Eventful....

 9:56 am - Monday - March 30th - TWW - 67° F, humidity 23%, cloud cover 55%, wind 16 mph out of the south by southwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2023 TLE and I flew to Atlanta, GA to visit my son Tim, and his family....

Left to right: Kathy (grandmother of Laila), Laila, Jennifer (Laila's mother), Bowie (daughter), Tim, Crosby (son), TLE and moi

....after unpacking, and taking a nap we headed out with Tim's extended family for dinner.

Sunday began innocently enough.  TLE and I wanted to get an early start on our drive back to TWW, so we were up a little after 6 am, packed, and on the road by 7:30 am.  We drove north through Wickenburg following US-93 to US-69 which took us on a scenic drive to Prescott.  We've never driven this way before, and really liked the drive.  Distance wise it is shorter than going up I-17 to Prescott, but due to the mountainous terrain the average speed is under 45 mph, so it takes about the same driving time as the longer way....

......we arrived in Prescott at the local Fry's Supermarket to do the last of our shopping around 9:30 am, and were back on the road by 10:30 am hoping to arrive back at TWW around 12:15 pm.  We stopped in Ashfork to top off our fuel tank then continued to Seligman where we picked up some mail, and a piece of hardware at the General Store for a project I'm trying to finish.  We were at the turnoff to the north/south arterial around 11:50 pm, and figured we'd be home by 12:15 pm.  That is when things became eventful!

We were about 4 miles from TWW when I suddenly began to smell coolant....doh!  I pulled to the side of the road, and got out of the car....I saw a long trail of spilled coolant behind the VW....double doh!  We found a safe place to park, turned off the car, and then began to formulate a plan.  I initially called our towing service and was advised they could have a tow truck there in about 90 minutes.  Well, we were less than an hour (walking time) from TWW, so we declined the tow and began the long walk.  I was pretty sure someone would come along to give us a ride, and I was right.  Within 10 minutes Bridget stopped in her 2008 Ford dually pickup and gave us a hitch to a point even with our property, and dropped us off to walk the last 5 minutes to the property....

You can see our Newell in the distance...not far now

TLE was showing her concern...I was just happy to be 5 minutes from home, and not an hour....lol.

.....we quickly retrieved the keys to the Ford Explorer from the Newell, then began the 5 minute drive back to the VW.  I hooked up a tow strap from the Explorer to the Beetle, and while TLE drove the Explorer I piloted the VW.  We moved at about 5 mph, and were back at TWW.....

....within 20 minutes.  By this time it was 2 pm, and we were tired.  We unpacked our luggage, and groceries, then sat down to watch the end of the final 'Elite Eight' game of the day.....UCONN vs. Duke (#1 overall seed).  I decided I was going to wait until Monday morning to figure out what happened to the VW cooling system to cause the loss of all our coolant.

When I turned on the TV UCONN was down by 19 points to begin the 2nd half.  Not looking good, but over the course of the next 20 minutes of game time UCONN slowly closed the gap until with 10 seconds to go in the game they were down by just 2 points.  Duke inbounded the ball, and then the receiver attempted to pass the ball up court, but it was tipped by the UCONN defense, and recovered.  With just .4 seconds on the clock the UCONN player attempted a very long 3 point shot and hit it to win the game....one of the most amazing comebacks in March Madness I have ever witnessed!  It was the only time in the entire game UCONN had been ahead.

This morning, Monday, I went out to the VW to figure out why we lost all of our coolant, and found the problem pretty quickly.....

....the nipple on the device above (right side inlet) broke, disconnecting the hose which carries coolant form the coolant reservoir to the engine, causing all the coolant to leak out of the VW.  Here is picture where I have drawn a red circle around the disconnected hose....

.....now I have to just figure out what that device is, order a new one, and replace it, and all will be well....I hope.  TLE and I always pray for uneventful when we are traveling, but sometimes the Jello jiggles, and the fun begins.  In the over all scheme of things this is a pretty minor issue, and we arrived home safely.  Now it is just a matter of ordering the part, and installing it.  That is was so easy to diagnose is a blessing.

Thanks for stopping by!