Crazy Travel Day With a Few Bumps In the Road

It has been a crazy day.

We left Hokes Bluff, Alabama this morning and pointed the BoggsMobile toward Bond, Kentucky. Our first planned stop was the Flying J on the west side of Knoxville. We planned to shake and howdy with the Benji Burris clan as they were driving from Virginia to California.

Less than an hour south of Flying J my voltage light started flickering sporadically. That warning light is directly tied to the alternator but my gauge said it was producing a steady 26 volts.

While I was trying to figure out what to do my cousin Anthony Abner called me. He had just passed me and recognized the BoggsMobile. He was two cars ahead of me. He and his wife and daughter and son in law had been to Georgia. 

You ready for the good part? Anthony has driven a truck for years and I suspected he might be able to help me diagnose the problem.  So we pulled off the road and confirmed with the voltage meter that the alternator was fine. 

We concluded the light was giving a false reading but did not know why. Anthony reached in one more time to make sure the large wire was not broken and when he grabbed it a small wire came loose. 

That wire was for the light and had broken at the connection. I decided to drive on and fix it in the Flying J parking lot. 

We visited a few minutes and then posed for a family picture next to the road. Imagine the chances of somebody I know being in the right place at the right time with the right knowledge and experience. Reckon who orchestrated that?

As I was finishing the repair on the alternator Bro. Benji, Sis. Laura and their four beautiful children pulled into Flying J.  We had a great visit with them at Denny's. 

These are super folks and it was great to see them again. When Benji text me Saturday morning wondering if our paths might cross in Knoxville I was thrilled to try to make it happen. I am so glad they thought of us as they were traveling.  May God bless our friends. 

About 1/2 mile after getting back on the interstate I saw smoke around the trailer wheels on the drivers side. I thought it was a tire blow out. I rushed back there after I pulled over but the tire was fine. 

The grease cap on the back wheel came off and the grease was every where but where it should be. The front bearings on the back wheel were completely gone. 

I took the tire off and drove 15 mph about 4 more miles to the Pilot truck stop. Benji turned around and followed me into the Pilot and stayed with us until we knew that help was coming. 

I told them to go on but they insisted on seeing us off the side of the interstate safely. Benji also made some phone calls and helped me with information so I could make a decision what to do. 

Like I said, May God bless our friends!

Good Sam sent a mobile mechanic and he took off the hub and inspected everything. He thought the spindle and back bearings were fine.

He took the hub to a place that was open on Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend and they had the front bearings. The hub is scored some but they did not have a replacement. The old one is usable but I will probably need to change it in the future. When he returned he put it all back together twice to get it right. 

It seems OK now but by the time he was finished it was after 10:00 so we decided to wait until morning to finish the drive to Kentucky. Pastor Duane Allen was very understanding and is allowing us to start revival Sunday night rather than Sunday morning as scheduled.

It was an expensive and nerve wracking evening but I was able to witness to the mechanic and his wife and also gave them a Christmas CD and asked them to listen to the Gospel sermon. Who knows what God will do with all of that.

Yep, it has been a crazy day but we are safe, warm and saved. AND, at least I am not pastoring a church!

Davy

Travel Day - Rolling Over 100,000 Miles

We made it back to the bus about 12:40 Thursday night/Friday morning. We drove the 725 miles in slightly less than 12 hours including an hour stop at Cracker Barrel and stopping for gas about a "dozen" times. The Green Machine gets great gas mileage but the tank seems only a little larger than a thimble. 

We only needed a little gas in Claremore but since it was $2.81 a gallon I topped it off before we left. I ran it nearly empty to the east side of Little Rock and then filled up in Tupelo and Birmingham. The last two stops I needed only about a half a tank but we needed to stop any way. I also prefer to stop in big well lit places so that often dictates stopping a little earlier than I would have to otherwise. The gas prices were 26 cents different between Claremore and Birmingham.

As we were traveling across Arkansas on I-40 Thursday evening the eastern sky was beautiful.

Just after we turned off of I-40 onto Hwy 78 in Memphis the little Green Machine turned over to 100,000 miles on the odometer. For those of you that may not know, the Green Machine is an Envy Green 2006 Scion xB.

Here it is at 99,999

And at 100,000 miles at 7:41 PM Thanksgiving Day 11/28/13 in Memphis, Tennessee. 

I wonder where we will be when it turns over to 200,000 miles? It had right near 74,000 miles on it when we bought it in May of 2012. That is about 1370 miles per month and less than 16,500 per year. That is not too bad for us at all considering we put well over 80,000 miles a year on our cars for several years when I was working a public job, living in one place and traveling to preach and go to campmeetings too.

At the rate of 1370 miles per month the Green Machine should roll over 200,000 miles in about 73 months. That takes us up until about the first of January 2020. Wow! It should be just about broke in by then.

The weather is beautiful here in Hokes Bluff today. It is 56 beautiful sunny degrees. It was way super cold when we arrived at the BoggsMobile last night. I left very little heat on while we were gone. I turned the thermostat way down low on one heater inside and one heater in the water bay. The one in the water bay is only a back up for a 70 watt bulb. The bulb was doing fine so that heater was not on even though it was 23 outside.

The heater inside was kicking on and off and the temperature inside was 42. That was perfect. Everything was above freezing and we were not using too much electricity. When we crawled into the bed we were wishing for flannel sheets though! I can pretty much guarantee you the bed will have flannel sheets tonight!

Saturday we start for Kentucky by God's grace. God bless you all.

Davy

Thanksgiving On The Road

Thanksgiving On The Road

Or

A Cracker Barrel Thanksgiving 

We went by the Millikins this morning and visited again with Bro. Jimmy and Bro. Marty. We hated to leave them so bad but it was time for us to move on down the road. 

It has been good to see all the Millikin family. They are special folks and have been a blessing to thousands of people across the country. Please continue to pray for them. 

After fueling up the Green Machine we left Claremore a little before 1:00 PM. we stopped at Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving dinner near Ft. Smith, Arkansas. 

I dropped Kelly Jo at the door to put our name in the hat and then unloaded Odie and sent her toward the door. I was going to park and the wait in the car because Cracker Barrel is always backed up at least an hour on Thanksgiving. 

Odie was texting me to let me know they were seated at a table before I could get the car parked. Within 10 minutes of walking in we had our Thanksgiving meal on the table. 

We have eaten Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel quite a few times through the years but it seemed especially good today. Then came wonderful pumpkin pie for dessert. 

The girls shopped for a few minutes after the great meal and then we loaded up in the Green Machine and headed out. We left the parking lot exactly one hour after we pulled in. It could not have worked out any better. 

We are still traveling as I type this post. We have about 170 miles to go to the bus. I have not looked up at the road in several miles. It is a good thing that Kelly Jo is driving now. 

Wednesday night we went to see Sis. Millikin in the hospital with Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Shauna. While in Tulsa they drove us through some Christmas lights. The light were pretty awesome. 

I took a few iPhone pictures. The pictures are not near as awesome as the lights but they will give you a glimpse. 

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. God bless you all. 

Davy