An average day...

So yesterday was all planned out.  Rylee had a dentist appointment in Wiscasset (we live in Hope, it's an hour drive).  We were then going to do a bit of grocery shopping, return some extremely overdue books to the Bremen Library and hit the post office.  Well we didn't make it very far.  We got through Waldoboro when the van began to overheat, which is not unusual for the van lately.  But normally (yes this is normal for the van... LOL) it will cycle around and cool off.  It didn't this time.  The temperature gauge kept climbing and climbing.  uh oh.  Then it hit the red line.  I knew now that it wasn't going to cycle back down.  We were on a hill, on Rt 1.  I pulled over, turned off the van and turned on the hazard lights.  Rylee and Danny asked "what's wrong with the van now Mom?"  Notice the "now".  Again... not unusual to have to pull over with the van.  So I gave them the scoop on what was happening and said we would need to sit there for a bit.  Danny asked if he could unbunkle then.  Absolutely not, I'm envisioning someone barreling down the road and hitting us.  No way on getting out of his car seat. 
I give my dear husband a call, who is at work in South Bristol (which is a drive from where I'm stuck).  He says to let the engine block cool down and then try starting it again.  I'll just have to try and get it home.  I may have to stop a few times on the way and let it cool down.  Wonderful.  There are really no good places to stop on the way home and pull over safely.  This sounds great.  He asked me again where I was.  I told him that I could see Hillside Auto from where we were sitting.  We made the decision to let the engine block cool and then for me to go there and see what they could do.
We were assuming that there was air in the cooling system and that was causing it to overheat.  So I was hoping that they could bleed it out and we would be set to go.  The boys and I sat on the side of the road for about 20 minutes.  And with every car/truck/van that passed us they would say "wow that one really rocked the van!  Are we going to tip over?"  good grief!
Thankfully the van started up and we made it to Hillside.  I explained to the mechanic there what was going on.  He agreed that it was air in the cooling system.  So a hour and fifteen minutes later (oh and $70) we were on our way again.  Back home, no errands.  Well almost no errands. I did swing by the bank, post office and grocery store.  Rylee was happy to miss his dentist appointment.
The van got us almost all the way home.  We were on our road when it started over heating again.. by the time we were pulling down our driveway it was almost to the red line again.  Praise God we made it home!!

So that was our exciting day yesterday.... or really just another average day in the Rapp family life!