Day 1

After passing the keys and Spatz instructions to Aaron, and a quick prayer, we were off. A little later than we wanted to, but that's ok. About an hour into the drive Jarrod pulled off at a vista point and noticed that the engine was running hot. The water in the radiator was boiling. Jarrod took this moment to let the Marshmallow cool while he rested. I should've taken a picture of his feet sticking out of the window. The kids and I went for a short walk and then played with the toys in the rv. Long story short we had a radiator problem. Jarrod would drive for a few miles and then have to let the engine cool. We stopped in Los Banos to have someone look at the radiator. It was a tune up place. The guy there took the thermostat out in hopes that that would work long enough for us to make it to the next town. This guy seemed to be a collector of vintage cars. We were most impressed with his amphibious car. That thing was cool!

We stopped in Tulare where the kids and I bedded for the night. Our original plan was to have the kids and I sleep on the top bed and Jarrod on the dinette bed. But, the dinette bed proved to be bigger than we thought and the cabover bed too small to accomodate as many children. Simeon got kicked down to coach with Jarrod. Poor Jarrod got stuck with the snuggler. We made it just past Bakersfield when disaster struck. We were trying to up a mountain into Tahachapi when the radiator hose sprung a leak. We went a couple more miles to find a safe, well lit, turn off to settle for the night.

Here's the hose with the hole in it.

I took more pictures, like of the mechanics vintage cars but, they seemed to have been accidentally deleted somehow.