Travel Days - Montana At Last!

Monday was one of those days that I have to walk around the BoggsMobile with my hands in the air thanking God that at least I am not pastoring a church! What a day it was. We drove a little over 500 miles in three different stretches and finished up Tuesday morning.

308 miles Monday during the day...

161 miles Monday night...

And 54 miles Tuesday morning to finish it up...

We left Buffalo before noon and we were making really good time. I-90 runs north through that part of Wyoming and into Montana. At Billings, Montana I-90 turns west all the way across the state. It is about 500 miles from Buffalo, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana and every mile is beautiful.


This route takes you along the Yellowstone river valley for miles and miles. It may be one of my favorite parts of the world.

There are several long mountains to climb on the route. We brought the BoggsMobile this way in 2010 and we had no problems at all….

Monday was a different story. The last climb before Billings, Montana I noticed my engine temperature was a little over normal. I turned off the air conditioning and that brought the temps back into line.

As we went west and the outside temperature went up and the mountains got higher the engine temperature was getting higher as well. I never let it get in the danger range but it was hotter than normal. The computer on the bus will shut the engine down before it gets to danger level but I do not want to even get close to that.

Each time I pulled over to the side of the road the engine temp came down to normal almost immediately.

By the time we got to Bozeman the outside temp was in the low 90s so we decided to stop at a rest area and wait for the cool of the evening. One great thing about Montana summer is 90 degree days and 55 degree nights!

The Prevost book assured me that everything was functioning normally. It said that high altitude, high ambient temps and pulling a heavy load can cause it to run hotter than normal.

I do not normally drive a long distance when it is much over 90 anyway so we waited out the afternoon heat at a rest area. The two biggest pulls were within the next 75 miles with the biggest being over the Continental Divide right before Butte. We left at 10:00 pm.

It was in the upper 60s outside when I hit those mountains. I turned the heat on full blast, down shifted to keep my RPMs up and made it over the top without getting hot. We were praising God in a big way at the top of that mountain.

Whether or not we have a problem with the cooling system remains to be seen but I am so glad we made it.

It was about 1:30 when we pulled into a rest area about 50 miles from the church and went to bed. I was so glad I had made it over the mountains but my mind and body were plum tuckered out.

We were up early and finished the drive to the Lolo/Florence area. Bro. Paul Blanton and his family are out here for the tent revival. I knew that I could not pull into the church with the trailer attached to the BoggsMobile so Bro. Paul and his son Eric were on hand to put the trailer in the parking lot for me.

After we were parked and hooked up I washed the bus and trailer and sat down for quite a while. It had been along 24 hours.

Days like Monday the devil would tempt me to pastor a church but I refuse to be tempted!

I might be crazy to pull this trailer all over the country…

I might be crazy doing all of these tent revivals…

But I can stop all of that without pastoring a church!

I refuse to fall in that trap! Lol

Thank God for all of His help. He has placed a lot of people in my life to advise and help me on days like that and I am so thankful. Thank you all for praying for us as well. The fact that God hears and answers prayer keeps me pressing on!

Here are a few pictures from our first day at Sun Valley Church and a few that Kelly Jo took on the road. God bless you all…

Davy

The view from our front porch

On The Road...

A Car By Any Other Name Would Still Be A Car

Forget the name, where does the air filter go?

We have had a lot of fun trying to name our newest member of the family. Thanks for all the comments, emails, texts and phone calls with all kinds of great ideas. We have been having a blast with it.

I have always felt the best names are the ones that happen naturally or maybe I should say spontaneously. With no brainstorming, list making or angst at all, the name just "happens"!

Take for example, Odie. Who could have planned that? That was a name that dropped out of nowhere and stuck like a chicken on a junebug!

The problem with our little Scion xB is that it naturally and spontaneously generated dozens of names! Some of you all got on a roll and the names are still coming. This thing attracts names like crazy. Everybody that walks by has a name and new names are coming to us all the time.

We have so many good ones that we have had a hard time settling on just one. We do have one common name that keeps rising to the top though. Nearly every week somebody walks up that has never seen the car or perhaps is a total stranger to us and says, "Where'd you get the little green machine" or "Hey that's a cute little green machine" or my personal favorite from a man in Paducah, Kentucky, "You better not park that green machine in the grass, the bugs will eat it!"

So we have taken to calling it the green machine which was one of the first names mentioned in the very beginning. I do not know that the "poor child" (To paraphrase Bro. Riggs) will every get an official name but we will keep our eyes and ears open for something formal. 

Until then His Name Shall Be The Green Machine!

What do you think? Leave a comment...

My brother Steve came up with a hilarious name the other day in the comments. It is a little beyond the rules but it is simply so funny! If you missed it you can find it the comments on THIS POST.

I am sure that one will get some play in our family.

We plan to take care of some business here in Buffalo, Wyoming this morning and then make tracks toward Montana,

God Bless,

Davy

Buffalo, Wyoming and the Big Horn Mountains

I spent the day yesterday doing some light maintenance on the BoggsMobile, organizing the tent trailer and catching up on book work for the ministry. Kelly Jo helped me quite a bit and then she and Odie went for a walk through the town of Buffalo.

Buffalo is a pretty town and it is the gateway to the southern end of the Big Horn Mountains. We went through the upper part of the mountains back in 2006 on our way to preach in Montana and Idaho. We were amazed by their beauty and the fact that we had heard so little about them.

I guess that since they are right here in the same state as Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, the Big Horns are overlooked. If they were any where else they would be the main attraction!

Kelly Jo and I drove out into them on Hwy 16 and then some of the side roads Friday evening before sunset.  It was a beautiful drive. Last night we drove toward them on a back road and we were in awe again at their beauty. There were deer every where and we even saw a Pronghorn up close.

Today we will go to church some where in Buffalo. The choices are limited but there are churches here. Tomorrow morning we have some business to take care of and then we hope to be on the road toward Montana shortly after noon.

There are a few families on their way to Montana for tent revival so please pray that everything goes well for everybody on the road.

Enjoy the pictures....

Davy

Securing The Car in The Trailer

I have had trouble strapping down vehicles in trailers from the very first time I tried it. It does not matter how tight I strap it down they dance sideways on me. Last year I even broke good ratchet straps because I had them so tight. The little green car is only 2,400 lbs and I still could not keep it from moving.

I kept asking and searching until some one on an RV forum gave me this LINK. These people have everything you can think of and a whole bunch of things I could never imagine.

This is a picture from their website. I ordered four of these to strap down the car in the trailer. A regular wheel strap would not work because of the low clearance on the car but these are perfect.

Last week in Miami I mounted the Etrack down both sides in the trailer. Kelly Jo helped me in the trailer and Bro. Caleb Bontrager helped me underneath the trailer.

Monday Kelly Jo pulled the car in and we strapped it down...

I have pulled the trailer with the car strapped in with these for over 1080 miles over some pretty rough interstate and the car has not moved and inch that I can see. It sure looks like I have found a solution.


Davy