Saturday, October 21, 2006

We continue to be at the Ilion, NY town marina.



Sunny and windy. With the sun out we can see the vivid fall colors.












Ilion is the original location of the Remington Arms Company (http://www.remington.com/). It was founded here in the early 1800's. They have a small museum at their plant that was about a 10 minute walk from the marina. The museum is in the plant office building. The man at reception said we were the second visitors of the day and was glad to have someone to talk to. He talked about the changing economics of the region with loss of manufacturing jobs and pointed out a local cafe on Main Street that he strongly recommends for lunch.

We were surprised to learn that besides firearms they manufactured bicycles, cash registers, farm equipment and bridges throughout their history. The primary emphasis of the exhibits was the sporting and competitive use of shotguns, rifles and pistols they manufacture. In addition, they covered many details of the technology and product innovation.

We continue to wait on the water levels. We contact one of the lock masters occasionally to find out status. He is projecting Monday as a possibility.