ANOTHER MISHAP!

We headed for Grinnell to see Heidi's family and friends, and almost made it. We had filled up the tank with fuel in Des Moines and as we got to the Kellogg turn off, we smelled diesel. The engine light came on and Don took the exit. As we approached the stop sign, the engine died. It was 4 o'clock. We looked outside and saw that we were leaking fuel on the pavement, and it had sprayed fuel all over the car.

Don called the road service and they had trouble finding a tow truck for us. No one in Des Moines will do it for less than $1000. They set us up with one in Cedar Rapids, about an hour and a half away. He was to come and tow us to Des Moines. We waited and waited. Finally, after many phone calls, she found another guy in Oskaloosa and he got there around 9:30. Since it was dark, we had to have a deputy sherriff direct traffic. Of course, the guy had to have trouble hooking it up, so didn't leave with it until 11:30.

In the meantime, we had been talking to our friends in Grinnell, the Wilsons and Fitzgerald's. Fitz had a power washer to use on the car and an empty bedroom, so we headed there. The next morning we found out that they wouldn't have the part they needed until the next day, so, Fitz' left town and left us their house. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!) While there we went to dinner with our daughter, spent time with Wilsons, ate lunch at the college's grill that Larry runs, visited Sue and Howard McDonough and Suzi and Bill Hansen. Nice to see everyone. The next day we did some shopping in Des Moines while we were waiting for them to get it fixed. Apparently it was a #6 fuel injector line. (God only knows what would have happened if it had been a #5 or 7-but I'm being facicious!) Anyway, we left around 4:30, and got to Kieler, WI, near Dubuque, around 8:30. The next day we attended our nephew Cody's High school graduation party, and on Sunday, our niece Renae's wedding shower. Very nice seeing everyone especially Don's mother who is 91. Tomorrow we'll head to Decorah for a couple days on our way to Minneapolis to see Scott.