Dixon, Illinois

Malcolm testing the car at the Headquarters for the Lincoln Highway.

We got a bit of rain yesterday. Enough to make the driving difficult. We have no top on the Cadillac, or front doors for that matter but surprisingly we didn't get soaked. We would if it rained harder and longer. The car was running well up until that point, except for the brakes which didn't like being wet. It changed the way I was driving, I needed to allow a long distance to stop. At one point Dorothy decided to stop at a yellow light that I thought was going through and I almost ran into her. It would have been an interesting insurance report. I used the hand brake and stopped, missing her by about a foot, the light changed and the car had stalled. Dylan was on top of it, he jumped out, cranked, we started and chugged through the huge 4 way intersection. I yelled to Dylan to get out and push, at that point I noticed the flashing lights of a police car behind us. Dylan pushed, we started moving, he jumped in and we limped to a side road. The policeman waved and drove on. I really thought he was going to stop us. I was pretty sure there might be some Illinois law about pushing through large intersections. Everyone at that intersection waited for us, it was really kind. I'm sure they were either laughing or impressed with how fast Dylan can move.

We made it about 6 more miles down the road and decided to pull into a church yard. The Car was not happy. Earlier I had lost a piece of the carburetor. Malcolm had repaired it but I was still fouling plugs. He worked on it tested it, and worked on it some more. Nothing helped. We sent Dorothy and Sue on and told them we'd catch up. A lovely young woman came from the church to talk to us. After a bit she asked if I minded if she said a prayer. I was touched and said anything you can do to help would be great. Now this is the amazing part. As she was praying, the car started twice. When she was done, it was much better, and I was able to drive the last 15 miles to Dixon. (Apparently we weren't looking at this whole carburetor thing in the right way)

Dinner with Sue and Art from Illinois Brass Touring, Sue will stay with us until the Illinois/Iowa line then she has to go home. Art has been driving sag. He is the most patient man, truly. I am happy to have met them both. I will miss them when they leave us.