We had the opportunity to drive one of Chevys vehicle the Chevy Suburban. It was a long drive to Dallas with the vehicle but it was a smooth ride there and back to Houston. The Chevy Suburban has great features for the ride to be enjoyable. On the arm rest in the middle there is a wireless charger, WiFi and bluetooth to connect your phone so you can listen to you music or watch youtube videos when you’re filling up the tank. There is also road assistance features where the vehicle can detect if you are too close to another vehicle or object, alerts you if you’re reversing, and cameras to help you look at you surroundings.
After arriving at the hotel in Dallas we had a brief break and headed out to our first destination Nokona Baseball Glove Factory. The glove factory is in Nocona, TX, which is about a two hour drive from Dallas.
Nokona Baseball Glove Factory has made premium ball gloves since 1934. They use high quality leathers to make their gloves and former Rice University player, Roberts Storey, steered Nokona into baseball gloves. The company is spelled with a “k” because it was prohibited from trademarking the town’s name and is the last American ball glove factory in the U.S. We toured the factory for about an hour and they showed us how gloves where made, how much material goes into making the glove and we got to see the different stages into making a glove. Now all of these gloves are hand made and it takes a lot of work to make them. For one worker they could make around two hundred gloves a day. So if ever want to see how a baseball glove is made go check out the factory whenever you are visiting Dallas.
After the glove factory, we headed back to Dallas to the hotel for a quick break and then headed out to our next destination which was Southfork Ranch. Some history at Southfork began in 1978 when Lorimar Productions used the ranch as the site for the CBS TV series “Dallas”. The show used the outside of the ranch when they had to do scenes and the inside at another location. In the summer of 2012, Dallas again returned to Southfork Ranch for TNT’s reincarnation of the series, bringing back both original cast members and new faces.
We got to tour the ranch, learn the history of the show, eat great BBQ and took pictures with a Longhorn. The ranch is tourable to the public as well and the tour includes the famed Ewing Mansion exciting moments from the series in the Dallas Legends exhibit, featuring memorabilia from the series. You can see the gun that shot J.R., Lucy’s Wedding Dress, view the ranch from the outside balcony and more.
The tour is year round and you can also book the ranch for corporate events, special events and weddings. The next day we went to Resistol and Stetson Hatco where we got to see how cowboy/cowgirl hats are made. Stetson hat company began in 1865 and Resistol started in the 1920’s and later on combined factories to become one of the largest hat construction in the country.
We got to see how the hats were made and toured the factories. One factory made hats from different fur and leather material and the other factory made straw hats. They factory has stations for each section of the hat and as much as twenty hats per station. Each hat is in the care of professional hat makers and some workers have been making hats for fifteen years. Each hat is made with care and time so that the customer can enjoy their product and feel like a Western.
Our last stop was at the General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington, TX. General Motors has been building world class vehicles in Texas since 1954. The plant converted to SUBURBAN truck production in 1997 and now is the only GM facility in the world to produce and export GM full size sport utility vehicles. While in the factory we only got to see the finishing touches of the Chevy Tahoe and the Chevy Suburban.
Touring the factory for the limited time that we had was fun to see even though we only saw one part of the factory. We learn the history of the company and what goes into make a new vehicle rather if they refresh the look of a vechicle or make a totally new design.
After the whole trip was over it was time to head back to Houston. Chevy was kind enough to let us see historical places and drive their vehicle from city to city and small town to small town. Having GPS and WiFi really helped when it came to the long hours of driving and since the vehicle is smooth to drive, the drive didn’t feel rough at all. We loved that the vehicle has room for up to nine passengers. The various USB charging ports made it easy for our family to charge all of their devices easily on the drive. It would also be great for families or large groups thanks to the available Rear-Seat Entertainment System with Blu-Ray playback in both second and third rows!
