California to Texas - Travel Days

We pulled out of Amazing Grace Holiness Tabernacle in Atwater, California on Monday morning about 8:00 AM and pulled into Victory Tabernacle Holiness in Watauga, Texas about 1720 miles later near 11:40 AM on Thursday morning. It was a long, long drive but we made it safely and with very little problems.

I am very thankful God helped us along the way and I am very thankful to be in one place for several days. We love the open road but 1700+ miles will do me for a while.

Here we are Monday morning a few minutes before we pulled out.

Here is Bro. Jimmie and his rig going south on Hwy 99 in California.

We were having a slight anomaly in our air system so I stopped at the rest area near Tulare, California to check things out and contact Jeff Rowe from East Tennessee Luxury Coach. I am so glad Jeff still takes my phone calls, texts and emails. Thankfully everything checked out at the rest area and we had no more problems at all with the air pressure the whole drive.

We were stopped and in the midst of all of that when we received word that Sis. Tammy Ferguson had passed away. We did not know whether to turn around or go on. After talking with Pastor Spencer and checking with Odie, we decided to go with the original plan.

We would have loved to attend Sis. Tammy's funeral (Of course at that time we had no idea when the funeral would be) but we could see no way to do it and to be in Ft. Worth setting up the tent Saturday as planned. Odie feels so blessed to have spent the better part of two days with her dear friend right before she lost her. That was a tremendous gift for Odie and we are very thankful for that special time.

In a few hours we started back through the Tehachapi Mountains. It is not often we get to drive through one of our favorite places but we have been through here three times the last two months. We love this place.

Arizona was not to be outdone in scenery. We love this place too.

We stopped and fueled up at the Flying J in Kingman, Arizona and found a place to park for the night after 511 miles. Bro. Jimmie was already there and parked so we jumped in the Green Machine and went back one exit to a very good Golden Corral. We ate our meal courtesy of a gift card from Bro. Jorge and Sis. Mary Stevens in El Mirage. Thanks friends!

The car and RV parking was closed for construction so here we are parked among the trucks in Kingman.

Tuesday we hit the road about 7:00. Bro. Jimmie had left earlier and was quite a bit down the road by the time we started. It was another cool day to travel and we did have a little rain but it was a great day.

I only stopped three times for a break and a quick walk around and this was one of those times.

Beautiful!

Even with construction, some rain and some high wind, we made super great time all day long. Most folks know I like to keep my travel days to about 550 miles or less but we needed to do a long day this trip in order to make some time. Tuesday was nearly perfect to do it and we ended up driving 640 miles in 9:15 minutes total for better than 69 MPH overall average. I have never been able to do that in the bus.

I was killed by the time we stopped at Flying J in Tucumcari, New Mexico. I was very glad to find the RV spaces wide open. We parked in the same exact spot where we parked on February 29th on our way west. That was a 4325 mile circle!

Bro. Jimmie came in before dark but it was cold and spitting rain so I did not take a picture until later.

Wednesday morning we started about 7:00 Mountain time and just like Tuesday, Bro. Jimmie was already gone.

We could have cut down to Ft. Worth from Amarillo, Texas but we opted to drive about 100 miles farther and go through Oklahoma City and Wynnewood, Oklahoma. We needed to stop at the tent site in Oklahoma City and make some decisions. Bro. Jimmie was waiting for us when we pulled in.

And we wanted to stop in Wynnewood and drop off the two generators we are no longer using. It was good to see the tent trailer and my good friend, Bro. Larry Landress. Unfortunately I only snapped a picture of the tent trailer.

By the time we finished in Wynnewood, Bro. Jimmie and I were both finished for the day. We did manage to drive a few more miles to the Flying J in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I needed fuel again so I fueled up and parked in the RV section again.

Wednesday was more typical of one of our travel days. You can see below that we traveled about the same amount of time total as Tuesday, but because of the stops we had to make, the average was 50 instead of 69. That is a big difference and more normal.

Here is a picture I snapped of both rigs at Flying J in Ardmore Thursday morning.

Although we were anxious to get to Ft. Worth, there was no reason to hurry Thursday morning. Rush hour traffic in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is a killer. I emptied our holding tanks and left a few minutes before 8:00. When we left I-35 W near Ft. Worth was completely red with traffic. By the time we arrived it was completely clear, even with construction. Perfecto!

We parked at Home Depot and Bro. Jimmie and I met Pastor JJ Stevens at the tent site to look it over. We were hoping to pull onto the lot but they have been getting quite a bit of rain and Wednesday night was heavy rain. The heavy rain revealed the low spots on the lot and educated me as to where the tent is NOT supposed to sit if we expect any rain. 

I do not expect any rain at all next week but the weather guessers have other ideas. Will you help us pray about the weather this week? God can do a notable miracle!

Since the tent site was wet, Bro. Jimmie and I parked our rigs at Victory. As I said before, it was nice to settle down into one spot. Here is Bro. Jimmie backing in.

I spent a couple of hours walking the property of tent site in the afternoon. I was praying and picking up trash so that it will be easier on Pastor JJ Stevens to mow today. There are a couple of places on this lot to set the tent even if the rain continues but now that you all are praying, I am believing for no rain.

Thursday evening we visited with a friend from Mississippi. 



Bro. Larry Smith is in DFW for a reunion of his company from Vietnam. We absolutely loved getting to see him, visit with some of the other veterans and tour the display area. It was awesome. We will try to put up pictures and more about the visit later in the week.

Today is more preparation for City Reach Ft. Worth and much more prayer about the weather. Will you join us? God bless you all.

Davy