<– Day 8 – Sat. May 11th: Fire Engines, 16,000 Toys and A Destroyer  | Trip Overview | Day 10 & 11 – Mon. May 13th Rest & Tue. May 14th: Crust, Raisins, and Smoked Pork –>

On Sunday we spent the day sightseeing.

Sunday’s drive was a short one down to Ypsilanti and back.

On Sunday Ann and I drove down to Ypsilanti, MI, which is about an hour south of where we are staying in Fenton, MI. Our goal was the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum (aka Miller Motors), which has a real Tucker and a fiberglass fake Tucker (or so I’m told) made for the Tucker movie.

Ever since I learned Ypsilanti was home to Preston Tucker, I’ve wanted to visit this museum. So, I triple checked the website to make sure it was open on Sunday. The site confirmed this was true. Confident the museum would be open, we arrived at noon Sunday, only to find the museum closed. I was bummed.

So sad . . . I looked in all the windows.

Brian had mentioned the Michigan Firehouse Museum in Ypsi was worth a look. So, we decided to check that out. It consists of an old renovated fire station with a building extension that housed different types of fire trucks, fire fighting equipment, and information. It is a fine exhibit, but after Saturday’s experience with Jim Dobson, our fire-museum quality bar was set pretty high.

On the plus side, we talked with a very nice man at the firehouse museum’s counter. He explained that Jack Miller, who operates the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum, was in the hospital, so volunteers were helping keep the museum open. The man explained that the auto museum’s hours might have changed from 12 – 4 to 1 – 5.

Oh, my heart soared! There was still a chance to visit!  After spending some time at the Fire museum, we hurried back over to the Automotive Museum. We arrived at 1:30pm, but the museum was still closed.

Naturally, I fell to my knees and balled my eyes out. After Ann slapped some sense into me, I stood and noticed the museum had a declaration, which stated the museum was closed on major holidays. When we returned to the car we had a discussion about whether Mother’s Day qualified as a major holiday or not. I felt it was a mid-major holiday, but certainly not a major holiday.

As Ann and I were discussing the importance of Mother’s Day, I watched someone walk up to the museum’s door, unlock it, and walk inside. Two additional men followed him inside. OH oh oh! I was certain that THIS time I’d get to go inside. So, without waiting for my wife, I bolted from the car and ran inside. Seeing no one at the doors, I called out.

Hello . . .

A man appeared from around the corner. I asked him if the museum was open. He said no and explained, rather lamely, that it was Mother’s Day. I told him I’d driven all the way from Washington State. The man was unimpressed. Instead, he said nope, we are closed. I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure that man was the devil. He even had a pitchfork. What someone was doing with a pitchfork in a car museum is beyond me.

So, my hopes and dreams were crushed. I so wanted to like this place, yet I felt spurned and cheated.

Since the Tucker folks won’t let me in their museum and Chrysler/Jeep VPs haven’t responded to let me in their museum, we’ve thought about going to the Ford Museum on Monday. From there we head down to Fostoria to have dinner with Doug. After dinner we will drive down to Greenville, Ohio, where we’ll spend a couple days with Ann’s relatives.

On Sunday night we had another wonderful differ with Brian.

Monday May 13th we hope to visit the Ford Museum.

<– Day 8 – Sat. May 11th: Fire Engines, 16,000 Toys and A Destroyer  | Trip Overview | Day 10 & 11 – Mon. May 13th Rest & Tue. May 14th: Crust, Raisins, and Smoked Pork –>