Wow, thanks for all the support and well wishes, I'm sure they helped carry me home without further incident.
I had pulled over for the 5th time with the gauge pegged, when I got the text from Bill and the gauge rapidly dropped to normal as we talked, which it hadn't done the previous 4 times. I told Bill I was going to get on the road again to see if it would stay down and it did, for the most part. I'll replace the thermostat when I replace the water pump in the near future.
Cedar Rapids tried to slow me down with rain but hadn't gotten cold enough, yet, to snow or freeze and I drove out of the rain south of Waterloo, but did find snow flurries the top 25 miles of Iowa, but nothing to be concerned with.
The goal was to be home in 36 hours and I came close, but sitting in a 4 lane parking lot on I64 NW of St Louis for a crash to clear for 1/2 hr and all the time spent with the overheating pushed it to 38.5 hours.
I guess the old saying is true, that old truckers don't die,
they just smell like it...
