Travel Day and Metropolis, Illinois

Have you been enjoying the pictures from Carter Caves State Park? I hope so. We sure had a great time.

As we were preparing to leave Carter Caves State Park one Monday it began to rain. It was raining pretty hard by the time we cranked the BoggsMobile and unhooked the utilities. I did not complain because they desperately needed the rain in that area. I put on my rain jacket and went to work.

These two pictures were taken through the windshield just before exiting the park.

Kelly Jo went ahead of me and put some gas in the Green Machine near the interstate and we hooked up by the station. We did not hook up at the campground because of the extreme curves and down hill slope getting out of there. I wish I had some pictures to show just how it is but taking pictures with one hand and driving those roads do not mix well together. You will have to take my word for it.

We had a nice smooth ride across I-64 with a little slow down a few places for construction. We had some stop and go traffic around Lexington and a little more construction on the Western Kentucky Parkway but we still made really good time.

We did so well that we stopped in Central City, Kentucky for a little Mexican food and a little fellowship with our good friends Bro. Alan and Sis. Tammy Harris. I had scoped things out the last time we preached for Bro. Harris to see if we could get the BoggsMobile near the Mexican place if we were ever passing through. It is probably less than 1/2 mile from the interstate so it is a good stopping point.

We really enjoyed the food but we enjoyed visiting with our good friends even better. It seems we never get to spend enough time with Bro. Alan and Sis.Tammy and Monday was no exception. The time flew by. Before I knew it and hour had slipped through our hands and I could feel the road pulling me along. 

I appreciate our friends taking time to meet us for a little while. We had a great time and we look forward to seeing them again soon.

One of the reasons I was feeling pulled along was that I realized I might just make it to Metropolis with plenty of light to get parked. I did not want to rush away from Carter Caves at sunrise on Monday so I figured we would take our time and get some where between Central City and Paducah and spend the night. But I had forgotten we would gain and hour going into central time and gain an hour of sunshine too.

I hate to pull in almost any place after dark but especially into campgrounds. I have done it lots of times but I never enjoy it and I try to avoid it if at all possible. I would rather spend the night in a truck stop or parking lot rather than try to squeeze in most parks after dark.

Since we were cruising along so good I called Pastor Gilbert and asked him if our spot was open Monday night and he said it was. I put the pedal to the metal. We pulled in about 7:00 with plenty of daylight. 

We absolutely love this park. They only have a few 50 amp sites and I do not think any of the sites have water or sewer. We always park in a 50 amp site that is close to a water spigot and we hook up to fill our fresh water tank. It works out great. The park is right on the Ohio River and I like to set and watch the water and the barges go by.

This is the park in the fall. 

You can see more pictures from that visit HERE.

We began revival Tuesday night and we have been having great services. We are only here for three nights so we are trying to make the best of it. Bro. and Sis. Gilbert and their folks have been so kind to us through the years and we appreciate their hospitality. We always have a good time of fellowship and enjoy God's blessings with these folks.

We have been taking pictures and I will try to post them tomorrow. God bless you all and thanks for reading.

Davy

Part III - Pictures From Carter Caves State Park

Here is one more set of pictures from our week at Carter Caves. I will start today's post with a few more pictures of our walk to the Fern Natural Bridge.

There is a huge bluff in the picture below and the rock we are standing on is separate from the bluff and has trees growing right out of the top of it. You have to step over a small chasm to get on the rock and it is best not to look down.

Saturday evening after the reunion some of us took another walk to the Smokey Natural Bridge. Here I am with Solomon, Van and Andrew.

And the rest of the hiking crew.

Solomon and Van are on the rock in the picture above and I am on the same rock taking a picture of everyone in the picture below. It was a long way up there.

It was pretty steep coming down and I had worn most the tread off my Crocs so Andrew came up and held my hand on the way down. He said, "I am helping you like a soldier helps people." His older brother is a soldier over seas right now and he wants to be just like him. It was touching.

Me, Andrew and Van "explored" some caves.

Sunday morning we drove the BoggsMobile to toward Grayson and sang at the Gregoryville Christian Church. My Cousin George's middle daughter Michelle attends church there with her husband and she bribed, blackmailed, begged, convinced, coerced, talked the Pastor into inviting us to come. We had a great time and they treated us very kindly. 

This is Michelle with Odie below.

Pastor Ron Arnett and Davy

We counted at least 28 of us Boggs' in service that morning and only two of that number attend there normally. It was a special treat for us to be there and a real special honor to have so many of our family attend with us. I had them all stand up at one point and I wish I had whipped out my trusty iPhone and taken a picture of them from the pulpit.

Faithful readers have seen this picture several times before.

This is my Dad Eugene Boggs sitting in the creek at Carter Caves in 2009 the day after the Boggs Reunion. Most of our immediate family sat in the creek that hot August day and ate KFC while cooling our feet in the cold, cold water. It was one of the favorite days in my life and the picture above captured it perfectly. I have had a hankering to get back to that creek for a long time.

Sunday afternoon we finally did it. Carter County has been really, really dry so the creek was not rushing in cold water as it normally is. We had to move down the creek from where we were in 2009 to find water deep enough to dangle our feet in but it was cool, wet, the chicken was excellent and I had my Dad, Mom, both brothers, my sister, all their spouses and most of the grandchildren. Plus we had Cousin Reva, her husband Lynn, one of her daughters Wendy, her husband and some of Reva's grandchildren.

It was a day that will live in my memory for a long, long, long time! Here is another picture to prove it.

After a few hours Tommy, Theresa and their families left for Ohio and Cousin Reva and her family went to the campground. That left the "Original" family.

There was a steep wash right behind where we sat in the creek that led to a vertical rock cliff. The wash begged to be climbed before we left.

I started slowly working my way up.

Just as I got to the top I looked behind me and my 71 year old Dad was steady climbing behind me.

He made it all the way to the top!

There was an awesome rock between the creek and the road. My Mother and Kelly Jo scampered to the top of it like a couple of mountain goats!

After all that climbing we were hungry again so we ate a little snack at a greasy spoon near the park entrance.

That pretty much wraps up our week in eastern Kentucky and what a great week it was. We left for Illinois Monday and have been here since. I should have more to post on that tomorrow. I will leave you with one last picture of Hadessah and Aalyah telling me good-bye in the campground Monday morning. 



We watched Cousin Reva, her husband Lynn, my parents and Steve and Karen pull out a few minutes ahead of us Monday. Cousin George and his wife Diana were staying a few more days so we bid them good-bye as well.

I hated to leave everyone behind. That is one of the hard parts about traveling the way we do for a living. It is hard to leave friends and family behind. But looking on the bright side, if we did not travel we would not know 1/10 of the people we know. We soothe the hurt in our hearts as we drive away with the knowledge that time and the providence of God will probably bring us back together again.

Thanks for reading.

Davy