TLC For The BoggsMobile

Absolutely everything that each of us owns must be maintained. It is an unfortunate fact of life.

If you neglect your house for a few years, it will begin to disintegrate right before your eyes. Our house, the BoggsMobile is no different. It requires regular maintenance and repairs to continue serving its purpose and rolling down the road.

Even though I do a lot of work on the BoggsMobile, most of the repairs require someone with more knowledge than I possess and with access to tools and parts that I do not have.

The go-to guy for the BoggsMobile is Jeff Rowe at East Tennessee Luxury Coach near Vonore, Tennessee.

1995 Prevost XL Vantare Conversion

On our early May visit to our dear friend Jeff Rowe, the BoggsMobile needed a lot of attention. I gave Jeff a long list of things in no particular order of priority. They were all urgent in their own way.

Oil change for the engine with an oil sample collected. (The sample came back great. YAY!)

-The air system that is used for suspension and brakes needed a few things.

    -Dryer cartridge replaced

    -Ride height adjusted. It was a little low on the driver's side.

    -The suspension was leaking down on both sides in the back when parked.

-The generator voltage was low on both legs.

-The 27 year old commode needed to be replaced. It was in bad shape and I had not been able to find a replacement in stock anywhere.

-The generator bay door was missing the rub rail. I brought a previously used replacement that I had in the barn.

-The AC that is driven by the bus motor while traveling needed to be charged. (It has a small leak somewhere, but definitely needed to be charged going into summer.)

-The fan clutch that controls the radiator fan has intermittent stuff going on.

-The #2 roof AC needed to be replaced.

-The #3 roof AC needed a fan motor.

There are other items that need attention, but they can be put off a bit. The things above were "now" things. I was hoping to get everything completed, but prepared for a few items to be left out due to lack of parts availability.

I was not sure if six or seven work days would be enough because there are lots of other buses there waiting for various repairs and updates big and small. The BoggsMobile is only one small piece of the pie there at any given time.

We left with almost everything on the list either taken care of completely or at least investigated by Jeff and a plan of action in place. Thank you, Lord and Thank you Jeff.

Jeff found a commode that works in the space available. They needed to reengineer the wall behind it, but it looks like it was installed that way from the factory. Perfect.

All the other routine items were checked off one by one. As a bonus, Jeff was also able to get to the root of a long term and occasional glitch in the tag axle brakes. You can read that HERE if you missed it.

There were only two stubborn items on the list. Jeff was not able to resolve the generator problem, because it may not be a generator problem. It was putting out the proper voltage and he let it run for hours. 

Somewhere between the generator and the output of the inverters, the voltage output is dropping. He adjusted some settings on the inverters and we will wait and attack that another day.

The only other incomplete item was the roof air conditioners. There were still no parts available. Ouch! That really hurt, especially with summer coming on strong and summer already in full swing in Arizona and California. But Jeff did everything that he could do. He and one of his men went through old used parts to no avail.

KJo and I really regretted scheduling the early summer months in some of the hottest places in the USA. We were in Arizona in late May, 2009 when one of our original Cruise Airs went out so we knew this could get crazy.

We are surviving the extreme heat in Arizona with some creative workarounds AND we have made progress on the roof ACs too. This post is already to long, so I will tell you about that another day. It is really good news.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us on Mile Markers.

Davy

The Sprayer Saga Continues

I missed a few of Odie's pictures yesterday. At the bottom of this post, you will find her pictures from Saturday.

The Sprayer Saga Continues

If you see me selling Hose Spray Nozzles online OR on the side of the road, you will know why.😍

Several of my friends were laughing at me after this January post. I told about owning five good sprayers, yet driving all the way to Texas without one.

Well, the Sprayer Saga continues, with a twist.

We arrived at East Tennessee Luxury Coach in Tennessee on May 7. Early Monday morning, May 9, I hooked my sprayer to Jeff's hose and cleaned out our plumbing bay a bit. We had been having a black water problem and I wanted to clean it up some before Jeff's guys had to work in there.

I distinctly remember removing it from the hose, but the sprayer went totally AWOL after that.

We noticed it was missing while the BoggsMobile was still in Tennessee. I looked all through the compartment where we store such stuff and through another compartment where such things might end up, even though they do not belong. KJo searched the inside of the bus.

After several searches, we declared it lost. Ouch!

We did not need a sprayer until we arrived out here in Phoenix. The Jeep and the front and back of the bus needed to be cleaned something fierce! While at Lowe's, I bought another one while smacking myself upside the head.

Very early the next morning, I opened up the bay that holds the sound equipment. Can you guess what was laying at the edge of that bay? I am sure you can guess and guess correctly!

Right there in front of my face, was the lost sprayer! 

Nothing water related EVER goes in with the sound equipment. I guess I should say almost never. Ugh!

Here they are together. The new one that we purchased in January is on the left and the BRAND NEW one we bought just now at Lowe's is on the right.

This is getting ridiculous! 😢😍

KJo and I used both of them while washing the Jeep and Bus, just to make it seem like I MIGHT not be wasting money. I reckon I need to invest in this company.

It was 100-105 degrees the first three days we were here. Wow! Evidently, we had a cold front move in Sunday. It has been way down in the mid to upper 90s for three days but it is going back up tomorrow.

If we need to work outside, we do it very early in the morning. We washed the front and back of the bus and the front of the jeep between 5-6 in the morning.

Here is KJo washing the Jeep at 5:30 AM.😍😎

Now, here are Odie's pictures from Saturday as promised.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

35 Years Old - Ali Elizabeth Boggs

35 years ago today, in the evening, our second daughter, Ali Elizabeth was born. Kelly Jo had spent most of six weeks in the hospital trying to prevent Ali from being born, but on May 23rd she could not be stopped any longer.

We were blessed to hold her and love on her for a few hours and receive her love in return. In the early hours of the next day, as we were holding her, she slipped into eternity.

There are times, that I let my mind wander. What would Ali look like? What would her singing voice sound like? Would she sing the high part that we are always wishing for?

What about her personality? Would she shine in a crowd or shy away? Would she be a "Daddy's girl" like Odie was? I can imagine her loving Odie so much and almost idolizing her Mom. Would she be a piano player like Kelly Jo?

My imagination would go on and on IF I would let it and soon the hurt would start pounding away at my heart. The questions are fun for a moment, but they are better off in small doses. It is better to stick with the things that I know.

I was holding Ali when her undeveloped lungs could sustain her no longer. I carried Ali in her little coffin to the grave myself. I let her down in the ground with my own hands.

When the small service was over, I shoveled in the dirt myself. I know where her little body is, but I also know our Ali is in Heaven. For some reason, we are still here below. We can not bring her back to us, but we can go to her by the grace of God.

Today, as with most years, we are many miles from Ohio on Ali's birthday, The last two years, 2020 and 2021, we were home on May 23. In 2020 KJo and I ordered some flowers, picked them up and went to the cemetery for a while.

Ali was one of the first graves in this section, but it has many graves 33 years later. Some of them are family. I have two Uncles, two grandparents, a first cousin and a great Uncle buried within a few feet of Ali.

My cousin Debbie and her husband Sonny mulched around the graves that year and had everything looking so nice!

We stayed a while, left the flowers and walked away. I do not look back. One day, I will see her again and I will be amazed at how beautiful she is. That is why I look forward and not behind!

2021 found us at home again on May 23.

My Mother put together some flowers and we took them to Ali's grave.

You may decorate the grave of a loved one and you may reminisce a little and shed a tear or two. May God bless you, my dear friend! This is one of the very hard things in life. But as Christians, we know that we will see them again! Hallelujah!

Edit: I am adding these three pictures taken May 24, 2022, at the cemetery. My Grandpa, Martin Boggs, who is buried a few feet away was born 100 years before on May 24, 1922.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

The Best Laid Plans And All That! BoggsMobile News

Our life often revolves around the BoggsMobile so sometimes that is what I write about. If you are here to read about our 1995/96 Prevost XL Vantare, you are in luck today. 

IF you go to sleep every time I post something mechanical, humor me today, you may like tomorrow better!

The Best Laid Plans And All That! BoggsMobile News😍

I told you Tuesday that we hoped to roll some miles under our wheels that day. While we did roll some miles, it was not as near as many as we had hoped. We were gone from East Tennessee Luxury Coach before 7:00 AM, but we were back in 55 minutes.

Tuesday

By 4:30 AM, I was up and thinking about leaving. By 6:30 the bus was running and we were hooking up the Jeep. Thirteen miles later, KJo was in the back and smelled brakes getting hot. At the same time, my tire pressure monitor was telling me that one of my tag axle tires had pressure rising. Time to pull over.

Thankfully, there was a station we could pull into. Nothing was overly hot, but it was pretty obvious one of the brakes was dragging. I called Jeff and headed back to his shop. We unhooked the Jeep and Jeff pulled the BoggsMobile into the shop.

You may wonder why we make such a big deal about brake issues. There are two reasons. Number one, when we need to stop this thing, I want it to be able to stop. Number two, tires and wheels are the leading source of bus fires. Ouch!

The brakes drag or the bearings run dry, the wheel gets red hot, the tire catches on fire and the bus burns down alongside the road. I have seen way too many pictures and way too many videos and cried every time. We are doing our best to prevent something like that!

There are valves that control the air flow to the tag axle brake chambers. They are called R12 valves. I had them replaced in October 2013 at Prevost Houston. They were leaking like crazy then. They were not leaking Tuesday, but it was possible they were not working correctly. They are not expensive and relatively easy to change. That was the first thing to replace.

Jeff also recommended changing the tag axle brake chambers and they had to be ordered. They would not arrive until Wednesday so we were grounded for the day. I will tell you about Wednesday in a few moments.

A Different Subject

The bus has two 12 volt fresh water pumps and both are kind of difficult to get to. Pump #1 is very difficult to get to. It quit working a while back, but since the second one was working, we did not worry about it. The day we left Virginia and came to Tennessee, Pump #2 quit.

Since were in Vonore an extra day, KJo and I drove to Camping World to get a pump and Jeff put it on. Now we can use water from our fresh water tank when we are not near a spigot.. Yay!

For my own personal information, I purchased a Remco brand pump this time. The bus originally had Flojet and Sureflo pumps and the last two I purchased were Flojet. I like the variable speed 5 GPM Flojet, but it was $400 at Camping World. This one lasted about 4 1/2 years.

The Remco variable speed 5.3 GPM was $228. It is the 90-55AQUAJET-ARV. Jeff had a ball installing it. Hopefully, we are still friends. I need to redo that whole setup. It has not been good from the beginning.

Wednesday

I enjoyed a leisurely morning outside Wednesday. I walked a bit and then sat in the shade in front of the bus. 

Just about the time, it was getting too warm for me outside, the parts arrived and it was time to pull the bus into the shop.

New brake chamber for the tag axle.

These are the two old chambers that were replaced in June 2014.

The brakes released perfectly after installing the new brake chambers and we were hooked up and on the road by 12:50 PM Wednesday. Hallelujah! We had a first good day on the road with no problems at all. Hallelujah Again!

More road news later. Thank you for dropping in.

Davy

That Was Too Easy

A lock on a gate to a piece of property or on the door of a barn or shop or shed or business or house is making a statement. The lock is saying this is mine and I would rather you not go in. The closed gate or door should be enough of a statement, but the lock reinforces it.

It says loudly, "This is my property and if I want you inside, I will invite you inside!"

We already know this, but people are a little touched in the head these days. People understand the boundaries very clearly when you are talking about their own belongings, but seem to have little regard for the sanctity of what belongs to you.

They may slap you upside the head for looking at their stuff. But they will walk right into your house and take what they want IF they want. 

I heard a man say when I was young that a lock only keeps an honest man out. I had to give that some thought. With time and experience, I came to understand what he was saying.

Most locks are not and can not be adequately manufactured to keep a determined or professional thief out of anything! Multiplied millions of dollars are spent every year on security systems and security teams. But thieves are working overtime to defeat every one of those systems.

Our locks say to the honest man, please leave this alone. I have been obsessive about locking everything for 35+ years. Yet, to the dishonest man determined to make what is mine his, the lock is a small hindrance and nothing more.

Common locks and security systems that we average people use would barely slow down a professional thief IF we have something they want.

I said a moment ago that I heard a person say when I was young that a lock only keeps an honest man out. As I said, I pondered that for a while. I understood better when that very man was caught breaking into the lockers of his friends and stealing their valuables. 

Yep, I guess he was the voice of experience. He could get a combination or key padlock open in about two seconds. I guess we should have listened closer when he told us a lock only keeps an honest man out. He was very honest about that.

Interestingly, he was only stealing from his friends. I guess he knew what they had. Thankfully, I was not one of his friends. 

Our old hitch for pulling the Green Machine needed to be thrown away. But it was attached with a locking pin to a valuable drop down for a Reese style hitch.

The locking pin had kept the hitch secure for twelve years. Over time, the pin had become bent and I could not remove it. I saw my neighbor outside and asked if he could cut it off. He did.

In about thirty seconds, with a cordless grinder and a cutoff wheel, he removed the locking pin that had kept my Blue Ox safe for twelve years. That was too easy!

The locking pin had spoken to a lot of honest people I suppose, but thankfully never made conversation with a thief.

I have no spiritual point from this, although there may be one laying around somewhere. I began thinking about this while we were home and needed to type it to see if it made sense. Does it?

Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

How Do We Make Sense Of It All?

My mind gets tired of juggling things that need to be done. 

-I have several bus projects that must be done. Most of them, I am not able to do myself.

-Even though we were home a few days ago, we left a long list of things that need to be done and an even longer list of things that we would like to do.

-I have bookwork that is constantly piling up and getting out of hand. Ugh!

-I have sermons to prepare, sermons that need to be repaired and 100+ things that I need to be spending more time attending to in prayer.

-I have Mile Markers that need to be written and prepared for publication. Some of them are only vague ideas around the edges of my mind. They must be fleshed out, thought through, then typed and retyped a few times.

-I also need to work on A Word For Wednesday. I need to think, pray, write, record, edit and publish. All that needs to be done before church tonight and then I need to start all over. Next Wednesday will be here before I know it.

-I need to do so much work at being a better father, a better husband, a better preacher and a better friend. Wow! Lots of work to do and so little to work with!

-I have not even mentioned that my mind is often busy with scheduling, conflict in our society, world situations, the downward slide of morality and millions of lost men and women I would love to reach for and preach to.

I suppose that I am just like you. Many of us are juggling way too much in our minds and most of you are tired from the struggle. How do we cope with this? How do we make sense of it all?

This is what works for me and helps me with the struggle in my mind. I push all this heavy mental load aside for a moment and focus instead on all of the wonderful things in my life that I have to be thankful for.

I have so many things to thank God for.

-I have been gloriously saved by the grace of God. My sins that were many are now gone. He has washed me and cleansed me from all sin! I am on my way to Heaven for eternity although I deserve hell! Hallelujah! I am thankful for salvation.

-Being part of the family of God has introduced me to many thousands of His children and I am blessed in immeasurable ways by knowing His family.

-God has opened doors for us to work in the ministry and He has given us favor among His people. That is a gift of amazing proportions. I can hardly fathom the depth of this gift.

-I have a lovely wife that is talented, hard working and Godly. She loves me and has followed me all over the world in ministry. She is beautiful, generous and kind and is also a terrific mother to our daughter.

-We have a daughter that has a heart for God and ministry. She loves and gives and is so kind and thoughtful. She loves her parents to a fault and we are blessed to have her.

-We are blessed with material blessings in ways that are difficult for us to even understand. Even when times are lean, God provides for us every step along the way.

-We are blessed with family. Both of my parents and both of KJo's parents are still living and play a big part in our lives.

-All of our siblings are alive.

-We have a great home church and a wonderful Pastor and churches and Pastors all over the USA that are a huge influence on us.

Obviously, I could go on and on detailing the many blessings that we have to be thankful for. Can you take a moment to count your blessings? Go ahead, name them one by one. I suspect that your problems may mount to the sky, but I also suspect that your blessings are even greater!

How do we make sense of all the problems? We put our problems in perspective by praise. We have many reasons to praise God!

I hope that is helpful. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

The List Is Getting Longer

A few years ago I called my Dad. I asked what he was doing and he told me he was sitting in his barn going through his phone. His intention was to go through his contacts and delete a few numbers of friends that had passed away.

He found that he had way more friends in that category than he initially suspected and could not bring himself to delete some of those numbers. In the midst of the sadness, we have had a good chuckle about that through the years.

In the brief few rotations around the sun since then, I have a bunch of names and numbers in the same class. I have trouble deleting some of them too.

Unfortunately, another dear friend was added to the list this week.

In 1989, I drove Bro. Kim Meyers to Oklahoma so he could preach an Easter Fellowship Meeting for his brother in law, Pastor Al Hunt. That trip proved to be one of the best decisions in my life. That weekend I met several men and families that have been incredible friends to us.

It is amazing how many people we met that weekend that became and still are a huge part of our lives. Many of them have shown up on Mile Markers on a regular basis and still do!

One of them that has not shown up here as much, but has played a huge part in our lives is Pastor Al Hunt. After a very long string of illnesses, Bro. Al went to Heaven this week.

Bro. Al has been too sick to Pastor for several years and has barely been able to get around. Therefore we have not seen him as much lately, but he is no less a friend.

Bro. Al was my friend when I did not feel like I had very many friends. When pleasant phone calls were scarce and visits from friends were even more scarce, Bro. Al called and came to visit us. He also invited us into his pulpit when invitations for me to preach were rare as hen's teeth. 

I say something like this nearly every week. "I appreciate your Pastor inviting us into his church. It never gets old to me to receive an invitation. I remember the day when almost nobody was calling."

When I say that, I think of Bro. Al, who kept inviting me when I could hardly preach my way out of a wet paper sack. Bro. Al put my name and face on revival and fellowship meeting flyers when it probably cost him more fellowship than it gained. I told one of his sons this week, "I have never and will never forget it!"

Bro. Al's relationship with the Boggs family was not based on gaining socially or financially. It was based on the same thing that all of our great relationships are based on. Bro. Al took us as his friend and we accepted and loved his friendship in return.

We have all had friends that pulled back ever so slightly when it appeared our friendship might cost them a little social standing. We can not help but take note of that. But thank God for true friends like Bro. Al Hunt that love for Christ's sake and never even consider the cost.

Wow! What a friend! You are already missed, Bro. Al! Thank you for your friendship. Thank you from our hearts. 

I will have trouble deleting Bro. Al's number and I hope to hang on to the memories until we see him again face to face.

While I was preparing this Mile Marker, I received word that another friend, Bro. Scott Ryland, passed away this week after a very long battle with cancer. God help!

The number of friends on the other side is growing by leaps and bounds.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

The Blessing of An "Easy A"

When I was in high school I was looking for the exit from day one. As one songwriting poet said, "Every front door found me hoping, I would find the back door open."  That is not much of an exaggeration at all.😎

Even though I took five math classes and four history classes, I took the bare minimum of English and science classes. Like I said, I was looking for the exit.

Every year I was on the lookout for "filler" classes that would earn credits, but would be an "easy A". In my 10th grade year, I signed up for Sociology thinking it would be such a class. I had the same teacher for Civics the previous year so I was familiar with his teaching style. 

Sociology was quite an experience that was everything I signed up for and more. It was taught by a flaming 1960s radical who hated Ronald Reagan, the president at the time, with intense hatred that I had never been exposed to before.

He did his very best to transport our young skulls full of mush to 1968. In the process, he challenged me to think critically and to know why I believed what I believed. Believing something because it was the way we were raised was not enough for him and he unwittingly elevated my reasoning skills while trying to conform my mind to his views.

It was an "easy A" and I still think about things he taught to this very day. I also enjoyed the friendships I made in that class and even though we gravitated in different directions the next year, I was bettered by those friends.

Another year, I signed up for a full year of typing. Not because I wanted to know how to type, but because typing was taught by a football coach and classes taught by coaches are always easy.

This coach spent at least 75% of the time each day outside the class and that worked great for all of us slackers. Every day started the same. "Get out your typing books and type such and such lessons. Remember to look at the book and not your hands and try to increase your speed while decreasing mistakes."

Then he would leave the room and come back occasionally to make sure we had not burned down the school in his absence. We had not, so the coach was satisfied with our performance. Like I said, "Easy A"

We were not typing on computers, but on typewriters. I think they were IBM Selectrics. Even though I goofed off most of the time, I surprised myself by learning to type and to type pretty fast.

That "easy A" typing class turned out to be one of the greatest things I carried with me from four years of high school. Other classes have been useful. I have benefited from Latin, English, history and especially algebra for 37 years.

But nothing from high school has been more profitable for me than learning to type. I can not imagine not being able to type. I type many thousands of words each week in letters, emails, Mile Markers, YouTube descriptions and sermons.

Living my life as I do would simply not be possible if I had taken Chemistry, Advanced Calculus, Advanced Placement English or anything less useful than typing.

I am thankful that my desire for an "easy A" pointed me to the football coach's typing class. I am not advocating a quest for mediocrity, but IF you learn a useful life skill in the process, you may rise above average eventually.

OR it may be another example of God guiding my footsteps by His providence and goodness when I did not even have enough sense to know it. I will take that explanation and thank God for His kindness to me. I am so glad that I learned to type well.

Thank you for reading my typing today.

Davy

Evangelism Routing and Scheduling Seminar😊

IF you are seeing this on Monday, then our phone signal was too poor to post pictures from the weekend. Never fear, we hope to drive toward the 21st century later today and post The Weekend Dispatch tomorrow.😍

Evangelism Routing and Scheduling Seminar😊

I sure wish someone taught an Evangelism Routing and Scheduling Masters Class at Bible College. Of course, I would have had to go to Bible College to take the course, but someone should teach it.😍

I am incredibly thankful that we have places to preach and people wanting us to minister in their churches. We could be sitting at home with no one calling, no one asking and no place to go! 

We are always amazed and extremely thankful that Pastors keep asking us to preach revival. Without that, we do not need to worry about a schedule at all.

In 1990 I thought if I had four or five churches that wanted revival, life would be perfect. If fifteen or twenty churches wanted revival, I thought I would be on top of the world. Bro. Bill Houston told me then, "Having churches to go to is the easy part, figuring out how to fit them in and keep them all happy is the hard part."

He knew exactly what he was talking about and I was smart enough to know that! Bro. Bill's advice on scheduling was the second piece of advice I had received on the subject. Our Pastor, Bro. Bennie Sutherland gave me the first lesson.

Bro. Bennie said, "Go preach revival wherever you are asked to go. Do not ask God if you should go. If you are called of God, then go when they ask. When you have two or three places wanting you to preach the same week, then start praying to God for direction."

Those two pieces of excellent advice on scheduling were all the training I had. The rest was learned in the school of experience. You might call it a crash course, pun intended. 

Experience: 

-One thousand miles between Friday night after church and Sunday morning a few weeks in a row will teach you things you did not know.

-3200 miles between two Sundays will bring higher edumacation right to your door.

-2150 miles between Wednesday night after church and Saturday evening while pulling a fifth wheel will open your eyes to the hard truth.

-So will four revivals in five weeks in four states in three time zones. IF you are paying attention, you will learn from that.😍

We chased our schedule all over the USA, zigzagging back and forth for years. We were having the time of our life and would not take those years back if we could.

However, in 2008, when gas and diesel crept to the $4 level for the first time, Pastors started saying to us, "Fit us in when you can, we do not want you to have to drive across the country." That is when we began scheduling like we do now.

We make a long drive into an area and then try to keep our next several revivals less than two to four hours apart. That gives us a chance to rest up and we burn less fuel. It has worked wonderfully for fourteen years.

We now drive fifteen to twenty thousand fewer miles each year to revivals than we did from 2003-2007. That is a huge help!

Here is how it looks in the real world. 

-In January, we drove 1043 miles for revival in Livingston, Texas. 

-Then we drove 143 miles to Sweeny, Texas.

-Then 396 miles to Bernice, Louisiana.

-Then 268 miles to Denham Springs, Louisiana.

-Then 237 miles to Sebastopol, Mississippi.

-Then 160 miles to Citronelle, Alabama.

-Then 94 miles to Ellisville, Mississippi.

-Then 109 miles to Wilmer, Alabama.

-And finally 265 miles to Colquitt, Georgia.

Even though there are a couple jumps in that list that were a bit larger than normal, the whole itinerary worked out perfectly.

Two weeks ago we made a 744 mile jump to northern Virginia and started the process all over again. We are excited to see what the Lord has planned for the future.

Does that make sense? As my good friend, Pastor Barry Gautreaux says, I make sense when I say it to myself!

Thank you for dropping in today. After I wrote the Mile Marker above, I found a Mile Marker I wrote in 2013 that touches on scheduling, price of fuel and surviving. You might find it interesting.

Davy

A Scheduling Note

Here we are on the last day of March, 2022. Wow! How is that possible? It is possible one day at a time.😊

Our next revival is very close to where we are at this moment in Romney, West Virginia. Pastor Jed Metzler heard of us from Pastor Bob Jeffreys here at Safe Haven Tabernacle. Pastor Metzler asked last year if we could swing by for a few nights while in the area and we were glad to schedule it.

By God's grace, we will be singing and preaching at Kirby Assembly all weekend beginning Friday night. We are happy to meet the people and try to be an instrument of revival.

Pastor Jeffrey has made us completely welcome to remain parked in Romney for this weekend of revival, but regular readers know that we love to park on the church property when we can. We have not moved yet, but we intend to move the BoggsMobile tomorrow UNLESS I change my mind.

The quickest route between churches by car is about 18 miles and nearly 30 minutes. We drove it in the Jeep Monday morning and quickly realized the car route was not possible in the bus. That is OK. That is why we checked it out.

We considered the road going to the church from the other direction and it will work fine. It will be about 15 miles further, but 33 miles between revivals is fine by us.😍

We will probably need to run the generator at night to provide heat, but we should not have to run it all the time. It will be worth it to be close by and not have to drive back and forth to every service.

KJo and I noticed that cell phone signal is very limited in Kirby. I will try to have Odie's Saturday post and a Sunday post ready to go up, but Monday's Weekend Dispatch May not be possible. If we are missing Morning or if Monday's post is different, hold on, we should be back Tuesday.

Thank you, dear friends, for reading and thank you for praying for us.

Davy

Generating Again

I mentioned recently that we were unable to use the generator on our jump from South Georgia to Virginia. That remark generated questions, pun intended.😍 Today, we have answers.

A couple of weeks ago, our generator shut itself down. We were traveling and did not have time to look for the problem, so we kicked it to the future. The future arrived two weeks ago in Colquitt, Georgia.

Our Martin generator with a Yanmar engine will shut itself down for low oil pressure, high coolant temperature and if the bus fuel tank is below 1/4. We had plenty of diesel, I checked the oil and then zeroed in on the coolant.

After making sure the coolant level was good, I removed the guard at the end of the motor to see if the belt was broken. It was broken and I breathed a sigh of relief. That is an easier fix than changing the water pump or thermostat.

The motor sits in the hush box sideways, so the pulley end of the engine is on the right. It is not easy for me to reach the adjustment pulley, but it can be done. I have to learn how every time, but I eventually got it.

I can push the bracket holding the pulley with a long pry bar or crowbar and tighten the bolt at the top with a wrench. Keeping pressure on the bracket, I then tighten the bottom bolt with a socket and ratchet. It is a stretch and longer arms would be helpful. Less belly would probably help too.

After installing the belt, I discovered I had a little bit of coolant in the floor of the hush box so that started me looking for leaks.

First, I found this rubber cap leaking on the expansion tank and replaced the rubber cap.

Then I noticed the expansion tank itself was leaking a very small amount.

I ordered the expansion tank and a few other things from Martin Diesel in Defiance, Ohio. The parts were waiting on me in Staunton, Virginia so last week I tackled the expansion tank.

Our generator was manufactured in Defiance in early 1995 and they are incredibly great to work with. They answer every question with patience and they have the original specifications for my generator in their records. Awesome!

The new expansion tank is twenty times better built than the original, although it is a bit longer. You can see the length difference in the picture below.

I had to shift it to the right and change the orientation of the clamps, but I was able to install it. I had drained quite a bit of coolant getting the original out, so I added coolant, cranked it up and away it went.

Notice the new expansion tank has a viewport to see the level of the coolant. That is a welcome change because when I remove the cap, I can not get my head in there to check the coolant level.

I did all of that Monday. Tuesday morning I rechecked all my bolts and hose clamps and made sure the belt was tight. I reinstalled the belt guard, cranked the generator and ran it 75 minutes.

KJo watched the gauge inside while I monitored for leaks outside. I am happy to report that all seems well in the generator world again. Praise God!

Friday morning I started the bus and leaned it toward the passenger side. The floor of the hush box had oil and coolant in it, so I wanted to clean it as much as possible. I removed all the mess a few paper towels at a time. It would be nice if the pan had a drain plug.

We ran the generator for four hours during our trip to West Virginia Saturday to make sure all was well. It was perfect.

It is so nice to have our generator back in working order. That gives us super great options when traveling and parking. We still have some voltage fluctuations, but that will take an expert in the future.

Thank you for joining us today.

Davy