Guyana or bust, with
a stop in TN
By Edwin Davidson
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| Ready to Leave? |
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| The Offending Piece |
Wow, things are happening fast now that my instrument rating
is complete. We have packed up our belongings that are not going with us to
Guyana, and stored them in two small sheds on my parent’s property. Thursday
June 23, just before noon, we finally had our things that we were taking with
us, packed and loaded in our truck. There
was only a small seat for Laura in the back next to Kathryn. We had a good bye
prayer with Daddy (Bryant) and Kathilee, and hopped in the truck. At that point
Daddy pointed out a puddle under the front of the truck. Oil was leaking in
larger amounts than is acceptable for starting off on a long road trip. I had
just fixed a leak in the oil cooler lines on Monday but apparently the fix
didn’t hold. Daddy went to town to try to locate the oil line connectors for
the external oil cooler. Laura and I took a closer look at our packing job, how
tight everything was, and how uncomfortable the 12-13 hour trip would be. Daddy
had offered a small utility trailer for us to use if needed. Because we were
taking a few of Edwin’s tools, winter clothes for when we return from Guyana,
etc, we were heavily loaded. We decided
that the trailer would be necessary. Daddy located the parts for the truck while
in town. They had to be shipped from another store and would be at that
location in an hour.
We ate our lunch while we waited for Daddy to return from
town with the parts for the truck. I started working on making a trailer light
adapter after lunch. Shortly, Daddy arrived with the new parts and went in to
eat his lunch while I put the new parts on the truck. Wow it was hot. The
outside temperature was somewhere near 97, with shade on short supply. Daddy
then retrieved the trailer from the weeds and it had a FLAT tire. We parked the
trailer on the driveway where we could get to all sides easily. The taillight
brackets were broken or iffy, so new ones had to be fabricated and welded on. The
thought also occurred to us, that the bearings should be inspected and repacked
before heading out. Of the 4 bearings 2 were bad. So Daddy went off to town again,
to find new bearings and seals. I set
about to fix the wiring for the trailer lights. After much trouble-shooting and
rewiring, the lights finally lit up like a Christmas tree. Daddy arrived with
the new bearings. While all this was happening Laura discovered that if we had
left when we had planned, we would have left some cash and a check that we
needed, sitting on the shelf in the room. Sometimes delays are for our own
good.
The new bearings were installed, and the new tires that had
been stored in the barn, were installed on the trailer as well. Next, the
trailer was hooked up securely to the truck. Tarps were laid out and the larger
boxes and suitcases were loaded on the trailer and the things in the truck
re-positioned for better seating and mirror visibility.
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| Ways to entertain a toddler... |
