls. It's a small factory and each of the balls are handmade as they have been since 1941. Next, they visited Associated Plastics where they manufacture products for the automatove, electronic, electrical, food processing, sports, toy and horticulture industries. Following lunch, they visited Ithica Gun, makers of high end rifles and shotguns. I think Kris was hoping to buy a shotgun but there was no opportunity to shop. Oh well...  They finished the day visiting Guardian Windshield, makers of our Foretravel RV windshield! Kris was pooped out from all the walking all day but said it was all very interesting.

Shortly after he got back, we had a pizza party and group meeting to get ready for our next move on Saturday. Throughout this entire three-week Ohio motorcade, everyone volunteers for different "jobs" that need to be done, such as setting up/cleaning up for meals, lost and found, postmaster, etc. There's even a person who looks out for people who might be doing something wrong! If you fall asleep on the tour bus without first buying a $1 sleep pass, you get fined! At the pizza party we were given the opportunity to fess up for something we might have done wrong that would require a "fine" to be paid. All the money collected throughout would be used for an ice cream social during the trip. I paid 25¢ for forgetting to wear my name badge to the pizza party. People were making up things just to put money into the pot. Looks like we'll have a nice ice cream party!

Today is Friday and I decided to take another day off... Mind you, I'm not the only one who isn't going on some of the tours. Some of the other ladies go shopping if they aren't interested in a particular tour. After all, we are in Hobby Lobby territory! Kris left this morning to visit Romark, where they take engravable plastic sheeting and mold it together to get the multi-colored effects you see in signage. He came back with magnetic name badges, luggage, tags and other goodies with our names engraved on them. Pretty neat. After a quick lunch in the coach, he departed for Home Depot's brand new state of the art distribution center to learn how they accumulate and distribute all of the materials and products used by all Home Depot Stores. Home Depot is one of Kris's favorite places to visit, so he'll enjoy this one.

Tonight, we're planning a trip to Wal-Mart to get a few things we need and perhaps Hobby Lobby, both in Findlay. Tomorrow, we head to Shelby, Ohio for four nights.