The Green Machine Limousine

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Green Machine was in the shop for a pre-planned visit while we were in Central City, but I never did get around to telling you all about that. Now, the rest of the story.

Several months ago we had to make some decisions concerning our car. It had to have some work or it had to be replaced. It was riding like a buckboard wagon with metal wheels. It felt like it was beating us to death driving it a few miles to town. Longer trips were now preceded by dread at the thought of every expansion joint on the interstate.

The Green Machine is a 2006 Scion xB that we purchased in May 2012. It had a little less than 74,000 miles on it then. It checked off nearly everything on our list. It is roomy, sits up high enough that we do not have to crawl into it, it holds both wheel chairs and it gets good mileage.

Here is is in May 2012.

It is obviously not a luxury car and was not intended to float down the road like a Lincoln Town Car. After we lost the bigger rims and low profile tires in the pictures above, it rode very good for a small car.

Since that time, I have done almost nothing to the car. Besides tires every 20-24 months, I have replaced the battery, alternator and belts. That is about it. The suspension and front end had not been touched.

When I took it to Eaton's Tire and Auto Repair in Mt. Vernon Indiana the odometer was showing 183,000 miles. That does not include the 100,000++ miles it has rolled behind the BoggsMobile and the 50,000+ miles it has bounced around inside the tent trailer.

When you add those numbers, it has nearly 300,000 miles on the suspension and rolling parts of the car. It is little wonder that the Green Machine was riding like a buckboard wagon. 

Something had to be done so Kelly Jo and I put a pencil to it.

1. We like the car

2. We did not want to find and finance another car and we did not have cash to really get serious about looking for one without financing.

3. We figured we could get the Green Machine whipped into shape, including new tires, for around $2000 - $2500.

4. $2500 would barely make 6-8 months of payments on a newer car.

5. OR we could spend $2500 on a replacement car, spend $500 more to get it ready to tow behind, but could we expect a $2500 car to be as nice as we already had?

That gave us the answer. I called Bro. John Eaton and went through all of the above with him. He knows cars and I value his opinion. Bro. John thought our reasoning was sound so we made an appointment to take the car to him while we were 90 minutes away in Central City.

Bro. John and his crew at Eaton's Tire and Auto Repair took good care of the little Green Machine.

They checked everything underneath and replaced whatever was needed. The list includes the shocks and struts, both axle/CV joint assemblies, brakes, tires, spark plugs, a few other miscellaneous items and gave it an alignment.

It still does not ride like a Lincoln Town Car, but my oh my it rides like a dream compared to the way it rode when I took it in! It is well over 12 years old and I dare say it rides nearly as good as it did when it rolled off the assembly line.

Hopefully we can get at least two more years of good service from the Green Machine. That would really be groovy!

That is all for today. Thank you for stopping in.

Davy

Vintage View Vednesday Elba, AL, May 2008

We are preaching for Bro. Justin Sullivan this week at River Springs Campground. He and his wife Ashley have purchased these grounds that were previously used for church camps for many, many years. We are preaching this week under the old tabernacle and having a great time.

Bro. Justin reminded me that the first time we met was under a similar building in Elba, Alabama when we were singing and preaching an outreach service for Pastor Jon Isaacs. That was back in May of 2008. We had a wonderful day that Saturday and it began a friendship with a young preacher that brings us to this meeting near McKenzie, Alabama.

It is neat how God works. I am thankful for the times I have been patient enough to sit back and watch Him work and not jump in and mess it up.

We will have pictures from this revival later. Today's Vintage View is from the outreach service in Elba, Alabama in May 2008 for Pastor Jon Isaacs and what is now Grace Fellowship Church.

I hope you enjoy.

Davy

Bro. Derek Snellgrove was broadcasting the service live on his Gospel station.

Weekend Woundup and Weview

We travel most Saturdays but we since we began revival at Junction Hill on Monday, revival was scheduled to go through Sunday morning. That changed our normal weekend up a little bit. Therefore our weekend report goes all the way to Tuesday morning.

Saturday Kelly Jo and Odie kicked around town with Sis. Galiher, the Galiher girls and Sis. Priscilla and then we all met for lunch.

After a great day we had a super great service on Saturday night.

After church Saturday night we parked next to another light Green Machine. Is this the next one?

The BoggsMobile needed to be ready to ride after service Sunday morning. About 7:30 AM Kelly Jo started on the inside and I started working on the outside. In 30 minutes the fresh water tank was topped off, the drain hose was disconnected, the hoses and electric cords were put away and the power chair was loaded in the Green Machine.

I cranked the bus at 8:00, KJ backed the bus to the trailer, we hooked up, she pulled up, she backed the car in the trailer, we strapped it down and then KJ pulled the whole train across the street to a gravel parking lot. It was 8:30 when she shut the bus down. Man, I love it when we have good days!

Ready to go.

The revival wrapped up Sunday morning with another very good service. You may get tired of me saying this, but I never get tired of revival. I love having church, watching God's people worship, hearing God's Word and witnessing God bless, encourage and help His people. I absolutely love it.

Revival seemed even more special this week. Praise God for it. 

Odie snapped a few more pictures from Sunday morning.

Some of the men helped us carry the sound equipment across the street after service and then we went to town with the Galiher's for a "little" bite of Mexican before pulling out and pointing south.

The first couple of hours going south and then southeast of West Plans is pretty slow going in the BoggsMobile while pulling the trailer through the Ozarks. There was no sense getting in a hurry, because hurrying on those roads was impossible.

We went 39 miles the first hour and 88 miles after two hours. At the three hour mark we still were not averaging 50 MPH, but we hit the interstate soon after. I gave up at the Flying J in Olive Branch, Mississippi a little southeast of Memphis. We had driven 209 miles in about 4 1/2 hours.

That was far enough.

Kelly Jo had a wonderful reward for me. Do you remember the picture of the brisket yesterday that Bro. James Wheeler smoked? This is what it looks like chopped, grilled and made into Carne Asada Tacos! Oh, Yeah! That is what I am talking about!

We spent the night at the Flying J and I let the girls rest a while in the morning. For some strange reason, I could not rest good Sunday night. I could have been driving again by 3:00 AM, but no sense in that.

Parked in an RV spot at Flying J in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Once we cranked, I pulled over to the "facilities" to do "The work of the evangelist" and then we were on our way.

We kicked around at a Pilot truck stop later in the day.

Then a Walmart or two.

We drove in clouds, sun, rain and then beautiful clouds and sun.

Unfortunately our little glimpse of fall in Central City, Kentucky and West Plains, Missouri vanished. When I took the picture above it  was nearly 100 degrees and felt like much more with the humidity! Summer is still hanging on in the south!

We finally quit after about 8 hours. We drove 317 miles and we are only about 60 miles away from where we are supposed to preach the next three nights, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We are preaching under an open air tabernacle for Bro. Justin Sullivan near McKenzie, Alabama on Hwy 31.

The address is River Springs Campground, 26303 US 31, McKenzie. We would love for you to join us if you can.

We will finish the drive this morning by God's grace and get ready to have church tonight. That wraps up our weekend. Thank you for joining us.

Davy