A Week Of Traveling, Scenery and Church

This week has been action packed. Our first task at hand Monday morning in Vermont was to get the bus ready to ride, crank it up and park next to the church so we could add some water and hook up the Jeep. 

Once we were finished and we had said a final goodbye to Bro. DiZazzo, we pulled out and started toward Maine. In the meantime, it had started raining. That would be the driving conditions most of the day.

There is no good route from northern Vermont to almost anywhere in Maine. HWY 2 is a truck route that goes across Vermont and New Hampshire and into Maine, but it is not fast. It is two lane all the way with curves, hills and a pile of small towns. We knew it would be slow going and we tried to get our minds into that gear.

We took 58 from Lowell to I-91 south. 58 is 16 miles of steep hills and it took us over 30 minutes to drive it. The next 33 miles were on I-91, but it is mountainous and impossible for me to make any time in the bus. In our first hour, we drove 43 miles.

In two hours we had gone 79 miles and the three hour mark put us at 119 miles. Are you detecting a slow pattern here?😇

At one point we encountered serious road construction. It was time for a bit of off-roading in the BoggsMobile. It was definitely not my favorite part of the day.

We knew that a place to stop for the night would be nearly impossible to find, so we pulled into an old time roadside rest like we used to stop at when I was a kid. We figured we could get by with parking for an hour or so and we did.

I used to love to stop at those places on state HWYs on the way to Kentucky or Florida. Dad and Mom would make sandwiches on the tailgate of the station wagon or truck. It was so much fun.

We rested there for about an hour and ate. At the five hour mark, we had driven 153 miles. 

I snapped a picture of this Dynasty Buffet, in Gorham, New Hampshire. We ate there in 2014 while traveling in the opposite direction in the Green Machine. We stayed that trip in a motel next door.

We saw a few leaves beginning to change colors.

As we suspected, every possible stopping place was impossible and we pulled into Brooks Pentecostal Church in Brooks, Maine after 252 miles and eight hours and fifteen minutes total time. Whew!

It is 110 miles farther to drive mostly interstate way down south and back up. I am pretty sure I could drive it in about the same time.

It was so good to arrive in Brooks and get parked. Pastor Shaw met us there and welcomed us with open arms.

Honestly, I felt rough around the edges after the long and tedious drive. I was not sure I was going to bounce back quickly, but I rested good Monday night and started moving early Tuesday to make sure I was still alive.

We drove to the coast in Belfast and down through Lincolnville and Camden to Rockland. It was a relaxing day. Gorgeous!

After resting in the afternoon, we drove back to Belfast and sat on a bench by the harbor. It was beautiful. Here is one more picture from Tuesday evening and we will have more another day.

We came to Maine on our way from Vermont to Massachusetts to preach for Pastor Nathan Tinsely in Appleton. Pastor Shaw from Brooks asked us to preach for him on Wednesday night and offered his parking lot for us to park the bus. They were so kind to us.

Wednesday night at Brooks was fantastic. Bro. Shaw and his people received us warmly. Honestly, about halfway through the preaching it felt like I had been preaching to these folks for years. That is a wonderful feeling.

Pastor Matthew Shaw and Sis. Kim Shaw with our family.

 

We sure appreciate the kindness of the people in Brooks! This has been a beautiful place to park and is close to the Coast. They have invited us back and we are anxious to return at our first opportunity.

Breakfast

Thursday evening we drove about 35 minutes south to Appleton, Maine to preach for Pastor Nathan Tinsley. We have known the Tinsley family for many, many years and it was wonderful to preach for Bro. Nathan.

We did not drive straight to the church. We met the Tinsley's in Rockland at a great seafood place called Archer's. It was very good and we had a great time. Then we followed them to church for a wonderful service.

Union Meeting House (Appleton, Maine)

Wow! What a week! AND it is not over yet. There are more adventures to come. Thank you for spending a few minutes with us.

Davy

It Is Like Riding A Bicycle, Right?

Yeah, it is like riding a bicycle.

You know the saying, right? Someone says, "I have not done that in a while." "That is OK" another person replies. "It is like riding a bicycle. Once you know how to do it, you got it. Climb on and it will all come back to you."

Yeah right!

We have driven the BoggsMobile well over 200,000 miles. 

We have hooked up a car to the bus hundreds of times.

We have pulled into truckstops hundreds of times. 

We have labored over the map, GPS and Google Maps hundreds of times.

We have driven through major cities hundreds of times.

We have navigated around mountains and through small towns hundreds of times.

We have pulled into church parking lots and parked hundreds of times.

We have leveled the bus hundreds of times.

We have hooked up the electricity hundreds of times.

We have emptied the holding tanks hundreds of times.

We have unhooked all of the utilities hundreds of times.

We have unloaded the sound equipment hundreds of times.

We have carried the sound equipment into churches and under tents hundreds of times.

We have hooked it all up and had soundcheck hundreds of times.

We have sung and preached hundreds of times.

We have carried the equipment out hundreds of times.

We have loaded it all in the BoggsMobile hundreds of times.

We have said goodbye and driven into the sunset OR sunrise hundreds of times.

Do you have the picture yet?

AND when I say hundreds of times, I am being conservative. Some of the items on that list easily number in the thousands of times.

Yet, here we are.

After 203 days at home. Nearly seven months off the road. Over 1/2 of the year NOT doing all those things we have done hundreds and even thousands of times and we feel like newbies! 

It is like riding a bicycle, right? Get on and it will all come back to you. Do not fret about it. You have got this!

It is like riding a bicycle. Yes, it is. 

Yeah, it is like riding a bicycle ... and falling off! Ouch!

I should have remembered. I have the scars to prove it. 

I have no doubt that I rode a bicycle many hundreds of miles as a kid. I jumped on the bike and went. However, I have scars on my hands, elbows, legs, head and back to prove that not all my hundreds of miles of bike riding went as smoothly as most of them.

Yeah, it is like riding a bicycle ... and falling off! 

But, you get back up, dust yourself off, wipe away the blood and tears, get on the bike and ride again.

Life is a challenge, like riding a bicycle. That must be why I am so sore this morning.

Thank you for joining us for a few minutes today. Do not panic. We are fine. I am only waxing a smidgen dramatic today.😊

Davy

A Word For Wednesday

A Word for Wednesday for this week is from George B. Duncan's daily devotional, Every Day With Jesus. I posted it a few moments ago on our YouTube Channel.

Does God Tire of Waiting On Us?

This was recorded in a new location. I set up by the BoggsMobile Sunday evening in beautiful Lowell, Vermont. I first tried the mountains as a backdrop, but the evening light was too low, so you get the bus, the tent and the church in the background.

We sometimes express our weariness with waiting on God. George B. Duncan wonders if God ever tires of waiting on us! God wants our best from us and His best for us. Why does it take so long for us to see that?

If you enjoy this, please subscribe, thumbs up the video and share the video with someone.😍 Thank you,

Davy