Friday, October 19

My fellow Americans, and furriners too:

Today was another good day for Ken, Buick and me.  We covered about 240 miles and made it to congested Temple TX well before dark. 

I started with another attempt to JB Weld the leaking water manifold.  It didn't work but the leak rate was still very low.  So off we went with our freshly filled plastic Prestone bottles of extra water.  The morning was very cool and that took more pressure off Buick's wounded cooling system.

Morning started with about 20 miles on I-20 headed east towards Abilene.  This was dreadful, with heavy trucks, Suburbans, and the ever present duellys carrying gooseneck trailers whizzing by at 80 mph.  We eeked up to about 45 to avoid getting crushed.  We survived, but were delighted to get off and transition to TX 36.

This antique shop on TX 36 looked interesting but it was closed and the owner was nowhere.

TX 36 is a SE diagonal road that took us many miles.  We rode it from Abilene all the way to Temple, a busy Walmartian enclave in the I-35 corridor north of Austin.  We didn't like the congestion here, Buick was miserable trying to find the right lanes and keep up with the folks impatiently dealing with rush hour.  We did like the fancy Fairfield Inn box hotel that had only two rooms left -- or so they said, the parking lot had plenty of vacant spaces.

TX 36 overall was an outstanding road.  Gentle curves, rolling hills, and frequent passing lanes made it a pleasure to navigate in Buick.  We cruised through many picturesque small town America small towns with Subways and Family Dollar stores.  Trucks and those loooooong Texas goooooseneck trailers were able to pass us with little hassle or delay.  Friendly honks and waves were plentiful.  Folks were curious, many asked great questions and enjoyed seeing the car. 

Buick ran great and something interesting happened:  The water leak suddenly stopped or slowed to practically nothing.  We were loosing about a quart every 50 miles and the engine was covered with evaporation stains from the water.  But now it is all dry.  Did is rust shut?  You know it will come back, but for now I am delighted.  (no, it did not run out of water, there is still plenty in the radiator).  Buick has picked up some exhaust noise, perhaps from the muffler or manifold leaking.  It makes a bit of a sour sound when the engine is working hard, but it shouldn't be too threatening.  So I have not spent a lot of time trying to track that problem down.  The engine has picked up a bit more pep now that we are near sea level down here.

Good night, tomorrow we hope to make it to Brenham.....