Finally!

[Thumper]

We visited the Red Wing shoe factory and finally found a retailer that carries my size! This shoe is leather and actually weighs over a ton (2300-lbs. if I remember correctly). Kind’a cool. [emoji106]

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[Thumper]

Yesterday we went to the SPAM Museum. I didn’t expect much, but it was extremely well done and we had a great time. VERY nice museum if you’re ever in the area. Actually, I never knew they had so many varieties of SPAM and they’d cook up a batch of whatever we requested to sample. My favorites were Hickory Smoked, Hot & Spicy (Tobasco) and Bacon. Extremely nice people and very accommodating. They even gave my brother and me each, a free can of SPAM with a hand written thank you note on the top (because we were veterans). Nice touch.

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[Thumper]

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[Thumper]

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[Thumper]

Then we went over to the Duluth Trading Company and found me some big boy pants. [emoji1787]

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All in all, we had a good time in what some would consider rather mundane places. Today we’re going to try our luck snagging tickets to the big bluegrass festival in town.

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[Penguin]

I'm jealous of the Red Wing tour. Rode past there on a train last year and was wishing they could have stopped for a while so I could look around. I have worn Red Wings since I was a kid. Sadly they just recently discontinued the 2156 Chukka that I teach in, so I had them resole both of the pairs I own. I have to smile remembering when I started at CAT so many years ago. I detested dress shoes and have always considered most of them kind of girly. So I bought what they then called 'foremen's shoes'. They were just like their run of the mill work boots but cut down to regular shoe height. I bet a dozen of my coworkers at CAT bought a pair after saw them. Still own those old things and they still look great.

Did they show you around the assembly lines? I'd love to see a pair getting made.

Maybe they could be like Harley Davidson and let you walk down the assembly line and watch the motorcycle you ordered being put together. :)

Will

[Thumper]

This was actually a museum/retail store in front of the actual factory. I asked about a factory tour and was informed they had to discontinue them because of some sort of problem with OSHA. But the museum was excellent and very informative. One interesting thing I found was that they send out thousands of free pairs of boots/shoes for real world evaluation. They look for unique or super rough working conditions, send you a free pair and after 6-months or so, you send them back so they can be evaluated for wear, etc. I immediately thought of Gary Carty (Archer) as he’s pretty rough on his boots! I also took a pic of the website to apply.

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[Hombre]

Such cool experiences, and on your own time schedule. On a positive side that shoe actually makes your head look small..