April 18 - May 2, 2006 Leavenworth, Kan. - Lake Chicot, Ark. Mile 7,125 1,750 Miles this Leg Driving a 17-year-old vehicle around the country, we expected to have periodic mechanical troubles. And a few hours after the last blog posting, we had to tap into the “repairs” reserve in our trip budget. Matilda “gave us a start” when her starter failed! We had packed up on April 18 and left our relatives’ house near Leavenworth, Kan., to head toward southern Missouri. We stopped in the tongue-twister town of Osawatomie, Kan., to fill our propane tank and upon trying to restart Matilda, she responded only with a horrible grinding noise. The starter had given us only two shaky starts as a warning before it died completely. Thanks to the helpful folks at the Farmers Co-op, we
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