8/30/2011

GM - Tennessee and Kentucky

For work last week two of us got to go visit some more GM plants and look at their pavement. Last year i went to Reno, Denver and Ranch Cucamonga California.

We flew into Nashville Tennessee.
Our first stop after the Nashville airport was the exit right near Fiddlers Inn. The same place john and i stayed when we were in Nashville. Since that trip the hotel has taken on a mythical quality. Fiddlers Inn Motel, Nashville Tennessee Fiddlers Inn Motel, Nashville Tennessee
The Dukes of Hazard "museum" called Cooter's is right next door to the hotel.
Cooters, museum, dukes of hazzard, nashville tennessee
That day we drove to Bowling Green Kentucky.
Ale 8 1 is a ginger ale from down there and it's super good. Ale 8, Ale 81, a late one, kentucky, winchester, great soda, ginger ale
This is also from Kentucky. I didn't try it.
ol glory energy drink, kentucky
The GM plant that builds the Corvette is in Bowling Green. It seemed like every car in the lot was different. From one to the next they had different rims, different models (z06, z07, zr1) and different prices, starting at $64,000.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, pictures, production,
These are the 100 year anniversary cars waiting to get a racing stripe painted on.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, pictures, 100 year anniversary car
This one was my favorite. A turbo charged ZR1 with lots of carbon fiber and cost $128,000.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, pictures, ZR1
This is one of the racks they use for paint. All that bubbling is from the layers of paint that has built up.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, paint rack
I didn't know what it was until i broke off a piece and saw all the different layers of paint.
layers of paint from corvette paint rack
Here's the rejected body parts to be thrown out.
corvette plant, bowling green, kentucky, parts, panels
The next day we drove back to the old Saturn plant in Tennessee. It still had the
old plantation house that the GM plant is built on. saturn plant, GM, tennessee, house saturn plant, GM, tennessee, rock bridge
This is where they sucked up the different paint colors for the Saturn's.
saturn plant, GM, tennessee, paint tubes, colors
There are lots of turkey's at the Saturn plant.
saturn plant, GM, tennessee, turkey kentucky, piggly wiggly, store sign
Steak and Catfish
kentucky, parkway, steaks and catfish cafeteria
The last day we got done a little early and had time to go to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg Kentucky. It was cool, the free tour lasted a couple hours. Some of the rooms we went in were near 130 degrees, where they were fermenting the barley and hops. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the buildings though.
Jack Daniels distillery, lynchburg kentucky, free tour Jack Daniels distillery, lynchburg kentucky, free tour, tank
Apparently Jack Daniels was only like 5'2"
Jack Daniels distillery, lynchburg kentucky, free tour, statue
This is where they make charcoal. The charcoal is put in huge barrels and the whiskey is filtered through it to remove impurities.
Jack Daniels distillery, kentucky, charcoal
Also on the trip i found some interesting seeds. The top one is Osage Orange. It looks and feels very much like a brain.
Osage Orange seeds, kentucky, tree
I'm not sure what this tree is but i saw a bunch of them in Tennessee.
weird seed pod, tennessee, tree weird seed pod, tennessee, tree Link

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