Pre-cruise Report

Hey Friends, 

This Odie checking in from Florida. Today I am returning from the Singing At Sea cruise. I am just now getting off the boat in Tampa and we have had a super great time. I will be catching a plane and flying to Texas to meet up with my parents.

Let me rewind to last Sunday and tell you about the first day of my vacation. It was a travel day. I flew from Monroe, Louisiana to Tampa, Florida. I had to make a connection and plane change in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank God everything went according to plan. I arrived safely as did my scooter and luggage. 

In Tampa, I met up with Kaylene Stevens. We spent the afternoon resting from our crazy early morning of traveling. In the evening we went to dinner and prepared our luggage for the ship. We also enjoyed catching up and being together for vacation once again. 

Here are a few pictures from Sunday. 

My alarm went off way to early. I had to give myself a reminder to be happy. 

At Monroe, Louisiana airport. 

Vacation bound 

Lunch in Atlanta airport, cauliflower fried rice and chicken. 

Starbucks stop courtesy of my Christmas gift from Aunt Holly and Jonas. 

Wonderful Tampa, Florida weather. 

Dinner at McAlister’s Deli. 

We stayed Sunday night at Double Tree Westshore. The hotel was nice and the staff were all friendly and helpful. Monday was cruise day. More to come later on the cruise. Here are a few pictures from Monday. 

Thanks for reading. See you back on land. 

Odie

More Fun On The Road

$5 Part Installed

Monday was the warmest day of the week in Bernice, Louisiana so I needed to tackle the windshield wiper repair. Our next travel day is nearly 400 miles and there is a 100% chance of rain. Yep, time to get it done. 

I borrowed a ladder from Pastor Brandon, gathered a ratchet, socket, screwdriver and small pair of Channellock plyers and waded in.

I said it was the warmest day of the week, but it was only 50, very windy and the bus was in the shade. That grew a ten minute job by a few minutes, but we got it. I also changed the wiper blade.

Broken part and a new part.

I will replace the unbroken bracket on the passenger side when it is warmer.

More Fun

Sunday afternoon the drive to Bernice Louisiana was smooth and uneventful for us, but not so smooth and uneventful for a guy we were following. Between Farmersville and Bernice, this nice older GMC pickup pulled out on the road and we followed him for a few miles.

The truck was bouncing from white line to yellow line like a pinball so I backed off and let him have room to bounce.

Later, I was so glad I gave him some room. He was bebopping along and all of a sudden his hood flew up. The dashcam caught the moment it happened.

Here it is zoomed in.

He quickly pulled over and there happened to be a wide spot in front of him where I could pull over too.

Can you see that the hood is not only flung open, but it is hanging completely wopperjawed? It is hanging by the hinge on the passenger side. The driver's side hinge is up in the air.

I do not know if the hood latch in front was undone and as the hood came up, the bolts on the main hinge on the driver's side were sheered loose or if the main hinge came loose first, but it was a mess.

Fortunately, the driver was able to see how to pull over and somehow the windshield avoided getting broken. The hood itself was bent a little, but was in remarkably good shape. The big hinge was bent so I bent it back toward normal and we were able to set the hood back in place without scratching either of the fenders or the hood.

It would not go down enough in the front to latch so we tied the latch to the bumper with a rope. He was good to go, so he went.

I do not love huge rims and ultra thin tires, but the truck was beautiful. Turns out it was a 1977 GMC Cheyenne 10

Like I said Tuesday, it is never boring out here on the road.😇

Hey, thanks for reading!

Davy

Vintage View Vednesday - More Montana 2007

Last week on Vintage View Vednesday I posted pictures from the beautiful state of Montana during our trip in the fall of 2007. Today I have some more pictures from Montana during our week of revival that trip. I will provide some running commentary along the way.

KJo is always telling people to lean over or make a funny face for pictures. The Metzger's are always game for a good time!

The scenery in Montana nearly takes my breath away every time.

Twins separated at birth?

One day the Metzger's drove us down the valley on HWY 93 all the way to the Idaho state line.

The candy store in Darby!

One day, Dad and I drove west of Lolo on HWY 12 to Lolo Pass and the Idaho State line. Lewis and Clark and their expedition camped near Lolo and went through Lolo Pass.

After church one night, Dad and Mom treated us all to McDonald's.

Wow! The Metzger children have all grown up. We need to go back to McDonald's someday and recreate some of these pictures. Look at these pictures from the fall of 2019 for comparison.

I love these pictures. Thank you for joining us on Vintage View Vednesday. See you soon.

Davy