Friends Reunited

 Hey Friends,

This is Odie coming to you from the BoggsMobile. It is good to be rolling again. Thanks for dropping by for a quick visit. I am here to talk about some wonderful friends!

Friends are extremely important to me. I am blessed beyond measure in that area of life. I also count it a blessing that so many of my friends have been friends for a long time. 

Rebecca Landress Blankenship was 6 years old, and I was 4 years old when our parents became friends. Back then, I did not realize the importance of making true friends. Over time, I have learned to treasure a true friend.

Rebecca's parents are Bro. Larry and Sis. Rosemary Landress. The Landress family have been dear friend to us for many years! I can not begin to imagine our lives without their family. 

We moved to Kansas when I was 13. It was during the 4 years that we lived there. Rebecca and I became really close. I prayed for a friend to help me adjust to my life change from Ohio to Kansas. Rebecca and her parents were visiting us. Becca and I were listening to music in my room, laughing and having a great visit. At that moment, I realized my prayers were answered. Rebecca was indeed my friend! I still get emotional when I remember that moment. I can still take you to my bedroom on Armstrong St. 

We have so many memories from our fun times together. I would not trade those times for the world. They still bring a smile to my face! We have laughed, cried, prayed and dreamed together. We have been there for each other on happy days and sad days. Now, we do not communicate every day or every week. When we do get to chat, it is effortless.

20 years ago, next month, Rebecca married Jeffery Blankenship. They have worked in the ministry for a long time. God blessed them with 4 lovely daughters. Madelyn just turned 18 a few days ago, Andrea is 15, Lilian is 5 and Sadie is 1.

Sadly, several years have passed since we were in the same location. Every time, we have thought it was going to happen. Life got in the way. Before we knew it, 5 years slipped by in the blink of an eye.

All of that changed last Tuesday. Last week was a fabulous week of fellowship with friends at campmeeting at DRPC. In a few of the services, we were blessed to have some extra special friends visiting. 

The presence of the Blankenship Family thrilled me extraordinarily! We had a wonderful time visiting with them! The time flew by too quickly. Hopefully, we will catch up with the Blankenship family again soon.

Thanks to Jefferey, Becca and the girls for coming to Ohio to visit us! It was wonderful to have you! I love all of you dearly! Below are the pictures I captured during their visit.

Rebecca and Jeffery Blankenship

Odie with Lily, Rebecca and Sadie Blankenship

Andrea Blankenship Odie and Madeline  Blankenship

Lily

Andrea and Andrea. 

She is named after me, so I call her Little Odie. 😆

Maddy and Sadie

Sadie

Odie and Little Odie

Odie and Rebecca

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! See you next time!

Oie

We Made It!

We made it! The BoggsMobile carried all of us 773 miles to Thomasville,  Alabama. It is wonderful to be here!

Resting a few minutes at a Love's in Indiana.

We took a detour the first day but it was necessary and totally worth it. Rather than going straight south, we went southwest to Evansville, Indiana to visit for a few hours with Bro Allen and Sis Tammy Harris at the hospital. Sis Tammy is still in need of a series of miracles to live and Bro Allen is depending on the Lord each day.

Thank you for helping us pray for our dear friends. I am thankful we can depend on the family of God when we face difficulties in life. Praise God!

Pulling out of a campground on Tuesday.

Over the next three days we covered the rest of the miles including two days driving and one day resting in one spot. Traffic was not bad with only three problem areas and only one of those was bad. We had the expected slow traffic in Nashville and Birmingham, but the worst was totally unexpected.

South of Evansville, I-69 turns westward and Pennyrile Parkway continues south but you make the transition via ramp. There was an accident on the on-ramp and the traffic on this bridge never moved.

We moved about two tenths of a mile in 30 minutes but we realized we only inched forward as people in front of us gave up and went the other way. Once we realized the traffic on the bridge was not moving and we had the opportunity to follow I-69 toward the west, we jumped on.

It took us another 33 minutes to take the next exit and double back to Pennyrile Parkway. The traffic we detoured around was still at a standstill. We drove 29 miles to get around and lost an hour total but the miles were totally worth it.

That made the second day an hour longer than it should have been so we decided to rest the next day. I walked in place on the bus a few times that rest day but I did not even go outside.

I am happy to report that driving the bus is going well and the shorter days seem to be working. I am tired from the cumulative effect of the multiple days, but hopefully, I will bounce back by Sunday.

We hope tp rest until Sunday and visit with family a few days. Here are a few pictures from Thursday afternoon and evening.

Thank you for dropping in.

Davy

4,300,000 Views!

I recently noticed that we have passed the 4 million page view mark on Mile Markers. In fact, today we are at 4,300,000 page views. In the grand scheme of things that is minuscule for nearly 15 years. Drudge had 24,000,000 views yesterday. So he had as many views in six hours as we have since November 2009. 

😊

But for us, that is not too shabby. I have often wondered if the numbers are accurate, but we have over 5200 published Mile Markers. That is only about 825 views per post, so that number seems reasonable. There were days when thousands of people came and days when almost no one came.

That works for us. We are not producing content that will attract the masses. We are writing for family, friends and people we meet in churches along the way. Mile Markers also serve as a journal and travelogue for us. 

Nearly weekly we receive emails from companies OR scammers who "absolutely love" our content here and on YouTube and "want to help us expand our audience and reach our full potential." They can "show us how to gain followers and make the money we deserve."

Their first two sentences are a dead giveaway that they have not read or watched any of our content. Our material does not appeal to most folks and probably never will. If the "experts" emailing us watched and read us, they would know that.

Would it be nice to make some money on something that we spend many hours doing? Sure, but it is not happening and we do not expect it to happen.

This is Mile Marker 5209 and we have never made a penny from Blogger. I am not averse to allowing Google to place ads here but I have never seriously considered it. 

We have 385 videos on YouTube since March 2020 and our channel is monetized. They are going to advertise no matter what so we might as well make a small slice. We have made a whopping $137 for many, many hours of work contributed.

I imagine we are about due another big check. They will not send it until they owe you at least $100. I have no idea what we will purchase with the next check.

We do these things because we enjoy them. Typing is not as easy this year and that may have affected my output, but we are gonna keep pressing on by God's grace.

We appreciate you being part of 4.3 three million Mile Marker page views and 20,000 watch time hours on YouTube, Thank you all for stopping in regularly. It is always very nice to hear from you.

Davy

A Word For Wednesday, They Had No Right to Win. But They Did!

Thank you for joining us today. We are so happy to bring you A Word For Wednesday. A few moments ago I posted A Word for Wednesday on our YouTube Channel. Please watch and leave us a comment here or on YouTube.

They had no right to win. But they did!

I am building on last week's A Word For Wednesday. Can I say this friend? You have no right to win but you can! 

"They had no right to win. Yet they did,

And in doing so they changed the course of a war

Even against the greatest of odds, 

There is something in the human spirit

A magic blend of skill, faith, and valor

That can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory." 

The odds were against Gideon and Israel and God keeps manipulating the odds against them until they are in an absolutely horrible position. There is no way for them to win and God says that is just right!

Thank you for stopping in today.

Davy

A Return To Acapulco

Earlier in August, I made my first return to Acapulco since December 28, 2023. That is not to say we have forsaken them in the meantime. KJo and Odie have been there multiple times and we have ordered takeout many times. It is just the first time that I have physically went inside to eat since then.

It was wonderful to see Jorge and all the gang. I have actually seen Jorge a couple times but it was great to visit with him for a while and demonstrate my loyalty to the best Mexican food in the area and the best salsa in the world.

I did not take a picture of my food but you can see a glimpse of it in the picture of me. It is not all that exciting. I order grilled vegetables, chopped into small pieces with lots of cheese sauce and a little chorizo. I also order a little refried beans on the side. I only ate about a third of it and took the rest home.

The reason I had not been back earlier is that I need to concentrate on swallowing when I eat and I get distracted by the conversation in a restaurant. Even if I am not talking, I find myself getting choked much easier than I do alone. That can get ugly quick.

It is easier for me to limit my visits to restaurants. I actually do better when it is only us and we sit away from the crowd where I am less distracted. Of course, it makes a difference what I am trying to eat too.

Surprisingly, I do pretty good eating salad so we have eaten the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday's and Frisch's and the salad at Olive Garden more than anything else. The therapist told me that often lettuce is a nogo for people who struggle to swallow but wouldn't you know that fat guy can eat lettuce.😍

Anyway, I was happy to be back at Acapulco. Jorge's wife called him while he was at the table and I got to speak to her too. It was good all around.

Coming Wednesday

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

The Weekend Dispatch 8/26/24

We began our weekend with the last day of Dryden Rd. indoor fellowship meeting and what a wonderful day it was. Odie published pictures from that day and a description of the week on her Saturday Mile Marker. 

Saturday morning we prepared the bus for traveling back to the Lazy OD Ranch. We arrived about lunchtime, shut the big Detroit down and hooked up the utilities. The rest of the day was spent on last-minute preparations to leave in the BoggsMobile. 

Sunday we attended our home church and we were wonderfully blessed. The Lord really spoke to me during Sunday School and I hope I can keep it in my heart a long time. 

On Sunday afternoon KJo's parents visited and my parents, along with Theresa and Jay stopped by after church. We enjoyed a great visit with them.

If we can get all our ducks lined up, by the time you read this Monday, we will be on the road. Our first revival is in Thomasville, Alabama, but today we hope to spend the evening with brother Alan and sister Tammy Harris at the hospital in Evansville, Indiana. 

The doctors are giving no hope for Sis. Tammy to live as a result of the automobile accident she had in early July. Brother Alan and his family believe in God for a miracle and we are standing with them. It has been a few weeks since we have been there and we are anxious to get back.

On Tuesday, we will begin the journey toward South Alabama. We will probably do the trip in two long days or three partial days. That will get us there sometime Thursday and give us a chance to rest up before revival begins on Sunday morning. 

We have determined to attempt shorter travel days between revivals, but it is difficult to allow enough time to do that. I am hoping I can get better at it until my strength returns.

Odie captured some pictures Sunday and we have those for you. Thank you for stopping by. 

Davy