Radiators, Laundry and Marshmallows

Today we spent about 7.5 hours in the RV, in the big truck bay, at Kayser Ford on the west side of Madison. We had a 9:30 am appointment, and thought if we arrived a little early, we'd get out a little sooner. However, we seem to have a somewhat exclusive type of engine. After Grandpa Bill graciously offered to talk to the mechanic, we figured our radiator was in a bad
way. Its the kind of thing that you might just go out and get a whole new radiator. And they don't grow on trees, and especially on any trees here in badgerland. Also an option was getting seals replaced by sending it to a shop...but the service guy couldn't even find a part number for our particular radiator's seals. Also, you could buy a whole lotta Pampers for the price of this radiator. So, they patched up our old radiator with the hope that we'd find better options
for repair or replacement in the golden state...perhaps tracking one down in advance so it
would be ready to install when we get to Sacramento. Perhaps we could find one on eBay.

Speaking of ebay, our 2003 Ford E350 sold last week to the highest/lowest/first/last/only bidder, a small homeschooling family with 9 children. This was especially exciting for us, as we were seriously thinking we'd have to curtail our 7 week trip by 6 or so weeks if it did not sell. Our dear friends the Bradfords, are handling the transaction for us back at the border.

Today, then, we took the house and dropped off Dave at work, and then stayed at the Ford shop. We busied ourselves with correspondence and cleaning. Zak did some maintenance/repair stuff. Debbie installed weather stripping around the bathroom door, which is just a piece of plywood cut out of the bathroom wall, and certain childen are very concerned about modesty
issues, which has led to a great depletion of toilet paper, which is crammed in the spaces, along with a commensorate increase of time the stall is occupied during the peek-proofing process. This evening, Debbie noticed much of the weatherstripping removed, as certain children evidently felt it got in the way of the tp they were cramming in.

So after a very long day of waiting and wondering, and inventing contingency plans, we left Ford, started laundry at the laundromat, picked up Dave, dropped off Dave at the market with helpers, and proceeded to pick up laundry and then (sigh) pick up Dave, children, groceries. Of special note was Dave's purchase of about 600 marshmallows, which Debbie fully supported.

We met our patient friends, Mark and Lauren Baxter and their five children. They are expecting baby 6 in 4 weeks! We met them at our campground, which is kinda near their home. By then it was near 7:30pm. It was cloudy and cool, and by the time we set up our sandwich fixins, a cold front pounded us with 40 mph winds. We proceeded to the bus in great haste! It was great! Later, the wind died down, and the pyro-marshmallow festivities began.
Remember, 600, give or take a few, which got tracked in on our shoes and frosted our black rubber floor! A lasting remembrance of a very fun evening.
Auntie Susie Yearwood, of Lake Almanor, California, wanted to be included in the blog, so here is her moment! She sent me the sweetest mother's day card this year; it made me cry!
Hope to see you soon, Sis!!! Also, if you're really good, I'll let you clean my room, okay?

Sometime tomorrow we are hoping to head towards Luverne, MN for an all too brief visit with the gang out there.