Ottertail Country

Ottertail Country
Ottertail South

September 7, 2007

We went on a trip to the big city.


It all started out O.K.... we saw these deer out under the apple tree. They were cute. Then we headed for Milwaukee, via Wausau for uptake of cargo, to get some of Bryn's stuff to Lizzard's house and to.....



visit Tim and Dawn who were in town for the weekend. We got to Liz's, unloaded the cargo and headed....



for Watertown, about an hour to the West. There we visited Mona's house and bought some reconditioned wooden chairs from her. Things were going great, despite the large number of hours that we had already spent on the road.



Like they say, things go good til you run into trouble... that happened when we were in the middle of a major freeway construction zone, two lanes with four foot tall concrete barriers on the sides. We start slowing....



the motor seems to be running O.K., but we're losing speed, transmission trouble! No place to turn off, we just hoped we would make it to the exit up ahead. We managed to make it off the expressway and onto South Harbor Road, right on the lakefront. The van would not move another inch. We used a passerby's cell phone and called AAA. We also called Lucy and it was a welcome sight to see that familiar license plate come pulling up!!



Since we had the chairs in the back and it would be another hour before the AAA wrecker got there, we used the nice lawn area to sit out of the sun and talk. About 8 cops drove by but none stopped, only one even looked at us. We were parked in a no-parking zone but it didn't seem to matter.



While we were waiting for the truck to get there, Peg noticed a small bright spot in the blackness of hoses, wires and all the other junk packed in under the hood. I investigate it and found it to be a place where a hose should be attached. It was a line going to the radiator for cooling the tranny fluid.



So it was apparent that we could fix it (I hoped) ouselves and we had the trucker take the van to Liz and Dennis' house. We followed this guy through narrow, conjested streets, and he seemed to be in a hurry.




At least it was easy to see it up ahead, that big old burgundy van on top of that car hauler. I just hoped a chain didn't pop! Finally we got to our destination and got the thing unloaded.



I was able to get the hose back on, found the hose clamp on the hose quite a ways from where it should be. We got some fluid from a local service station and we put in 4 quarts. The following day when the vehicle was cold, it was obvious that we didn't have enough in there, and we added another 1.5 quarts. Working well ever since. That day we headed up to West Bend where we all got together at Paul and Candace's house to visit Tim and Dawn.

Well, I'm getting a little closer to being caught up with this blog..... I'll tell you about our second trip to Milwaukee to deliver Bryn, but it won't be for a day or two....





_____________Hey, fly that aeroplane, would ya???_____________

3 comments:

yram said...

Vehicular breakdown stories! Always better to hear rather than experience. It seemed a lovely spot for a breakdown if it had to be in the city.
Seem enough of Milwaukee for a while I am sure. Was great to see Tim and Dawn...they both look great. Did you take pics of Bryns new digs?
Check out http://greenislandview.blogspot.com/.
We had a boating trip today. Beautiful day.

Anonymous said...

Great bunch of pictgures. I haven't felt well the last couple days so had not checked the blog. So glad to see all the pictures. Bryn called me today to have dinner this eve with them but I had to refuse. I do feel better this eve. but would not have made good company. I think I had flu of some sort. Keep up the good work Lucy

Anonymous said...

Gee, dinner with the "new kids on the block" certainly sounds like it could be a grand adventure, but yes, I'm sure that it would be more fun for you if you were feeling well. I hope you keep improving.
It sounds as though things must be going well for them. Gene had mentioned that they had taken a bike ride to the shore. they must be "getting to know the city" a little at a time.
Gene made a "two due" list twodae so now we have to get busy and actually work on it. I hope that we can take the weekend of the 29th off to get away for a bike weekend...sure hope it's nice... we'll see. :)
hello to all of you readers with broken arms. Hope you're on the mend and can type again soon.
ps