An unexpected stop, but at least I could stop

I was planning on writing about local meetings today, but early this morning I had to go to West Lafayette to sign some bank papers. What should have taken a few minutes took about an hour--pretty normal for a lot of bank transactions these days. Leaving West Lafayette, I noticed that my brake pedal did not feel right. I had to press down further than I thought I should and I made mental note to myself to schedule an appointment at my mechanic when I got home.

As I was driving up US 231, the red brake light came on and there was a message on the dashboard that I had low brake fluid. I was not sure what to do, but I knew that between where I was and Wolcott, there was only one stop light. I guessed that I had a brake line leak and that I had a very limited number of stops left before the system would be dry.

I was delighted to discover an auto parts store on the south edge of Wolcott. I was able to stop without a problem and bought some brake fluid. I filled the reservoir  and hoped that I would be able to make it back to Rensselaer. However, the brakes still felt bad and the brake light came on immediately. I pulled across the highway to a conveniently located garage. And a few minutes later my car looked like this:

I was very lucky that I found a conveniently located service station that provided quick and efficient service.

While I was waiting at Farney's Service Center, I took a look at the Wolcott and Monticello papers. Their top story was the groundbreaking for a 60,000 square foot building shell that is supposed to attract business to the 600 acre Mid-America Commerce Park. The new building will be just over the Jasper-White county line, on the White County side.

I left Rensselaer at 7:00 in the rain and I returned at noon in the rain. There is water in the fields and there are places where there is water on the roads, though the only one I encountered was on the highway in Wolcott. My rain gauge says that we have received about two and half inches since Sunday.

In completely unrelated news, a close relative of mine who grew up in Rensselaer has a new book on Amazon called The Great Basin for Kids. The Great Basin is the area of the Western United States that has no rivers that reach the ocean. I reviewed a digital copy of a preliminary version and was very impressed with it.