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...