Thanks, Travel, Tiresome Task, Trouble, Texas and Tacos

Thanks

We have mentioned a few times the last few weeks about my Great Uncle Ed needing prayer. He has suffered for several weeks in the hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Yesterday morning about 3:30 he passed away. Thank you for praying for him. Would you please continue to pray for his wife, Aunt Nettie. She is physically and mentally exhausted and now must face the duties of the coming days. Also I am planning to travel to Ohio to preach the funeral once the plans are set. Thank you for praying.

Travel

Our travel days this week began on Monday with hooking up the Green Machine and "doing the work of the evangelist" before hitting the road. We left Ellisville, Mississippi and drove 326 miles to the Flying J near Greenwood, Louisiana. We drove through some rain, but mostly it was a beautiful day for driving.

We arrived at the Flying J before dark and unhooked the car. Usually we do not unhook the car when parking for the night, but we did for two reasons. Number one, the RV spots were barely big enough for the BoggsMobile and number two we were going to need the car.

This is a picture Tuesday afternoon.

Tiresome Task

We had work to do and we needed some uninterrupted time to do it. It was time to tackle the part of Nigeria travel that I dread the most, wading through the visa process. I should not let it whip up on me so bad, but it does every time. The system is overly convoluted and changes from year to year in ways that do not make sense to me. It is expensive, the website is clunky and I am a flunky. That is a good summation!

The USA has created a difficult path for Nigerians to obtain travel visas here and Nigeria has returned the favor. Plus we have to pay a company to physically walk the applications into the Nigerian Embassy so that adds to the complexity and expense.

Monday evening we gathered documents that we needed, scanned them into the computer, printed out what we needed and tried to get familiar with the process again. Tuesday morning we began in earnest and by Tuesday afternoon we went to Walgreens to get photos for our visas and found a FedEx facility to send the over night package.

Whew! Our part was completed!

I did not want to drive across Dallas and Ft. Worth in rush hour traffic so I rested a while and we left the Flying J about 7:00 PM. I figured we would be at the church in Watauga by 10:00. 

About 160 miles from our destination Kelly Jo heard air escaping some where. Oh No!

Trouble

Sure enough there was an air sound under my feet and it was getting louder by the second. The gauges were holding steady and I figured they would remain good if I could keep my speed up and my foot off the break. Kelly Jo found a Pilot 18 miles ahead. We drove, prayed and made it to the Pilot.

I was able to get off the exit and into the Pilot truck stop without using my brakes or losing much air pressure. All of the parking spots were taken. We stopped, unhooked the car and I pulled into an opening that was not a parking space, hoping I could stay there long enough to get the leak repaired. I left the engine running and the pressure was down over 20 lbs from normal but holding.

I found the busted line and was surprised that it was the same line that I had repaired in November of last year in California. Another section of the same line had been repaired in October of 2016 in North Carolina. I did not realize the previous repairs were to the same air line because they were several feet apart and separated by "miles" of other air lines and wires.

Yes, this was a familiar song and dance. I knew what the third verse sounded like, but the ending was a little murky at the moment.

The line goes to the driver's seat so I could do without that line in a pinch. The Pilot mobile truck repair guy had no fittings for it, but he did have an idea. I asked him if he could cap the line. He could not, but he asked if I had vice grips. Yep, that will fix it for a while.

Then I plainly told the guy that maybe the reason I was there was because of him. I asked him if there was anything he wanted me to pray about and the flood gates opened. He needs God desperately in several situations and we are going to pray for him. Will you pray for the guy at the Pilot truck stop near Tyler, Texas?

As soon as we put the vice grips on the line, the pressure came up to normal and we finished the last 140 miles of the trip. Praise God for His help!

Texas

It was 2:00 AM by the time we were parked, hooked to utilities and half way calm enough to go to bed. It sure felt good to be in Texas!

This is a close up of the line that busted.

I have been trying to source the proper fittings here and I hope to finally get them in my hand today. 

Tacos

Did you know that today is National Taco Day 2018? Be sure that you and your family get out and celebrate this momentous occasion. You can rest assured that the Boggs family will honor this day in a big way even though we have had tacos every day this week so far! We must do our part.

Well, that is about all for today and I would say that is enough. Thank you for reading.

Davy