To give a proper weekend report, I need to take you all the way back to Monday for a moment. Mid-afternoon Monday is when our plans for the whole week came to a grinding and clanking halt, literally! Our plan was to take the BoggsMobile back to Riverdale and then leave about 6 Tuesday morning to go to Los Angeles.
Tuesday was going to be the last pretty day in LA for several days and we wanted to spend the sunny day walking around the Fashion District as we love to do. We thought we might stay for church Wednesday night and even Thursday morning and visit some of the churches we made acquaintance with in 2016.
Monday afternoon our plans changed when the transmission in the Green Machine met a sudden and complete demise. I will tell you more about it later, but we did get it to a recommended mechanic on Tuesday before noon. Before it was a confirmed case of a fatal transmission, we had hoped to have the car back on the road by Wednesday night, but that was a no go.
We finally decided to rent a car on Wednesday so that we would not be stranded over Thanksgiving. With the good weather window in LA closed, we decided to spend Thanksgiving Day in Yosemite National Park. I checked to make sure the roads were open to Yosemite Valley, we prepared stuff for a big picnic lunch and Thursday morning we took off.
About 20 miles before the south entrance we started seeing signs that chains were required to enter the park. I had not read anything about that online at all.
We figured we would go as far as we could and we sure did enjoy the views. Once we got into the snow, people were pulled over everywhere putting on their chains. There were entrepreneurs selling chains beside the road even on Thanksgiving, but I did not want to put chains on a rental car.
After 78 miles, we turned around and went back to Oakhurst and turned north on 49. This is where we turned around.
Monday afternoon our plans changed when the transmission in the Green Machine met a sudden and complete demise. I will tell you more about it later, but we did get it to a recommended mechanic on Tuesday before noon. Before it was a confirmed case of a fatal transmission, we had hoped to have the car back on the road by Wednesday night, but that was a no go.
We finally decided to rent a car on Wednesday so that we would not be stranded over Thanksgiving. With the good weather window in LA closed, we decided to spend Thanksgiving Day in Yosemite National Park. I checked to make sure the roads were open to Yosemite Valley, we prepared stuff for a big picnic lunch and Thursday morning we took off.
About 20 miles before the south entrance we started seeing signs that chains were required to enter the park. I had not read anything about that online at all.
We figured we would go as far as we could and we sure did enjoy the views. Once we got into the snow, people were pulled over everywhere putting on their chains. There were entrepreneurs selling chains beside the road even on Thanksgiving, but I did not want to put chains on a rental car.
After 78 miles, we turned around and went back to Oakhurst and turned north on 49. This is where we turned around.
The roads were not snow covered yet and we certainly are not afraid of a little snow. We are afraid of tickets in the financially strapped state of California. I want their budget shortfalls to be met, but I do not want them all to be met by my check!
From Oakhurst, we followed 49 to Mariposa and then Kelly Jo put us on a cow trail to Modesto. Well, not just one cow trail, but dozens of cow trails that happened to crisscross through the mountains in kind of the right direction. It was quite a drive and I daresay we have now seen some parts of California that many millions of people will never see. It was fun.
From Oakhurst, we followed 49 to Mariposa and then Kelly Jo put us on a cow trail to Modesto. Well, not just one cow trail, but dozens of cow trails that happened to crisscross through the mountains in kind of the right direction. It was quite a drive and I daresay we have now seen some parts of California that many millions of people will never see. It was fun.
The mini Thanksgiving adventure ended at the same Golden Corral in Modesto where we ate Thanksgiving Dinner in 2017. The only difference is, we drove 189 miles to get there!😁😁
While we were in Modesto, we found another Green Machine.
That would be nice to pull behind the bus!
We found a good room on Priceline at a great price. That gave Kelly Jo and Odie time to shop Thursday night and most of the day Friday. They really like the stores in the Modesto area.
We found a good room on Priceline at a great price. That gave Kelly Jo and Odie time to shop Thursday night and most of the day Friday. They really like the stores in the Modesto area.
Friday night we attended the Riverbank Holiness Camp meeting that is always held Thanksgiving weekend. They rent a local church that has more seating available on Friday night and it is a good thing they do. It was packed! Our dear friend, Bro. Lendell Birdsong was preaching and he preached great!
It was great to see Bro. and Sis. Birdsong and their granddaughter. They sang wonderfully too. It was also good to see much of the California fellowship one more time before we leave the area.
Saturday morning, it was time to get back to work. We drove 120 miles back to Riverdale to complete our little 330 mile circle. We did take time for a small snack.
Once in Riverdale, we did the work of the evangelist and prepared the BoggsMobile to ride.
Kelly Jo followed me most of the way and we pulled into a truck stop a few miles before the Avenal church. We had plenty of diesel for the trip, but we thought we might need to run the generator this week so we put about 70 gallons of highly taxed California Diesel. That was not fun.
Kelly went ahead of me to scout things out and we had no problem backing into the church and getting parked. We were also able to wire into the panel so we did not need all of that diesel after all. Better safe than sorry.
After we were parked and wired in, Kelly Jo and I spent a couple hours loading in and setting up sound equipment. The remainder of the whole evening Kelly Jo was moving back into the bus and trying to get things set up for living. That woman is the hardest working evangelist wife in the world.
Revival kicked off Sunday morning and we enjoyed two great services Sunday. We appreciate Pastor Doug Spencer and his family for having us this week. We love being with them and preaching at Avenal. We enjoyed the services and the fellowship.
That pretty much wraps up our weekend. Thank you for stopping by.
Davy
That pretty much wraps up our weekend. Thank you for stopping by.
Davy
