Thanks guys. I decided to go ahead and replace the pump myself in Birmingham rather than face the possibility of getting stranded somewhere south of there.

Went to WalMart and purchased a dishpan to catch the coolant. Also got a wooden handled hammer to use as a pry tool at the bottom of the pump to get the bolts started.

It helped that I had just changed out the waterpump in September as all the nuts and bolts were clean and not rusted. Start to finish it was a 63 minute job.

I checked the records and the pump was in service for just 2500 miles. So I got a bad Hepu pump.

Thanks for your responces.

Randy