Cat Visitors

We took a little day trip last Saturday to Peoria to visit the new Caterpillar Visitor's Center and to check out the new Costco. Lunch with Don and LeAnn and their crew topped off the adventure. A good day was had by all.

I might be a bit biased, but I thought the Visitor's Center was pretty cool. The new attraction just opened on the Peoria riverfront, next to the new city museum on a chunk of real-estate that originally had been the home of the Sears and Roebuck department store but had sat empty for a number of years while the city tried to decide what to do with it. The new buildings and adjacent green spaces are a big improvement.

Most of the Pandemonium Fam. (Kenrick's not all there)

The main entrance to the Visitor's Center is on the second floor and you immediately come face-to-tail with a model of the world's largest dump truck, the 797F. The body of the truck has been fashioned into a theater and the walkway around the sides of the truck give a unique perspective to the real size of the machine. Our first stop was inside the truck to see a short film introducing some of the Caterpillar machines and the customers who put all the big yellow iron to work.

The view from the floor is equally as impressive. The tires are just molded plastic, but are kind of fun to kick anyway.

There were a number of real Cat machines arranged on the atrium floor and the kids had a ball climbing into each one and yanking on the controls. Paxton tries out the motor grader.

Anya makes motor noises and watches for danger while Kenrick drives the wheel loader.

Four  little Clowns-in-a-Bucket.

Anthony tries out the seat of the new D7E tractor (see www.cat.com for features and prices)

Then, he tries his hand at driving one on a training simulator. I'm not sure if I'd hire him to dig my basement out or not.

I definitely wouldn't hire this crew, although you could probably drive this mini-excavator right through the door of the basement and start digging.

In addition to the machines, the museum featured history and manufacturing and technology exhibits and had displays that covered a wide range of topics from Cat brands to re-manufacturing. I realized today that I didn't get pictures of any of that. I guess you'll just have to go see for yourself.