|
of the day. This part of the trip also saw two mechanical problems - one fuel pump and one water pump. The fuel pump problem for Steve and Elizabeth LaFond was intermittent and was soon corrected. Ralph had a more dire problem – water pump failure.
Sue Arata summed up the adventure this way…
| |
"After we left the pack, in order to drive straight to the restaurant and the piece of apple cobbler that was waiting there for me, we didn't get very far.
After about fifteen mins. of driving along with the water pump rattling away it suddenly went dead quiet. "It's frozen", cries Ralph, and the next second the belt screeched and we coasted into the driveway of an old farmhouse. This was INCREDIBLY lucky that the farm house happened to be right there because as you all know there wasn't much out there besides cornfields!
So I sit there in the rain and Ralph rushes off across the field .......staples scattering, (inside joke), to see if the farmer minded us fixing our car in his driveway.
He seemed to be gone for ages and I expected to hear a shotgun go off at any minute (or even a staple gun!!) but
luckily I didn't hear either and soon he appeared with the news that a friendly widowed farmer's wife lived in the house and didn't mind us being there at all.
|
|
|
| |
So Ralph disconnected something and drove the car up the driveway and under a big old oak tree and started groveling around in the wet grass in preparation for putting on a new water pump. He said it would take about three hours so I called AAA and they said they would be there in an hour so we said.... great.
We were so lucky we could give them an address which the friendly widowed farmer's wife kindly supplied, otherwise it would have been ....where are you located?......um, next to a field....what kind of field ?......a cornfield.......we could have been STILL stuck out there!
|
The group finally collected for a buffet luncheon in the log buildings of the park (the buildings were built by the CCC during the depression). The meal was hearty and filling, and offered apple cobbler, pie and other desserts for a delightful finish. After a visit to the gift shop, people bid their goodbyes already looking forward to the next time we get together for the BCW tour. Special thanks go out to John & Ann for their meticulous planning which made for such a wonderful time.
 -- Dan Kerkman
|
October 2011
