Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The BoggsMobile In Vonore, Tennessee

We rolled into East Tennessee Luxury Coach on Saturday March 21st for our third visit to Jeff Rowe's shop in Vonore, Tennessee. We were there in March of last year to have a window replaced and back in June to have the air bags, Norgren valves and brake chambers replaced. Mr. Rowe is one of the few people I trust completely with the BoggsMobile and I hope he stays in business for many years.

This visit was made for a few various repairs and maintenance items. The most pesky item was a small but persistent air leak in the front end. Some times when we are parked on a slope I need to raise the front end. If the suspension is leaking, the front end will settle and the nose will be pointing severely downward by morning.

Jeff found the problem was a defective fitting on the driver's side front air bag. It is now holding air and you can see proof in the pictures below where we are parked on quite a slope at First Pentecostal Church in London, Kentucky.







I also needed to have the coolant drained, flushed and refilled. This is more of a maintenance issue and it was time to do it.




While the coolant was drained, they replaced the engine block heater. The old one is below and had shorted out a while back.




Since I replaced the front tires last April and moved the front tires to the back I have been having balancing problems periodically. Some days they ride as smooth as silk and other days it is horrible. With a single tire costing nearly $1000 retail it is important for it to be balanced!

There are at least two predominate ways to balance big tires. They can spin balance them or they can balance them by putting bags of a material (Equal or Counteract) inside the tire the balance it. This is relatively cheap to do while the tires are being installed

Weights get thrown off and then it is costly and time consuming to remove the tires and have them spin balanced again. I have tried this with the bus tires but it seems the good balance never holds for long. I have also tried the Equal. The first time was perfect. This time the tires seemed balanced only part of the time at best.

There is a third way to balance big tires that is gaining ground. There are a couple of companies that are making balancers that slide on over the lugs and balance the whole wheel assembly as it is turning. One of the companies is called Centramatic and I had Jeff put those on the bus. Saturday's ride was smooth as silk but I will report back later on the long term ride.

Here is a picture of one on the tag axle hub.




Jeff also replaced a bushing in the tag axle pivot on each side. I did not get any pictures of the repair but the bushing is inside this assembly.


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While I was in Vonore Bro. Scott, Sis. Kim and Rylee Morris stopped in for a quick visit on their way to the mountains. It was great to see them for a few minutes!




Here is another bus getting the airbags changed. I am going to make a set of these ramps for my bus and keep them at the barn. They are as handy as a pocket on a shirt!





You see the brown bus in the back ground of this picture? It is an unusual coach.




It is unusual in the fact that it has a mid door like the BoggsMobile does. Can you spot the mid door in the picture below?




There are VERY FEW mid door Prevosts and it was pretty neat to have them both on the same lot at the same time. This is not the first time however. I spotted this bus at Prevost in Nashville a couple of years ago while we were there.


Another thing Jeff replaced was the mini air bags that place tension on the belts in the engine compartment and a regulator in that system too. These can be a source of persistent leaks and it was good to get these changed out.




Here is a close up.





Kelly Jo and Odie were not with me at the bus during the day because they were at the motel in Oak Ridge. Since Odie was not there she did not get to see Mr. Jeff Rowe until we picked up the bus on Wednesday. She was smiling so big because she loves people that spoil her and take up for her!




I think God brought Jeff Rowe into our lives and we are thankful for it. Nobody said owning and operating a bus would be easy or cheap but having somebody I can trust sure helps a big bunch.

Thanks for reading.

Davy

Monday, March 30, 2015

Our Weekend In Review

To tell the story of our weekend is to really go all the way back to Wednesday morning. We woke up early Wednesday at the hotel in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and loaded up the Green Machine for the hour trip to the shop where the BoggsMobile was parked. The bus was ready to roll so we settled up there, cranked the bus and backed up to the tent trailer.




We hooked up to the trailer, loaded the car and pointed the whole contraption toward Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. About 90 minutes later we were pulling into Riverbend Campground. After checking in, we parked and then removed the car from the trailer.






We stayed at Riverbend Campground during PFYC for the second year in a row. Owner Rex McCarter runs a very nice campground and has been very kind to us. Riverbend is very close to all the action in Pigeon Forge. In fact the entrance is located within 1/2 mile of traffic light #1. I have recommended it to several others and they have all been very pleased.

We really, really enjoyed the Pentecostal Fire Youth Conference last week. We posted lots of pictures from Thursday and Friday and the second post included Odie's list of all the preaching. But none of that can capture the atmosphere of the conference. It was so good.

Pastor David Webb and the PFYC board work very hard to produce a conference with lively worship, sound Biblical preaching and lives being changed in the altars. That is exactly what we have seen each time we have been there. We had a wonderful time.

We left Riverbend about noon on Saturday and enjoyed a beautiful drive over Jellico Mountain to London, Kentucky. We made one stop in Corbin, Kentucky for diesel.




We pulled into First Pentecostal Church in London, Kentucky about 3:00 PM. By the time we removed the Green Machine from the trailer, dropped the trailer, parked and leveled the bus it was feeling pretty hungry around here. I took Kelly Jo for a nice candle light dinner at Golden Corral and then we all worked in the bus until bed time. 




Revival started Sunday with two wonderful services at First Pentecostal. Thank God for his help and favor. We have preached here for Pastor Vernon Jarvis at other times including a beautiful Christmas service in 2013 but this is our first revival here. It is exciting to be here.

We are only here for three more nights so we are trying have as get as much revival in as possible. Thanks to those of you that lift us up daily in prayer. I know that God hears your prayer.

I hope you had a great weekend.

Davy



Pastor Vernon Jarvis


















Choir practice








Sunday, March 29, 2015

View Out The Front Window March 29, 2015

Check out our posts from this last week at the links below.







Our view has varied some this week since we have been on the move. Last Sunday I showed you the view outside at East Tennessee Luxury Coach in Vonore, Tennessee. Here is my view out the front window inside the shop.



Wednesday morning we moved over to Riverbend Campground in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Here is the view from the door.



Here is the view out the front window.



Saturday afternoon we moved to First Pentecostal in London, Kentucky and this is our view out the front window.



Out the front door.



We begin revival here at First Pentecostal this morning by God's grace. We are looking for a great Sunday. May God bless you and your family with a great day as well.

Davy