notes from the road - Penultimate Day department

In Brattleboro Vermont tonight. Had the great pleasure to visit the American Precision Museum in Windsor, Vermont this afternoon. New England was in many ways the birthplace of the American (and Global) Industrial Revolution. England may have had the Steam Engine and heavy industry but it was Yankee Ingenuity that got us from the rough heavy industry to the precision heavy industry. The idea that someone could make a tool that could repeateadly cut to a one thousanth of an inch precision was unthinkable until people in the small mill-towns in Vermont and New Hampshire started tinkering. One centerpiece of the museum was Bridgeport's first commercially produced Milling Machine. And it wasn't just any Mill, this was Serial Number #1 - I stood in awe of that machine for a few minutes -- this was where the modern Industrial Revolution really got its start... The notes for this exhibit said that Bridgeport went on to sell several hundred thousand of this model. I believe it. All in all, a wonderful afternoon. Heading back to Boston tomorrow (driving through Western Massachusets) and back to our home that following day. A fun trip but it will be so good to get back home to our routines. Spew will resume Tuesday sometime.