UART with PIC24F and Parallax 28040

I am using the UART TX and RX ports on my PIC24F04KA200 to send and receive data to/from the bi-directional signal pin on a Parallax 28040 temperature sensor module. Is anybody familiar enough with programming UART on the PIC in C to glance at these code snippets and give me some advice on where I'm going wrong so far? Thanks:

const char Txdata[] = "0!TEMR$5A$07";
char Rxdata[2]="00";

int main(void)
{
init_U1MODE();
init_U1STA();
//Set Baud rate to 9600
U1BRG=25;

//Write Txdata[] to U1TX1REG
int k;
for(k=13; k>0; k--)
{
_UTXEN=0; //make sure TX is disabled
U1TXREG=Txdata[k]; //load the word, one char at a time
_UTXEN=1; //enable TX, char gets sent
}
_UTXEN=0; //disable TX--we're done sending this word

//Read U1RX1REG only if receive buffer isn't overflown
char lowByte, highByte;
if(_OERR==0) //if we dont have an overflow in the RX buffer
{
blink_LED1();
lowByte = U1RXREG;
pause_1();
highByte = U1RXREG;
}
//Fill Rxdata[] with the low and high bytes
Rxdata[0]=lowByte;
Rxdata[1]=highByte;
.......

void init_U1MODE()
{
//U1MODE configuration: auto Baud enable, 8-bit data, no parity bit, 1 stop bit, normal baud rate
U1MODE=0x8210;
}

void init_U1STA()
{
//Initializes the U1 status -- transmit off, etc.
_UTXISEL1=0;
_UTXISEL0=1;
_UTXINV=1;
_UTXBRK=1;
_UTXEN=0;
_URXISEL1=1;
_URXISEL0=0;
_ADDEN=0;
}

I took the main chunks that I'm concerned with from my code, which all compiles fine. The character array in the beginning is what I am sending to the Parallax module -- I built this string based on what I think is the correct command syntax to send to the 28040 to get it to reply with output. I found the commands in the Parallax 28040 datasheet, which is here:

**broken link removed**

Command !TEMr is described on Page 4.

I'd love any guidance at all! I'm doing this from scratch, and it's my 6th day working with any sort of microprocessor -or- UART communication protocol...and to top it all off, C isn't my strong suit.