What's Up Weekend? 9/7/2020

We do not have phone signal in the BoggsMobile this week, but we do have internet inside the church. It seems to be allowing us to upload some pictures and publish to Mile Markers.

What's Up, Weekend? Our weekend began early Friday morning in Vonore, Tennessee as we prepared to roll the wheels toward Alabama. We pulled out of East Tennessee Luxury Coach about 7:30. We did have two small bus glitches Friday morning that were totally unrelated to our recent bus problems. One of them Jeff was able to diagnose and quickly repair. The other glitch fixed itself.

When a bus glitch fixes itself it is either a blessing, scary or both. Anyway, we rolled down the highway with very little problem most of the day. 

We stopped to check things on the bus a few times and we also stopped twice to do the work of the evangelist. What is the work of the evangelist?

Draining the holding tanks.

Filling the diesel tank.

We landed for the day at Flying J in Hope Hull, Alabama at exit 158 on I-65. They have several RV spots in the front and we have parked overnight there before.

It was only 150 more miles to the church in St. Stephens, Alabama, but we stopped early for a few reasons. Even though we had only driven 335 miles, it was enough for the day. Plus, we needed to record a service for Nigeria and get it posted on YouTube.

We did that Friday evening and had a wonderful time.

When the service was over, I was in bed in the blink of an eye. I was fast asleep before 9:00 Central and stayed in bed for seven hours. Wow! That felt terrific! I should be able to run at warp speed for a week or two. (Yeah, right! That did not seem to last long.)

By God's grace, we finished the trip to Midway Assembly near St. Stephens, Alabama with no problems at all. It was wonderful to see our dear friends, Pastor Lamar Chapman and Sis. Tonya again.

The first thing we had to do after we parked was wash the love bugs from the front of the bus. These are twice a year pests in the gulf states, at least, and they are a mess. We ran into them the last 75-80 miles of our trip Saturday. I mean we literally ran into them, by the thousands. Ugh!

You have to wash these monsters quickly. Something in their nasty little bodies will eat through older paint if left on for days. The little cannibals were crawling all over the front of the bus eating the remains of their dear departed loved ones. KJo and I removed them all, dead and alive.

Sunday was Homecoming at Midway. Homecoming during a pandemic is necessarily a different thing, but it was still a joyous occasion! Pastor Lamar Chapman and his folks are still adhering to strict COVID 19 protocol and we are completely comfortable with that.

There was no Homecoming meal, but Sis. Tonya Chapman prepared a meal for us, her family and for Bro. and Sis. Odom visiting from Florida.

We enjoyed the meal and the fellowship very much. Before long, it was time for church Sunday evening. We had another wonderful service Sunday night, but I spoke to soon about loading pictures. I  had trouble getting them to load after church. Maybe I will have a few more later.

This is what we have now.

These are Odie's from Saturday night and Sunday morning.

That wraps up the weekend. Thank you for dropping in.

Davy

View Out The Front Window 9/6/2020

We do not have one little glimmer of cell phone service in the bus this week. Since our internet is based on cell phone signal, we do not have internet in the bus either. There is a little internet inside the church. That is a definite plus.

It remains to be seen how easily we can load pictures, but we should be able to post at least a smidgen on Mile Markers each day. As far as communicating personally with us this week, I suppose that depends on how much we go to church.😀

View Out The Bus Window

This was our view out the front window of the bus at Flying J near Hope Hull, Alabama. We stayed there overnight Friday.

This is our view out the bus window this week at Midway Assembly near St. Stephens, Alabama.

Sunday Morning Sanity

I can hate you and you can hate me in return. We both lose. We both lose bigtime.

I can love you and maybe you will allow my love into your soul and you may love me back. That is the ultimate win.

I can love you and you may refuse my love and resolve to hate me in return. Our relationship will never be what it could and should be. However, as long as I do not allow your hatred toward me to taint my love for you, I still win. Love always wins. Davy

Thank you for stopping in on Sunday. May God bless you, friends.

Davy

Amazed By God's Provision

Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in with you. How are you doing? I am doing great. I am grateful that I am alive to praise God for another day.

Amazed By God's Provision

We broke ground to build the home where I now live on April 17, 2017. I remember a memorable text that I received on that groundbreaking day. Bro Gary Lee said, “You are watching a miracle happen right before your eyes.” His statement to me was one hundred percent true! This miracle began taking shape years before that time, but that day we could physically see progress. Over three years later I am still amazed by God's provision. 

The vision behind the whole project was to provide a home for my future. A house that was accessible for my physical needs was a dream of mine. It was difficult to imagine that my dream would actually be a reality. 

The house project was a long process of vision, bravery, faith, prayer, planning, time, labor and money. I watched a huge series of miracles and God was always faithful. He provided just what was needed. The finished product is a beautiful place built just for me and I can access everything. 

My house was approved for occupancy on June 1, 2018. Immediately I started to make the house my home. I will always remember the joy of spending my first night here. Surprisingly it immediately felt like home. Two years I am still excited to be in my house.

It is impossible to publicly thank every individual that performed any part in my miracle. Countless people sacrificed abundantly for me. I appreciate every person that showed their love for me. Their incredible gifts turned my dream into a reality and their generosity continues to bless me! I am still overwhelmed by their kindness. 

I know several of you, my dear friends, will read this post. The words "thank you" have never fully expressed my sincere gratitude accurately. I do not want them to just be hollow words, but I mean them with heartfelt passion. I have been praying extra for the people who made my home a complete miracle.

I planned for a while to be home for a month this spring. I was thrilled to enjoy being home. Well, due to circumstances beyond anybody’s control, I had an extended stay at home. Nobody had any idea that a world crisis would happen, but God provided me a wonderful place to hide from the virus! I have had plenty of time to reflect on my blessings.

During the pandemic, I have been so grateful for my beach cottage. I remember what Wendy Bagwell once said about his home.”We ain’t got no ocean in Smyrna, Georgia." Well, we ain’t got no ocean in Waynesville, Ohio, but I am surrounded by a home that reminds me of the ocean. The sight of a beautiful ocean is my happy place. Living in a bright beach cottage has helped me stay cheerful!  I am so thankful for God's provision for me.

I will close for now. I am always grateful that you spend part of your day with us. Thanks for reading as I reflected on God's amazing provision for me. His blessings are awesome! If you are new to the blog you can click here to read more about the house. You can see all the posts about the house by clicking here.

Odie 

Revival In Pictures

We have spent the better part of a week here at our Tennessee home in Vonore, Tennessee, but it is time to get the big wheels rolling. By the time most of you read this Friday morning, hopefully, we will be moving southwest with no problems at all.

I will give you a full report on our latest BoggsMobile adventure when it looks like this chapter is closed for sure. We are hoping and praying. You hoping and praying with us would not hurt our feelings one little bit.

Tuesday evening we drove about 30 minutes and met Bro. Herman and Sis. Margaret Woods for supper. We enjoyed the visit with our adopted parents and dear friends.

We have had three services of revival online this week.

We neglected to ask for viewers to send in pictures while watching revival. We did receive a few pictures though.

We are almost always working while the sun is going down and have enjoyed watching service outside this week.

  

We do have pictures from this week though. Can you figure out what we had for breakfast and lunch most days this week?

And KJo went to get food two evenings in Vonore at a place called Smok-N-Bonz. Wow! The brisket is excellent!

Odie captured a rainbow Thursday.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy

A Shocking Development - BoggsMobile

Thank you for all of the kindness concerning the service posted last night for Camp Meeting in Nigeria. This was the flyer for the meeting.

We are disappointed not to be there in person, but we enjoy singing and preaching to my dear brothers and sisters there. We plan to have a service ready for them each evening this week at 8:00 PM Eastern. We love having you along.

A Shocking Development-BoggsMobile
This BoggsMobile post was originally written and scheduled to post last Thursday, two days before our current bus pickle. I will have a write up on the latest maybe next week.

I preempted this with Only God Can Heal Our Land. I obviously had no idea we would be back in the shop this week, but such is bus life and we are OK with it. 

I must look at things in the proper perspective!

A Week Ago Tuesday I began a post by telling you about finding a tire wearing in a way I had never seen before. I immediately made plans to swing by East Tennessee Luxury Coach in Vonore, Tennessee and let Jeff Rowe and his team take a look at it.

Here is a picture of the tire on the bus and another after the tire was taken off. You can really see the wear pattern.

Jeff suspected it might be a shock issue right from the get-go and once the tire was off, his guys removed the shock in that position. It was not completely trashed, but it was way beyond its useful lifespan.

I looked in my records and it had been 80,000 miles since I had changed the shocks. Prevost recommends about 50,000 IF my memory serves me correctly and I usually shoot for 60,000 miles or so. Obviously, I forgot to check my records and missed replacement by about one year.

It was a costly mistake since that tire was not near the end of its life, but it sure is now. When they checked the tire on the opposite side of the tag axle, it was wearing in a similar pattern, but on the inside edge of the tire where I could not easily see it. The cost of my mistake was adding up!😀😀

Normally I put new tires on the front and cycle the front tires to the tag axle, but the fronts had only been on about 20 months. I did not want to put $1800 worth of tires on the front and then put the nearly new tires on the tag where they take a lot of abuse.

After tossing the options back and forth, I opted to put new Toyo tires on the tag axle at substantial savings!

It is a verifiable fact that Michelin makes the tire of choice for these buses due to the quality of the ride. I will stick with Michelins on the drive axle and steer axle, but these Toyo tires should be fine for the tag.

I have known that one of the tag axle brake rotors was cracked a bit, but on close inspection, it was discovered it was broken in two places. We certainly do not want that falling apart on the road!

While one of Jeff's guys was changing all the shocks, another changed the brake rotor on the driver's side tag axle. Changing a brake rotor on a Prevost XL is a labor intensive process, but Jeff's guys handle it like it is child's play.

The new brake rotor.

Inspecting the opposite side.

One of the new shocks.

The BoggsMobile in Jeff Rowe's shop.

We are very thankful to get all of this work completed plus replacing the refrigerator in one location. I have said it before and I will keep right on saying it, we are very thankful for Jeff Rowe and we pray that God blesses his business every day. 

Yes, we end up spending a good chunk of money on the BoggsMobile over the course of a year, but not near as much as we would have to invest without Jeff Rowe in our lives and on our speed dial!

Thank you for joining us today on Mile Markers.

Davy