The View Out The Front Window 9/15/19

This was the view out of the front window of the bus this week at Tanner Williams Holiness Church.

This was our view out the front window when we pulled into Beams of Light Church near Cantonment, Florida yesterday evening.

Another Sunday has rolled around so here are the links to our posts from this last week.

Odie's Saturday Evening Post

Passing The Test

Taking Down The Tent In Louisiana

Vintage View Vednesday

Tent Revival In Pictures - Pine Prairie, LA

The Weekend In Our Rearview Mirror

We always appreciate you taking a moment to drop in to read Mile Markers. Have a great Sunday!

Davy

A Special Visit From Deidre and Charlie

Hey Friends,

Happy Saturday, this is Odie reporting in from Alabama. I hope that you are doing well and your weekend is off to a tremendous start. 

We will soon be preparing to journey to Florida. Revival starts tomorrow at Beams Of Light Holiness Church. It will be great to be with Pastor Phillip Deane (aka Dr. Phil). The church services and the fellowship with our friends in Cantonment are always amazing!

Charlie and Deidre 

I was trying to decide on my subject for today’s post and that is when I realized that I forgot to tell you about two special visitors to my home a few weeks ago. I will give you the details right now. It was a special day for me with two of my favorite people.

My cousin Deidre Boggs Shoemaker now lives in Texas. We only get to be together a few times a year. She is my ”sister” and I desperately miss her! I was happy that her visit home last month would coincide with our time home too. I was super anxious to see Deidre!

Deidre’s baby, Charles Ray, was just a month old when we met him in May. You can read about that visit by clicking here. Currently, he is five months old. Time is flying by!

I was so ready to see him again. Pictures, videos and regular FaceTime calls allow me to watch him change and grow, but I wanted to hug my boy. He is constantly full of new things and his laughter and smile brightens my day. 

I was so happy to have Deidre and Charlie spend part of an afternoon at my house! We had a blast hanging out together and playing. I think he enjoyed his time at Auntie O’s house. 

Charlie really likes Aunt Kelly! I guess he can already sense that she is the awesome one of our family. 

What happens when it is time to eat and you do not have a highchair? We improvised and Auntie became the highchair. He was happy to get his lunch!

Then on Friday morning of that week, they came to camp meeting. We enjoyed more time together. I love you, Deidre Faye!  

Charlie experienced his first ride in my wheelchair after church. He was very content. Then sadly it was goodbye for now. 

I wanted to include one more picture. This was taken just a few days ago. He now has two teeth and more probably will come soon. I love this smiley boy! I already can not wait to see him again. 

Thank you for visiting with me today. I will see you again next week. 

Odie 

Passing The Test

Do you have time for a little bus talk? This is the bus and the Green Machine on Tuesday morning.


1995 Prevost XL
We have been kind of tied up with tent revivals and I think I neglected to tell you about some bus information from last month. I say "I think" I neglected because I meant to write about it but I can not find any record of it.

You may remember the bus trouble we experienced in January and February in Texas and Alabama. When it was all over we changed the oil in Ellisville, Mississippi. It had only been a little over 1700 miles since the last oil change, but there had been a lot of work on the engine in the interim. 

After the second repair, Bro. Brad Nicholson (Our mechanic friend/hero from Richton, Mississippi) was concerned there might be damage deeper in the engine. He and Jeff Rowe (The bus guru/friend) came up with a plan to help make sure everything on the inside of the engine was OK.

I had the oil analyzed from that oil change and that gave us a baseline from which to judge things going forward. The plan was to either change the oil or draw an oil sample after about 7500 miles. However, the 7500 mile mark came during our New England trip and we could not find anywhere to get an oil change along the interstate.

On our way to Central City in August, we stopped for an oil change in Pendleton, Kentucky. I had them save a sample for me and I mailed it to the same place the other samples were done. When the results came in, they were full of good news.

Everything in the oil sample checked out good! Hallelujah! That took a big load off of my mind. It is very important to take care of our investment in the BoggsMobile and keeping the engine running smoothly is a big part of that.

Maybe the big bus saga from early 2019 is really over. I will try to change the oil again at the next 10,000-mile mark for further confirmation that all is good.

Thank you for checking in today.

Davy

Taking The Tent Down In Louisiana

Thank you for the positive comments in response to yesterday's post.

Today I have pictures of the tent coming down in Pine Prairie, Louisiana Sunday night after church. As I mentioned earlier in the week, Bro. Gautreaux and his folks jumped in and worked hard to help us. We absolutely could not do this without the church people stopping up and helping us with the necessary tasks.

The first three pictures were taken during church from a Wyze cam that I had set up. The video is a timelapse from the same camera beginning at 3:45 and going until the tent was packed up about 10:30 or so.

Here are the pictures that Odie took during the process.

Thank you for checking on our Mile Markers today. I hope you have a super great day.

Davy

Vintage View Vednesday September 11, 2001

Vintage View Vednesday September 11, 2019. There are literally thousands of pictures I could have chosen from to remember this date in history, but for some reason, this collage of pictures speaks to me. I do not own this picture.

Our Vintage View Vednesday is an iconic view of a day in our US history that will never be forgotten. September 11, 2001. It was one of the most dreadful and fearful days in the long American story.

That day made me want to pull people I love closer and let them know how much I care for them. It still does. Nearly 3000 people lost their lives in NYC, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The more I read the stories of victims and survivors and heroes, the more I value life at its very core.

Life is valuable. Life is fleeting. Life is too short to waste on ourselves. God help me to remember.

Davy

Our Weekend In The Rearview Mirror

Yesterday I posted pictures from the tent revival over the weekend. Today I will give you a few more details.

It was a wonderful weekend havin' church under the tent in Pine Prairie. There really was not much time for anything else, but unfortunately, there is more to life than church so we had to squeeze in some time for work. I will get to that all in good time.

The services Friday, Saturday and Sunday were terrific. They were well attended by the church and the community and the Lord met with us each and every night. I am expecting to get some reports of good things that God has done.

Pastor Barry Gautreaux and his people were very kind to us and helped lighten our workload as much as they could. That helps us a bunch and we appreciate it so very much.

Sunday morning we took down banners and cameras under the tent and prepared as much as we could for the task of taking down the tent. That included topping the BoggsMobile off with freshwater, cranking the bus, turning it around and hooking up to the tent trailer.

Bro. Gautreaux joined us at 3:45 as we carried out the sound equipment and then prepped the trailer to receive the tent. All of that went incredibly well. Before we knew it, Odie was outside playing guard dog under the tent and we were in the bus getting ready for the final service.

After another great service Sunday night, everyone went to work. I think Odie said it was less than 90 minutes from the final "Amen" to when we shut the door on the trailer with everything down, loaded and strapped. Not bad at all for working after dark.

I am thankful we were able to get the tent down dry. On hot nights it will sometimes draw moisture from the ground if we do not get it folded up quickly, but it was bone dry as we rolled it up and put it in the bags. Wonderful!

I was hoping to sleep a while morning Monday since we did not have to be in a hurry. Unfortunately, my brain did not cooperate and it was raring to go before daylight. I managed to wait a while before waking up the girls and we did not pull out until after 8:00.

Here is the tent site before we pulled out Monday morning.

We had a nice drive from Louisiana to Mississippi. We stopped for fuel near Baton Rouge and stopped to do the work of the evangelist at a rest area near Picayune, Mississippi. Other than that, we did not stop.

6 hours and 20 minutes after we left, we pulled into Richton First Assembly after 291 miles. I got out and hugged the neck of Bro. Scott Morris and then climbed back into the bus and took a nap.

An hour or so later, Kelly Jo and Bro. Scott helped me drop the trailer, remove the car from the trailer, park the bus, hook up the electric, hook the trailer to the church bus and pull it around back into its spot.

Then we had a relaxing evening and a terrific meal with Bro. Scott, Sis. Kim Rylee and Regan. It was wonderful to spend a few hours with our dear friends.

Today will be another travel day. This morning we are moving on toward Alabama. I do not remember if I mentioned this or not, but we had an outdoor meeting scheduled to begin tonight and run through Friday in Alabama. It was canceled due to the sponsoring church having some difficulties with insurance.

I considered filling the week, but after looking at our schedule for the last two months, I figured this cancelation might be sent from God. We did not pencil in time for a vacation this year on purpose and Wednesday through Friday will not be a substitute for a vacation, but the rest will do us good.

That brings you up to date on the weekend. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy