#5 Weekend Woundup and Weview

Friday started early for me. I had all my morning routine completed and I was on my way to Walmart by 6:30 to have the oil changed in the Green Machine. I wanted to be first in line and I was. I had a Walmart gift card to use for the oil change but I ended up finding $30 worth of stuff I could not live with out. My "free" oil change cost me $30!

That reminds me of spending the night parked at Walmart in Lumberton, Texas last Sunday. We parked for "free" and walked inside and spent $50! So much for free stuff.

Speaking of free, gasoline is almost free. This is the least I have paid in many, many years. We saw it even cheaper than that going through Houston on Saturday.

It does not take much to fill up the Green Machine at all. At $1.46 per gallon I am tempted to pump a few gallons on the ground just for fun. Of course, all our friends that depend on the oil business to make a living are not laughing. There has got to be a happy medium some where.

After the oil change and gasoline fill up at Walmart I stopped by Lowe's. I needed an item or two in order to finish up a project I started in Ellisville. I worked on that till lunch time and finished it up. I will try to post about that later.

One of the families from church brought lunch on Friday and it was fabulous.

Hey girl! You look great in my Kubota hat!

Friday afternoon some friends stopped in to visit for a few minutes. Greg and Jan White are full time RVers and they winter in the Houston area near their children and grandchildren. They were in Livingston Friday and made an effort to spend some time with us. It was very nice of them to do so.

Greg writes a daily blog that I read and we first met them in person about 18 months ago. They were in Ohio then and we took them and another couple to Acapulco. Where else would I take some one in Ohio, right?

It was great to see them again. Hopefully we will see them again soon and have time for a longer visit.

Odie and Jan

Greg

Friday night we finished revival with a wonderful service. We sure appreciate Pastor Don Goodwin and all of his folks for inviting us to be with them. May God bless them for all of their kindness and hospitality.

We cranked up Saturday morning, hooked up to the tent trailer and began the short but treacherous trip to Sweeny. It was short because it was only about 150 miles. It was treacherous because we had to drive across Houston. Wow! That was hard on my nerves!

I knew that Houston can be very busy but I figured Saturday morning might be passable. I figured completely wrong. Saturday morning might be better than a weekday but it was very crowded and very hectic. I slowed down and crept along for miles keeping the BoggsMobile and the tent trailer under control the whole way through.

We did find a Golden Corral on the north side of town and stopped in for a bite of lunch. The place was completely packed out! It turns out they were having a conceal carry class in the Golden Corral and there were probably 100 people taking it. I love Texas!

Soon we were pulling into Sweeny and Pastor Larry Lamb was helping us get pulled in and parked.

Saturday evening I had my annual conference call board meeting with the board of Boggs Family Ministries. It went well as usual. I have great board members and I am thankful that Bro. John Eaton and Bro. Kurt McCrorey are willing to help us. Getting that meeting behind me means I am finished with most of the accounting and book work that must be completed in December and January. Praise the Lord.

We began revival yesterday at Full Gospel Lighthouse. This is one of the churches we first came to over 25 years ago when we evangelized in the early 90's. Pastor Larry Lamb and his folks have been so good to us through the years and coming here is like coming home in many ways.



Pastor Larry Lamb and Davy



We had two great services to get started Sunday. Please pray that God will help us the next five nights. I would love to see a bunch of folks get saved in this revival. We know that God is able.

That pretty much wraps up our weekend. Thank you for reading.

Davy

Travel, Revival and Paparazzi!

Travel

Monday was a full day and a blessed day. After a physically draining and emotionally challenging weekend we were looking forward to a good day and that is exactly what we had. We rested really well in the Walmart parking lot. We actually slept with the small fan on since it was in the 50's outside.

We awoke to warm temperatures but you could feel rain in the air. Sure enough the rain started right after we left Walmart but thankfully it was never heavy at all. We were only about 70-80 miles from Beech Creek Assembly in Livingston and it took us less than two hours to make the drive. We arrived dropped, the trailer in one parking lot, parked the bus in the other parking lot, hooked everything up and turned off the bus.

Then Kelly Jo prepared another great monster omelet for my breakfast/lunch before we even took time to settle in good. Wow! She makes a super omelet! It was every bit as good as it looks.

After brunch we carried in our sound system and set it up in the beautiful sanctuary. I had forgotten how beautiful the church is.

When we went back out to the bus, the sun was shining and it felt heavenly! It was an absolutely gorgeous day and I was glad to be a part of it! 

Saturday night, you may remember, we had problems with the generator and slept without heat. The temperature inside the bus Sunday morning was in the low 40's. Monday we were parked in the direct sun and the inside temperature was in the 80's. When I went inside the girls had one of the air conditioners on. What a contrast! Amazing!

Revival

Monday night of revival was tremendous! This is our second revival here and it seemed that Pastor Goodwin's folks needed no warm up time at all. They responded in the altar service and God met with us there! It was wonderful and I am looking forward to more of the same the next four nights!

Pastor Don Goodwin and Davy

Paparazzi

I posted part 3 of our year in review last week and made mention of a text message I received about the previous Rear View Mirror post.

Here is the text.

I am so glad you did the year in review!! As I was reading it I noticed some pictures I didn't recognize so at 4 am I was scouring older posts to find what I could have possibly missed. Sure enough... It was when we were in South Dakota for a  missions trip. I sure thought I caught up but guess I didn't. Thank you for that! Sure wouldn't want to miss out on anything!! Love you all!

That is all I said. I gave no names, no states, no nothing.

I had asked for permission to post the text but I did not ask for permission to post the name of the person that sent it, so I did not. I might as well post the name of the person now because the Paparazzi discovered who it was some how and they were lying in wait to capture her picture and sell it to the highest bidder.

Notice the Paparazzi disguised as a bush. Very, very clever.

I hope she was able to make it to town and back without too much trouble. I apologize to Sis. DeeAnna Martin for the Paparazzi's harassment. I guess it is just the reality of commenting on such a famous blog. Maybe the heat will cool down in a few days and they will move on to the next big story. 

Seriously though, Sis. Martin, her husband, Pastor Ryan Martin and their extended family and church really carry a burden for our family and ministry to God in prayer and I do not want to hinder that one bit!

Well, that was our Monday. Thanks for reading.

Davy

Travel Day and Church

The BoggsMobile has left the building!

It was high time to hit the road so that is exactly what we did by 9:00 Wednesday morning.

Once I left the Lazy OD Ranch, I did not stop until I pulled into the rest area at the Kentucky/Tennessee state line. After a short stop, we zoomed over Jellico Mountain and we were crusing through Knoxville in a few minutes.

South of Knoxville we stopped at the Ryan's near Maryville and had a pretty good little snack.

The BoggsMobile has been there before. We parked right behind the Ryan's in the Walmart parking lot.

30 minutes later we were parked at East Tennessee Luxury Coach near Vonore. Once we were set up, I crashed for a few minutes and then we left for church about 6:00.

We had to stop about 1/2 mile from the church while a tow truck cleared an accident from the road. We walked in just after 7:30. It was great to be back at Beechfork with all of our friends.

We had a wonderful service and wonderful fellowship after church. I love Pastor Herman Woods, Sis. Margaret Woods and all the folks at Beechfork. They have been family and more to us for over 30 years. May God bless them for their kindness, hospitality and friendship.

Today is a bus day. We are among friends here too so it should be a good day. I will let you know how it goes.

Davy

Withholding Information

Yesterday's post was a rambling monstrosity and entirely too long, but the fact is I withheld some important information. In the interest of keeping the narrative moving I omitted one story that I will include today.

Do you remember the smooth night of driving we had after church Tuesday night? The BoggsMobile pulled out of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma and sailed through the night and landed north of Little Rock at 3:30 AM. It was a great night to drive and everything was perfect.

Well, it was almost perfect. We did have one little hiccup on the late night drive. It was about 1:30 AM and my GPS was bouncing between 70-72 MPH and had been for many miles in the 70 MPH zone. The Green Machine stayed in the barn this trip so we were pretty much tied to the speed limit the whole way.

There was a police car next to I-40 not long after I entered Arkansas. He was sitting on the right shoulder with his lights on so I passed him in the left lane and never slowed down. Well, it turns out it must have been a slow night for the Arkansas State Policeman and I provided little diversion.

After I passed by he pulled out immediately and I knew he was going to light me up. He did. Before he turned on the flashing lights, he pulled up to my back bumper and rode there a mile or two, probably radioing my tag number in.

Then came the lights.

(Not the actual lights below)



Once I was slowed down, I pulled off the road as far as I could, turned all the lights on inside and Kelly Jo and I put our hands where he could see them. Instead of coming to the open window on the driver's side, he went to the front door on Kelly Jo's side. We do not open that door so I went to the mid door and opened it for him.

I sat down on the steps and we had a friendly if quick conversation. He said I was running a little fast and he was thinking I might be sleepy. 

After telling him I was wide awake but Garth was asleep, he left. I am totally joking, Garth was wide awake and inside singing Christmas carols! That is a fact with my hand up. He sang to me for hours that night!

The friendly policeman let me leave with no ticket and we were stopped a total of less than two minutes according to the GPS. I think the he just wanted to check us out and make sure I was not drinking. 

That is the first time I have ever been pulled over in the BoggsMobile after driving it about 113,000 miles. That is not too bad for an average. Especially since I escaped with no ticket.

Thanks for reading.

Davy

Weekend Woundup and Weview 12/7

We had a busy weekend so we have a long post with lots of pictures.

Road Stuff

The fun never ends for us on the road. Friday morning after driving almost 200 miles exactly from our overnight spot at Flying J in Sullivan, Kelly Jo heard the shroud from our front roof air conditioner unit fly off. I have seen a shroud hit the ground in a million pieces in times past but I missed this one.

I did not hear it come off because I was listening to Christmas music and was caught up in the moment as I had been for hours. I looked later to see which song had my attention. It was "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow." That is funny because I absolutely love the song and absolutely hate snow!

As soon as Kelly Jo alerted me, I turned on my blinker and headed for the exit that was less than 1/2 mile ahead. I could see several cars behind me in both lanes so I fully expected at least one of the cars to follow me because of plastic pieces raining down on their cars and trucks. Sure enough, one truck also took the ramp. I turned right to go to a parking lot but he turned left. I guess not. Whew! That was close!

The exit I was taking "just happened" to be the exit for an RV parts place we have stopped at literally dozens of times in the last 13 plus years. I have purchased parts there for every trailer we have had and every truck we have had and the bus in that time span. We have bought everything from fifth wheel hitches to windows to sewer valves to drawer catches in there and about 100 more things. 

I pulled in the parking lot and confirmed the shroud was missing. I had Kelly Jo get online and check what I paid for the last one from Amazon and also how quick I could get one as I am moving every day next week. She was also checking the weather in various places we will be. If the local price was high, the forecast was rain free and the shipping quick, I would order online. If rain was in the forecast before I could get one shipped, then I would buy one inside no matter what the price. I like having a plan.

I walked in and the guy said, "You look like you need a cover for a low profile dometic air conditioner." I said, "Yes, how much?" The lady next to him said, "$80." I said, "I will take six of them at that price."

Two minutes later I was walking out the door with it. No sense looking online. 

It is amazing that the shroud turned lose less than 1/2 mile from their exit. Since I often grumble when I am a day late and a dollar short, I think I need to be thankful for times like this. Providence anyone?

We stopped 100 miles later right next to the interstate and parked at the Quick Trip in Claremore to meet the Millikin family for a quick lunch. Bro. Jimmy "just happened" to have his six foot ladder in the car with him so I used it to scramble up through the escape hatch and put it on.

As you can see, the shroud was completely gone. One screw was missing. Three of the four screws were intact.

Bro. Jimmy un-boxed it for me and handed it up.

Since I have done this song and dance routine a few times, we were ready to go to lunch in a few minutes.

Millikins

We had a nice visit with our dear friends and a very good meal. Thanks for taking time to meet us, friends, and thank you for the lunch. We hope to see you soon down the road some place!

Bethany

We pulled into Bethany Holiness Church between 2:30 and 3:00 and Bro. James Burgess helped us get parked and hooked up. He also helped us carry in sound equipment.

By the time we set the sound and cleaned up it was church time at Bethany!

We had a great Planning and Vision Service at Bethany and other on Saturday night at Blanchard. We are anticipating a great service tonight near Ft. Worth. I will try to post pictures and information about those services tomorrow.

Blanchard

Saturday morning we moseyed toward Blanchard, going through a very busy Oklahoma City. We only made one stop and it was for a late lunch at Golden Corral in Norman. We actually made it to Blanchard in time to get some rest but I was too pumped up to take a nap.

Sunday morning we sang and preached in the outreach service at Blanchard. We love being a part of this service and Sunday morning seemed especially good. I sure appreciate Bro. Birdsong and his folks allowing us to be in the service.

We had a little fun at the restaurant Sunday afternoon!

Sunday night we had another wonderful service at Blanchard. God helped us all in the service and it was great to be there with our friends.

I wonder if a certain reader in Ohio recognizes any of these youngins?

That pretty much sums up a super great weekend!

Davy