Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that you have a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends.

We are starting this Thanksgiving in Amarillo, Texas at an RV Park near the Big Texan Steakhouse. We had a good travel day Wednesday, driving a little over 300 miles. We arrived here just in time to get settled in the RV Park and then go for a great meal. I will try to put up some pictures from the Big Texan tomorrow.

My first visit to the Big Texan was on Thanksgiving Day in 1986. Jeff Hensley and I were passing through on our way to Phoenix to visit my brother Steve. We ordered two steak dinners and a $20 bill covered the meals and the tip. The three steaks last night cost me considerably more than that! We have eaten there several more times through the years including for Odie's 17th birthday.

We have about 300 more miles to travel and then our long journey from Arbuckle, California to Gainesville, Texas will be complete. We are planning on finishing the drive today but since most of the trip is behind us and we are not pressed for time, we will play it by ear. I like to drive hard as we have and then spend two nights in one place once the bulk of the traveling is behind us. Plus the Big Texan is having a Thanksgiving buffet too! I know I will not feel much like driving if I eat that.

If we decide to go on to Gainesville today then Kelly Jo and Odie will probably go to Dallas/Ft. Worth area and shop on Friday. Since I am not the shopper in the family I will let them make the final decision. We generally eat at Cracker Barrel while traveling on Thanksgiving. IF we end up in Gainesville this evening then Cracker Barrel will be in the plan.

We were thinking of family this week and going through some old Thanksgiving posts. We found this from Thanksgiving dinner with the Morgan family a few years ago and we have been laughing our heads off. 

Kelly Jo's brother Danny singing Opera to the extreme delight of her cousin Jackie. It was hilarious! If viewing the blog from an iPad or iPhone you may not be able to see the clip. I wish that Apple and Google would just play nice. I guess we need to start posting the clips to YouTube and then they would be visible to everybody.

Odie said that somebody told her they watch this clip on our blog whenever they need a really good laugh. I hope it brought a smile to your face.

God bless you all today.

Davy

Travel Days and Schedule Changes

Today's post runs from California to New Mexico and even takes in a little bit of Oklahoma even though we have not been there physically in the last few days.

After many happy days in California it was time to say goodbye and roll the BoggsMobile toward the great state of Texas. We love the state of California. We love the ever changing scenery, we love the weather and we loves its people. May God bless all the churches that opened their doors to us on this westward tour. You all are the reason we are able to keep traveling and spreading the Gospel. We loved being with you.

We left very late in the morning on Monday. From central California it is a long way to the state line no matter which direction you go. This is a rest area about 3 1/2 hours from Riverdale.

I took this picture of our GPS as we crossed the state line with Arizona on I-40.

So after 393 miles and nearly 7 hours we finally made it to the state line.

Our plan was to drive to Kingman, Arizonia and spend the night at the Flying J. Kingman was the last place along I-40 that was forecast to stay above freezing Monday night. The rest of the route was going to be warmer the rest of the week but Monday was going to be frigid.

When we pulled into the Flying J all of the RV spaces were full or WAY to small for the BoggsMobile and the Green Machine. There were several spaces available in the truck parking but I would have had to remove the car and then back the bus in. That is not a huge deal but I was feeling good and I knew there was a rest area up the road where we could spend the night.

What I did Not know was that the rest area was closed! Another thing I did not know was that there was not another place to park for 120+ miles. When I finally arrived in Bellemont at the Pilot close to Flagstaff it was 25 bad cold degrees.  The picture below has a finger in the lower left corner because I am not used to taking pictures with gloves on!

We had seriously considered taking the southern route to Texas. It is nearly 200 miles farther but much warmer. We decided while driving Monday to follow I-40 because the weather forecast was pretty good as long as we stayed away from Flagstaff Monday night. Well, as you can see, that did not work out to well for us!

After a fitful night we pulled out of the Pilot and drove toward the sun and its warmth. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day! The USA is a gorgeous place and we are blessed to live here.

Tuesday was a shorter day for us. I think it was about 330 miles to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were parked in the Flying J on the west side of town shortly after noon. We had some pressing business that needed to be completed and Albuquerque was the last city along our route where we could get it done.

When the business was finished we decided a nap was in order. When the nap was finished the sun was setting and we decided to stay the night. Albuquerque is a beautiful city.

I would have liked to finished the 300+ miles to Amarillo but we are fine right here. So that puts two travel days and between 900-1000 miles behind us. We only have a little over 600 to go. I plan to stop at a little RV park west of Amarillo and stay at least one night there before moving on to the House of Prayer in Gainesville, Texas.

I do have a schedule change to tell you about. After Gainesville we were going to Lawton, Oklahoma. Pastor Brandon Murray called me Sunday night and told me he had to cancel revival. He did not realize that many of his folks were going to be gone that week. We sure hate to miss them this year but we understand completely. It is hard to have revival without your folks there. We love the Murray family and the church at Lawton.

I text several folks in the Oklahoma area that might have been planning to visit the revival at Lawton to let them know it was canceled. Pastor Lendell Birdsong asked us to spend the weekend with them at Blanchard. So we will be there December 6th and 7th by God's grace. You can always see the latest updates to our schedule HERE.

That brings you up to date. May you have great food, great family time, great fellowship and overflowing thankful hearts tomorrow as you gather for Thanksgiving.

Davy

Tuesday November 25, 2014

Late night Sunday, late start Monday and full truck stop at my planned overnight stop in Kingman, Arizona equals a long, long day. 

We finally landed at the Pilot truck stop in Flagstaff but I will give all the details and pictures in another post. Right now I owe you the run down on the weekend. 

Yesterday I posted pictures from our visit to Arbuckle, California. We sure enjoyed ourselves a whole big bunch. We spent the whole day at Arbuckle Fellowship having church, visiting with friends, making new friends, eating and having church again.

Yep, pretty much the story of our life and just the way we like it!

This was our first visit to Arbuckle but we have known Pastor Nate McCoy and his family and been familiar with his extended family for many years. In fact we preached for Bro. McCoy's father in law in Arcata, California in 1992. 

Sis. McCoy's Dad is Bro. Cameron Hudson. Bro. Cameron has pastored the last several years in Oklahoma and is now working with his Dad in Blair, Oklahoma. His Dad is Pastor Billy Ray Hudson and we have preached quite a bit for him. 

You see it is quite a small world. I first met Bro. Hudson in 1990 or 1991 at a minister's meeting he was preaching and he was a tremendous influence on me then. Now we are preaching for his granddaughter's husband and getting to know his great grandchildren. 

The McCoy's have several children and we had a blast getting to know them. They are Hannah, Bethany, Hope, Noah, Brooke, Lora, Titus and Caleb. What a great family!

We were also familiar with more of the church folks in Arbuckle but we had never had a chance to meet them. It was nice to put faces with names and get to visit with them some too. 

We really had two good services and I enjoyed preaching both times. The ladies prepared a great lunch of Mexican food and it hit the spot perfectly. They sure worked their way into our hearts!

After church Sunday night we visited a while longer and then left about 9:00 PM headed south. We arrived at the BoggsMobile a few minutes before 1:00 and it felt good to plop down in my own bed. 

That's about it. Thanks for reading. 

Davy