Yesterday our interrupted winter tour kicked off in earnest. The BoggsMobile started, aired up like it should, the brakes released properly and it ran like a scaled dog. Yay!
Since this is the first day we have run the bus in 2022, I made note of our milage and such for 2021 and cleared the computer for the new year.
The long COVID recovery last year kept our miles at the lowest they have ever been in nearly 22 years of evangelism. Back in the early 90s we traveled in a car and averaged over 60,000 miles each year during that 32 month run of traveling.
We did not have an RV to stay in and we were not booked solid during most of that time. We would often preach a revival in Oklahoma, drive 900 miles home for a week or ten days and then go right back to Oklahoma for revival. It was cheaper to go home than it was to stay in a hotel.
We also did a lot of crisscrossing of the country. Virginia, then Texas, then Tennesse and then Oklahoma. We once left central California and started a revival in central Florida seven days later.
Yep, we were driving a lot of miles each year.
When we hit the road in January of 2003, we were driving a Chevy truck and pulling a fifth wheel. We traveled like that with two different truck and fifth wheel combinations for five years and we averaged 40,000 miles a year pulling a trailer.
By the time we purchased the BoggsMobile in March of 2008, diesel was $4 a gallon and Pastors began to tell me, come when you can. Do not make a 1000 mile trip just for us.
That allowed us to begin to group revivals together better and that reduced our mileage drastically. COVID in 2021 reduced it even more. Although we drove the Jeep a few more ministry miles than usual, we only drove the bus 8846 miles. Wow!
If all goes as planned, we should roll 20,000 ++ miles this year.
Those miles have to begin somewhere and they began today. We traveled 273 miles of our 1000+ mile trip to Livingston, Texas. We will make a bigger dent tomorrow by God's grace.
Early yesterday morning we loaded the sound system, finished up a few last minute things and pulled out of the barn.
While the holding tanks were emptying, we hooked Dad's truck to the tent trailer and moved that into the barn. That was not without problems. The tongue jack on the tent trailer is electric and hydraulic and the trailer batteries were dead. After about an hour of charging, the jack operated enough to get the trailer moved.
The batteries are old and have served us well. The arctic weather probably finished them off. I will add that to the list of things to do this summer.
It is wonderful to be moving again! Hallelujah!
Thank you for spending a few minutes with us today.
Davy
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