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

Boring? What Is That?

I have never really understood the concept of bored or boring. I am completely OK with doing Nothing at times. I do not need to be busy every moment or have my mind or body jumping from one task to the next continually. I do not get bored.

Evidently, every person is wired up differently and that is probably a good thing.

I remember the first time I heard the word bored. We were kids and visiting friends with our Dad and Mom. All of us kids were playing baseball in the yard. A neighbor girl was playing too and after playing a while she said, "I'm bored." I suppose I learned the meaning of bored by the context, because soon she walked off the base and went home.

That did not make sense to me at all. Who in the world ever got bored playing baseball?

I have had that thought lots of times in 40+ years since then. How can you be bored? There is so much to think about. There is so much to read. There is so much that needs to be done. Plus, when there is nothing to do, nothing to read and nothing to think about, doing nothing is fine. Bored?

Needless to say, we never get bored out here on the road. There is always something to do, something to talk about, something to listen to and definitely always something to see!

We were driving about two weeks ago and came on a U-Haul trailer being pulled. We could see from the distance in the rain that something was weird or interesting about it.

Yep, weird AND interesting. Look at the advertising on the back door of the trailer. Can you see it?

It says, "Holds Queen Size Bed." 

Now look on top of the trailer. What is on top? It is a queen size bed! Yep, it fits perfectly!

It looks like the people that rented the trailer, believed the advertising. "Hey, Bubba, what are we gonna do with the mattress, the trailer is full?" "Well, the writing says it holds a queen size bed, throw the mattress up on top and strap her down!"

KJo and I probably laughed for twenty minutes after we passed that! Nope, it is never boring out here, that is for sure!

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

What's Up, Weekend? 1/20/2020

I think I should recap the whole week to bring you up to date. Tuesday we were traveling as fast as we dared in the rain toward Sterlington, Louisiana to begin revival Wednesday night. 

Diesel was one of the first things on the agenda Tuesday.



Shortly after our fuel stop Pastor Tracy Boyd found out his Dad was having a major health crisis and he text and called me to let me know. It was imperative for the Boyd's to go to Oklahoma and we understood that completely.

We missed, missed, missed being in revival and we hated not being with the Boyd's and their people all week, but we knew we should make hay while the sun was shining or maybe umbrellas while it was raining! 😅

We stopped an hour or so later to consider all of our options. We could have preached at least Wednesday at any of a number of churches and we could have driven out of our way a bit and parked at a church for 3-4 nights. We had a few invitations to do that and we seriously considered it.

We decided to stay on the route to Louisiana and stop at a rest area Tuesday night and get some work done. Then we would decide how far to travel each day and what to do from there.

There is a lot of ministry and personal bookwork that must be completed during January. We write, print and send letters to all of the churches we preached in the previous year and we are required to send donation acknowledgments to all contributors to Boggs Family Ministries too.

Kelly Jo and I spent many hours doing those two tasks Wednesday. Then I began working on gathering information and preparing a financial and ministry report for the board members of Boggs Family Ministries. We are required by our bylaws to have a board meeting in January and I like to give them a full accounting of the previous year.



Then I gathered all the information that needs to be sent to our tax preparer for our personal taxes. We worked on all of those projects all week long in different locations and in bits and pieces. I finished up Friday evening in a rest area off I-20 in Louisiana.

We usually do all of the January bookwork while revivals are going on. We work in small 1-2 hour windows and complete it over a 2-3 week period. By focusing on these things all day long, we checked everything off the list in record time. Hallelujah!

During the brief moments that KJo was not helping me, she was helping Odie get packed up for her vacation. Odie was scheduled to fly out of Monroe, Louisiana Sunday morning so she was tasked with getting ready to go while we were moving each day and working on reports and letters.

The dynamic duo of KJo and Odie pretty much finished that up Friday too.

We did take two breaks from work and from the bus all week. We stopped at Chili's in Meridian early one day so that we could park in the plaza parking lot before it filled up. It worked perfectly.

The Chili's stop was even better than originally planned. We got to see family, Sis. LaBonna Shoemaker and Selah! Yay!

Thursday afternoon, Bro. Scott and Sis. Kim Morris drove over 100 miles to eat with us at Berry's Seafood just south of I-20 in Florence, Mississippi. What an amazing act of friendship! We loved the visit with our friends.

We had no idea that you eat for free at Berry's if you go on your actual birthday. That was a bonus. The next three pictures were taken at precisely 4:30 PM (5:30 Eastern) 53 years to the minute after I was born.

The small strips of steak and the blackened grilled fish were excellent! Wow!

We parked in a gravel parking lot behind Berry's in Florence. It was muddy so we had to unhook the car in order to turn around in the parking lot. It was a perfect place to park though. We stayed right there for the night and no one bothered us at all. It was way quiet. Odie said it was too quiet! She prefers semi-trucks idling nearby.

All the rest of the nights in rest areas, I am sure that Odie had all of the idling trucks she needed.

We had planned to park close to the Monroe Regional Airport Saturday evening so we could have Odie in place for her early morning flight Sunday. After Odie was in the air, we would have about 70-90 minutes to drive to our revival starting Sunday night.

Pastor Boyd was back home by Saturday and he invited me to preach for him Sunday morning. Kelly Jo and I discussed the logistics and decided that would work. It is only 25 minutes by car to the airport from Sterlington and then an hour by bus Sunday afternoon to Bernice.

It also gave us a chance to fellowship with the Boyd's Saturday evening. Bro. Shamgar Deatherage joined us for supper and took care of the meal too. Thank you, Bro. Shamgar.

We love these wonderful people!

Odie was winging her way toward Tampa by way of Atlanta early Sunday morning and she made it safely to her hotel about 2:00 PM central time.

We had a great morning with Pastor Boyd at Sterlington Holiness Tabernacle.

We had a smooth trip to Bernice, Louisiana. We were parked and hooked into the electricity by 3:00 Sunday afternoon.

A few minutes after we arrived and settled, Bro. and Sis. Brandon came, unlocked the church and helped us carry in our sound equipment. We finished up our soundcheck at 5:00 church began at 6:00. 

This is our first time being here, but this is not our first revival for Bro. Brandon. We preached for him several times in years past in Stockton, California. It is super great to be with them again. 

We had a wonderful first night of revival at Bernice with Pastor Michael Brandon and his folks and we are looking forward to three more nights of revival.

That's is a wrap. Thank you for dropping in today.

Davy

View Out The Front Window 1/19/2020

The following pictures are of the view out our front window at a few different places this week.

A rest area in Alabama

A rest area in Mississippi

A rest area in Louisiana.

Sterlington, Louisiana Saturday evening.

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

Davy

Ready To Fly And Sail

Hey Friends,

This is Odie bouncing in to say hello from Louisiana. Did you ask why I am bouncing? I am now less than 24 hours away from vacation. My bags are packed, I am checked in and I am marking things off my final list. I am just a tad bit excited. Knowing me, I probably will not sleep much tonight because of the excitement. I will try to catch a nap on the planes. 

Early tomorrow morning I will board a plane, make my connection and by early afternoon I will be in Florida. There I will meet up with my travel companion for the week, Kaylene Stephens. 

We are anticipating a week of fun, warm weather, sunshine, relaxation, wonderful food and great music. Monday we will board the Brilliance of the Seas and that will be our home until next Saturday morning. 

Along the way will visit Key West, Coco Cay, and Nassau. Saturday morning we will be back in Tampa when we wake up. 

I am ready to enjoy this week of cruising on the Singing at Sea. We will be hearing music from 25 southern gospel groups. We plan to enjoy every second of it.

Planning began for this trip over a year ago. My count down has been going over 370 days. I started a packing list 11 months ago. I started packing my suitcase on December 31st. Now it is officially "go time." Please pray for us that everything will go smoothly and according to plan.

Thanks for reading! I will check in a week or two and give you post vacation report. 

Odie

I Dare Not Forget!

We are coming up on a year since the BoggsMobile brokedown on our way to Sweeny, Texas. It was January 24 about 9:00 PM on I-45 a few miles north of the loop near Houston. It was an event that I would like to erase, but a day I dare not forget.

Dare not forget? That is right. I dare not forget it. 

I dare not forget this old bus is only a machine and machines break down. It is not divine. It is not perfect. It is a 25 year old bus.

I dare not forget that Kelly Jo is an amazing, Godly, calm, caring and beautiful woman! She is the perfect evangelist's wife. If I had a lesser wife, I would be wallowing in self pity and out of God's will.

I dare not forget that nothing I set in stone is actually set in stone. "My" schedule is changeable. "My" schedule is subject to mechanical failure, weather, health problems and probably a thousand other variables.

(That is worth going over again) 

I dare not forget that I am not in control although a control freak I may be.

I dare not forget that God IS in control of machines, mechanical failure, weather, health problems and EVERY other variable or aspect that needs to be controlled.

I dare not forget that nothing surprises God, even when the surprises seem to be driving me crazy.

I dare not forget that God already has people praying for me way before I even realize I am headed for difficulty.

I dare not forget that my problems are minor compared to the challenges that families are facing every day.

I dare not forget that God can pay the bill, reveal his will, make the waves chill, bring the onslaught of the enemy to a standstill, absolutely to nil, turn the mountain back to a molehill, with superior skill and by the Holy Ghost my spirit fill all before I get out of bed in the morning.

Hallelujah!

After the second breakdown, this one in Alabama, Bro. Brad Nicholson wanted to change the oil. It had been less than 2000 miles since the change, but the engine had been opened up and he felt it best. I appreciated his concern and I agreed.

That oil sample was good. Praise God!

I had the oil changed and checked in 10,000 miles. That oil sample was good. Praise God!

I had the oil changed January 2, 2020, after 10,000 miles again. That sample was good. Praise God!

The expert that reads the samples said I could extend my oil change interval back to the normal 15,000 miles and recommended continuing to sample the oil each time as I plan to do.

The bus may never start again. I understand that! But I will praise God for his help over the last year! God has been good to me. He has been good to us! Hallelujah!

I dare not forget!

Davy

$4.69? Are You Sure?

On the way north from Moss Point to Vonore we drove through about 40 miles of very light misting type rain. It was so light that I did not turn on the wipers for a while. When I did turn them on, I put them on intermittent. After about 20 minutes, something in the wipers went BAM, the driver's side wiper turn upside down and I pulled over to check it out.

The bracket that holds the two wiper arms together had broken on the driver's side window. 

With the bracket broken the wiper itself was flipped and the small arm was hanging down out of place. I wired tied the two arms together, but the wipers could not be used. Thankfully, even the light rain ceased for the rest of the trip.

While we were at Jeff Rowe's I put everything back into position.

It looks good, but the bracket is still broken. The bracket and the arms are held in place by wire ties.

I do not believe the contraption would survive one swipe of the wipers. KJo coated the windshield with a good coat of RainX so we would not have to use the wipers on this trip. That stuff is like miracle liquid.

I was afraid the whole wiper assembly would have to be replaced and I had already worked out a way in my mind to "fix" the bracket.

Tuesday I emailed my most recent contact at Prevost Parts and lo and behold, you can order each and every part of the wiper assembly from Prevost.

That brings me to a bus miracle. This is a screenshot of the invoice.

Can you see that? The replacement part for the broken bracket costs $4.69 each. What in the world? $4.69? How can that be? Are you sure it is not $46.90 or more like $469 each? 

I have owned the BoggsMobile for almost 12 years and I have never found a $50 part, much less a $5 part. Hallelujah!

I determined along with the salesman that it must be a mistake. I thought about ordering 50 of them in order to take advantage of the good deal. $5? Wow! Then I considered that the two on the bus have lasted 25 years and one of them is still good. I do not think I will live long enough to use 50 of them.

So I ordered two parts at $4.69 each and I have been laughing all day. What a deal! I have finally found a cheap part on the bus. WooHoo! 

After the last 12 months of spending, I believe it is about time! This would be a good habit to get started.

Thank you for rejoicing with me today!

Davy