What a trip to Waco.

Time to think about traveling again.  To see if I can remember how to use this blog, lets revisit a 2014 trip. 

In March of 2014, we headed out with Stacy to pick up a car David had purchased on eBay.  It was to be a quick trip, leave late on a Thursday and be home Monday.   At 11:00 pm on Friday and 400 miles short of Waco, TX, the motorhome had a fan clutch go out, causing it to overheat.  David "McGivered" a fix letting us drive very slow, like 25-30 mph for up to 30-40 minutes, when the "fix" would fall out and he'd have to repeat the process.   Here is David figuring out what was wrong. 

The slow speed and frequent need to stop was made worse by the fact most all the roads we were on were 75 mph speed limits.  Below was one of our stops.  You can't see the drainage ditch David drove over and is straddling, but it felt like Mr. Toads Wild ride (old Disneyland ride) from the bed where I was trying to rest.  The RV was rocking and rolling.

The people we purchased the car from, Robert and Jan Franklin, creative folks in their own right, were also trying to help us find a fix.  They purchased an electric fan and drove it to a meeting place about 100 miles for them and 30 miles for us.  We arrived maybe 20 minutes ahead of them.

Stacy kept smiling and was a wonder with her smart phone, looking up parts and parts places.

Robert and David made a good team installing the fan.

Jan & Robert Franklin with David and I

 Unfortunately, while it saved us having to stop every half hour, we still couldn't drive much over 35 mph.  The boys decided there was room for a 2nd fan.  They headed out to the closest open auto parts place we found.  It was 60 miles away, but in the direction we needed to head.  David jumped in with Franklin's to go shopping.  Stacy and I plodded along.  Amazing how we kept finding places to pull over to let the faster traffic pass, even though we had about 55' of vehicle to move out of the way.

Installing the 2nd fan, unfortunately it didn't have the power of the 1st one.

 We met up with the shoppers and the boys got back to work.  Unfortunately they had to move the one already installed to make room for the 2nd one.   They started out with plenty of light, but by the time they finished darkness was closing in on us.

Our next stop was for some real Texas grub.  We realized driving that leg, that we were still limited to 50-55 mph, and these were speeds Robert had trouble keeping to.  Note, when we drove 30 miles in not much more time than he covered 100 miles, it wasn't all because we were going slow.  He was a test pilot and now works as a quality control engineer for aircraft.  He likes fast cars and planes and pilots both well.

We had to fuel up after dinner, so sent them on their way home.  Our destination was their home, but being self contained, they didn't need to wait up for us.  About 24 hours later, we finished the last of the 400 miles.  I don't think any of us had trouble getting a good nights sleep.

David's 1961 Lotus 7

Sunday morning we finally got to see the CAR.  We sold our honeymoon car in 1978, so it was a trip down memory lane to pick up the "new" one.  This is a replica 1969 Lotus 7, much peppier than David's original one.

David gets to drive it 1st.  I was just happy I could fit in the seat.

Stacy didn't hesitate to jump into the driver's seat (note the right hand drive).

Janet had been in Waco on Saturday and we planned to meet.  She had to get home that night, but when we didn't make it as scheduled, she drove the 125 miles again on Sunday to visit us.   We didn't have as much play time as we wished.  It started to sprinkle, so we loaded the trailer.  Not much ground clearance, so Robert made sure David put enough blocks under the ramp.

Janet let us use her car to make the evening Mass.  While we were gone, Stacy was able to visit with Janet and Mary & David, who came to Waco to pick up Alex.  He had been visiting his other "grands".   We were unable to find a high powered fan, at any of the few auto parts store open on Sunday, so we  decided to leave while it was cool and drive to a NAPA to be there when they opened in the morning and then limp home.   Robert offered to guide us to the freeway as the closest route was blocked by an accident.  Janet followed, ready to head for home too.

We made it about 10 miles, when the water pump belt broke.  We needed a tow.  We didn't know how long it would take to get fixed up, but we were just out of time to get Stacy home to meet her commitments.  She didn't want to leave us mid-adventure, but we took advantage of Janet being there to get Stacy to the airport.  

The system won't let me add any more pictures, so the story ends here.