Rewind and Start Over

Today has been another whirlwind day and we have one more whirlwind day to go. Hopefully after that it slows down for four days while in Mexico and we get to enjoy revival and time with our friends the Landress family. It should be warmer next few days too. Hallelujah! Have I mentioned that it is very cold here in Ohio?

Kelly Jo started the day by finishing packing and then she worked hard to clean the bus so it's not a wreck when we get back home. I started with a bunch of paperwork, sermon preparation and bus work.

As I have mentioned a couple of times the forecast for tomorrow morning is very, very cold. It was actually colder than they thought it would be this morning, but we made it without anything in the BoggsMobile freezing.

I have been looking for an inside storage place so I can move the bus inside while we're gone in this frigid weather. I finally found a facility in northern Cincinnati and went down and looked at it yesterday. It is a very nice facility. It is heated, has electronic security and surveillance and strictly controlled access. They have several classic cars and nice big boats stored in one giant room.

I made plans have the BoggsMobile there about 3 o'clock Thursday afternoon. That put us to rushing Tuesday evening and all day today trying to get everything in place. I also made a park sleep and fly reservation near the date airport for us Thursday night since we would not have the bus.

I turned the diesel heat on about noon and warmed up the engine coolant. I also turned the generator on so my batteries would stay completely charged on the drive down to Cincinnati. I would only have access to 20 amps in the storage facility so I needed my batteries already fully charged. Since the facility is heated to 55° I would not have to run any heat so there would be no demand for much electricity at all. I could relax while in Mexico know the BoggsMobile was cozy warm and safe. Everything seemed perfect.

You know there is another shoe about to drop don't you? Well, here it is.

We pulled into the storage facility a little after 3:00 PM. My brother Steve was guiding me as I backed in. I noticed in my backup camera and mirrors that it the 14' tall 12' wide door looked mighty low. In fact it looked so low that I thought to myself, "That door looks only 12 feet tall." The owner assured me yesterday and again today that the doors were 14 feet tall. I did not even look closely until I was backing up.

I got out of the bus and stood in the building and had Kelly back to the entrance. Yep, sure enough, it was only 12 feet tall.

The owner of the facility was standing right there to direct me where to park. You should have seen the look on his face when he realized his 14' tall door was only 12' tall. It looked like he was going to have a cow. He felt like a lowdown, good for nothing hound. One more animal and it would've been a three dog night.

He felt so bad that I had driven all the way there, that he reached in his wallet and offered me $100 for my trouble. Of course by the time you figure the diesel I burned and the cost of the motel I bought for Thursday night, that mistake cost me quite a bit more than $100. However I hated to take his money. It was an absolutely honest mistake on his part. When I refused the money what he told me was very refreshing.

He said something like this, sir I'm a businessman and as a businessman I just totally disappointed and let down my customer. I cannot stay in business by treating customers that way. This $100 is the very least I can do besides I would like to help the work you do anyway.

We discussed it some more but he was adamant. I was very disappointed not to get to park the bus inside and hated that we had went all the effort, but I really felt bad for him. He advertised what he thought was true and made and honest mistake yet he was willing to take the blame and make it right as far as possible.If I can use any of his business services in the future you can guarantee I will. He really went the extra mile for the customer. God bless him.

So we drove back to Dodds, parked the bus and hooked up to electricity. The BoggsMobile will have to endure the cold like it was created to do. Please ask God to help our bus not to freeze in any form or fashion and ask him to calm my nerves. I am a wimp.

I have mentioned before we have been looking for some kind of property here in Ohio with the purpose of building a bus barn eventually. This winter really pushes us in that direction. I am very tempted to cancel every meeting I have in the north in the wintertime and head south. Pray that God will give us wisdom and guidance.

Tomorrow starts for us in a few hours so I am off to bed. Thanks for reading.

Davy

The Weather Outside is Frightful

Kelly Jo and I had some business to take care of in downtown Dayton Tuesday morning. We planned on being there when they opened at 8:00. The weather guessers were predicting that we would get a "dusting" of snow between 6:00 and 9:00 in the morning. I looked outside at 6:50 and this is what I saw. 

Wow! What a dusting. It was 19 degrees and 12 with the wind chill. The wind blows harder at the Dodds church than any where around here so I believe it was colder than that. Instead of going to Dayton I slipped out a little before 8:00 and started shoveling. It was dry snow that shoveled easy but it was COLD!

I must have thanked God a few dozen times for the sunshine today and I meant every word of it.

Even though it stayed cold the sun did melt some of the snow on the top of the BoggsMobile. Of course that all froze on the ground as soon as the sun went down.

While I was shoveling and then running errands Kelly Jo and Odie were packing for Mexico. They have worked all day except for the 1 1/2 hours I had Kelly Jo gone to Dayton in the afternoon and a short break for a late lunch. They just about have it completed. There is still a lot to do to leave the bus and I will tell you more about that tomorrow.

It is 18 degrees now and going down to 9 tonight. It is supposed to be even colder as we head out to our early morning flight on Thursday. Brrrrrrrrr! I really hope our flights are not affected by the weather. The flight schedule is pretty tight.

Thanks for praying for us.

Davy

Home Sweet Home!

Yesterday's Post from London, Kentucky

Yes, friends, we are home sweet home! And about to freeze my little toes off too! Wow! I am ready to fly south for the winter.

We rolled out and cranked up early this morning. I started heating the engine coolant with the Aquahot diesel heater at 5:50 AM. By 7:00 the engine was toasty warm and cranked up like it was 70 degrees outside. We pulled into Visone RV where the trailer was worked on last week about 8:00. After hooking up the trailer and loading the car, we finally hit the road about 8:40. I love it when a plan comes together.

We only stopped twice in the 200 miles. We stopped once at the northern Kentucky Flying J to top off the fuel tank. We stopped the second time in Lebanon, Ohio to have the VIN inspected on the tent trailer. We have to do that when we buy an out of state vehicle and it is finally time to title the tent trailer here in Ohio.

My Dad was waiting for us when we pulled into Dodds Church. We dropped the trailer, parked the BoggsMobile, hooked up the electric, unloaded the Green Machine and headed for Acapulco to drink some salsa. I was so busy downing salsa that I only snapped one picture.

It was great to see my parents and my older brother Steve and to share a meal with them at my favorite little Mexican place. We relaxed a few minutes and savored some family time before the RUSH of home sets in. That was good.

Now the RUSH is fully on. I came back to the bus to work and Kelly Jo and Odie. It is almost 6:00 and they are just getting back to the bus. We have a long list of things to do that MUST be done before we leave for tent revival in Mexico early Thursday and a longer list of things we would like to do before then. I guess I better get off here and get started.

God bless you all.

Davy