View Out The Front Window 6/25/23

Sunday Morning Sanity

For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: Joshua 24:17 

View Out The Front Window

This was our view out the front window of the BoggsMobile at a campground in Strafford, Missouri.

This was our view out the front window of the BoggsMobile at the APU Center in Strafford, Missouri.

This was our view out the front window of the BoggsMobile at a campground in Vandalia, Illinois.

This was our view out the front window of the BoggsMobile now at the Lazy OD Ranch.

I hope you have a super great Sunday. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

Family and Friends At Seminole Gospel Sing 2023

Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in from Ohio. I am glad to be home for a few days. This girl is always glad to come back to my Ohio Beach Cottage. Soon we will be off on our next summer adventure.

Today I am here to give you a brief recap of last Saturday. We had a fantastic day! Last week, I mentioned we would be spending the day with family and friends. Dad also talked about the day in his Weekend Dispatch here on Monday.

Several weeks ago, a friend sent me a picture of a concert flyer. This flyer alerted me that the McNeills and The Isaacs would be singing in Seminole, Oklahoma, on June 17th.

The Seminole Gospel Sing has been going on in August for many years. We attended the huge outdoor multi-day event when we lived in Kansas. We have many great memories from our nights at Seminole listening to music.

This year the singing was moved from August to June. I was happy that it lined up with our visit to Crosslight! I was thrilled to be with the Isaacs again!

Due to the weather forecast, Saturday's concert was moved from an outdoor concert to a church. It was a lot of extra work for the people involved. They had to set up ad tear down all their equipment twice! I know the people doing the work were exhausted!

Moving inside was a wise decision. First Assembly, the new location for the evening, also had air conditioning. That is a feature we all appreciated on that 90-degree day!

It was awesome to see some of our extended family. Bro. Jud, Sis. Amanda, Bryanna and Emma Ingram. We do not often cross paths with them. I enjoyed getting to visit with them!

I can not believe these girls have grown up! They are beautiful and talented! Bryanna recently graduated from high school. Click here to check out Emma's Youtube channel here. Subscribe and tell her Odie sent you. 😀

The MC for Seminole Gospel Sing started the night with a few songs.

The McNeills are a Texas based family group. It is a Mom, Dad, nine children and a son-in-law that travel. Later this summer, a grandson is set to arrive and bring a new dynamic to the group. They are incredibly talented! I enjoyed their performance.

This was my first time to see them live. We had met them previously at an Isaacs concert in Texas. They are also big Isaacs lovers like me. Ben Isaacs has produced projects for them too.

Now It was time for the Isaacs to take the stage.

Greg Ritchie is a fantastic musician! I was blown away, once again, by his ability to bring so much life to a song.

The incredible Isaacs! I love every moment of their concerts!

The one the only awesome Ben Isaacs! I am still his number 1 fan!

Between me and the McNeill family, Ben had a big cheering section!

Becky is a walking miracle! She was hit in a head-on collision in December. She spent months in a wheelchair due to her injuries. Thank God today she can now walk. She still has ways to go to make a full recovery. It is amazing to see how far the Lord has brought her!

I really do not know how she does it, but Becky is singing and playing better than ever!

Levi Bowman did a phenomenal job singing an older Isaacs song made popular by his dad, John Bowman.

Josh Swift is an award-winning dobro player! Dobro is one of my favorite instruments. Josh can make it sing and talk like no other!

His crazy antics crack me up. You never know what he will do next!

All three of Sonya's children were with her in Oklahoma. It is fun when they join the Isaacs on stage!

Evya is 6, Gatlyn is 7 and Ayden is 11! All three of them are excellent singers! I am proud of them!

It is impossible to pick a favorite moment in The Isaacs set! I was speechless, amazed and inspired!

Nobody can sing and play the mandolin like Sonya Isaacs! As a girl, I always pretended that I was Sonya. A girl can dream, right? Part of the dream came true. I am blessed to travel on a bus and sing.  I just sing lower than I wished for, and I can not play the mandolin.😍

I love my Aunt Lily so much! Our visits are always short but sweet!

Becky is my hero and inspiration! She has shown that singing lower can be fun too!

Sonya is my encourager! She knows how to make me smile!

Bro. David Toliver and I always text each other from the Isaacs concerts we attend. This one we got to enjoy together.

Sis. LaJeanna Toliver and Kelly Jo, It was so good to see many friends at Seminole.

This is my beautiful friend Samantha Kite.

Terry is the one who alerted me about this concert. I was surprised to see him that night because he was out of state on vacation. Turns out he came back early just for the concert. 

He did not want me to have fun at Seminole without him! Thanks,  Terry, for the extra driving and for cutting your trip a day short. It was so good to have my friend part of these memories with me!

We enjoyed having Pastor Brent Moore enjoy the night with us too! It is exhilarating to share an Isaacs concert experience with a fellow music enthusiast!

Bro. Jud Ingram and I grew up together. Our grandmothers are 1st cousins. We had to have a picture to send home to the Ohio family and friends!

Also, all my fellow Pod'N Me Podcast fans will know this is Hershall and the Souper Fan together. We had to document this moment.

If you are unfamiliar with my favorite podcast, Pod'N Me, click here for more info. Seminole Sing memories from years gone by are often mentioned in the episodes. It was only fitting for some of us Pod'N Me listeners to meet up at Seminole.

Here is another one for my Pod'N Me lovers. This is the Souper Fan, Hershall and the Feedbacker "Talking Terry."

I am so glad we got to attend a night of Seminole Gospel Sing in 2023! 2003 was the last time we attended Seminole Gospel Sing. It was wonderful to see many friends!

We always love a chance to spend time with and hear Isaacs! We love our family! We made more memories that will last a lifetime! 

Thanks for reading today. See you next time.

Odie

Pictures From The Week and A Fire Breathing Dragon

This week has been a few days of traveling so we have very few people pictures and more bus pictures. It just happens to be our week. I hope you enjoy. 

Monday morning, we began in Moore, Oklahoma and I told you Tuesday about traveling to Stafford, Missouri to have our generator problem diagnosed. After leaving the campground Tuesday morning, we pulled into the APU Center at about 7:40.

They had me back the BoggsMobile into the bay a few minutes after 8:00. KJo and Odie had to vacate the bus and go into the waiting room

Although, as the name suggests, they mostly work on APUs in big trucks, they seem very capable in all things generator. They approached the problem methodically and systematically and ultimately determined the generator is fine in their opinion.

They think the lowering voltage is caused by something further down the line, perhaps the inverters. They may be absolutely correct, but the experts on inverters disagree. Maybe time will tell the whole truth. I am still testing and investigating.

The APU Center worked diligently and charged me fairly for the hours they spent on the generator. The things they found and the determination they made were sensible to me, so I was satisfied with the visit even though I wanted everything to be resolved.

We hit the road before noon and drove about 280 miles for the day. St. Louis traffic was a breeze and we ended the day in a small roadside campground in Vandalia, Illinois. The front of the bus was about 6' from the road and the back of the car was not far from a good looking corn field.

They also had a fire breathing dragon.

The sun was high in the sky before we started Wednesday and we stopped at Golden Corral in Effingham, Illinois for an early lunch. This location used to be a Ryan's pre-covid, but closed and reopened as it is. The food was good and the sights were better. This 65' GTO was parked out front!

Our travel day Wednesday was littered with one lane construction zones in eastern Illinois and a huge slowdown in Indianapolis. We lost over an hour in Indy and 50 minutes in one 6 mile section. Ouch!

I was sorely tempted to spend the night at Love's 100 miles from home, but it was too hot and the generator is not cooperating. There was no sense being miserable all night so we pressed on. We pulled onto the Lazy OD Ranch about 8:00 PM after 316 miles Wednesday and about 900 miles since leaving Moore on Monday.

Odie had a few friends and family visit on her porch Wednesday evening.

That is about it for the week, except for a few more random food pictures.

That pretty much wraps up our weekend. I was beat up Thursday from the drive and I did absolutely nothing all day long. I never even stepped foot outside the BoggsMobile. A few more days of that and I may live.

Thank you for stopping in.

Davy