Travel, Tent and Tabernacle

Check out yesterday's post.

The batteries charged overnight and the bus cranked fine Wednesday morning in Carthage, Missouri and we were soon on our way. We only traveled 105 miles but it was an action packed morning. We pulled out of Coachlight RV Park about 7:55 and pulled into Miami Missionary Tent Company in Miami, Oklahoma about 8:40.

I turned the bus around and backed the trailer into the loading area and went inside to settle the bill. When that was taken care of they loaded the new center pole, side poles, stakes, side walls and middle section into the trailer. It is exciting to add the new tent section in the trailer. I appreciate the family that made it possible to purchase the new section.

I had to wait on one item but pulled out toward Claremore about 9:50. While traveling down I-44 we noticed the McDonald's built over the highway has been completely redone and is open for business as well as the stores and truck stops on both sides of the interstate. It has been under reconstruction for quite a while but it sure looks good now.

We met Bro. Jimmy Millikin in Claremore and parked the tent trailer for its stay in Oklahoma and then parked at the Westside Holiness Church for the night.

We enjoyed a nice lunch with Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Shauna Millikin and their children.

Sapulpa Campmeeting is going on this week and we blessed to ride down to service Wednesday night with the Millikins. We have been to Sapulpa quite a bit through the years going back to 1991 but we had not been in a few years. The service was good and it was great to see lots of friends. They have built a new tabernacle on the grounds and it is a wonderful improvement.

We were up early again Thursday and finished the drive to Wichita, Kansas. It was just a shade under a 200 mile drive today. That means we made it 680 miles without an alternator and I am thankful we made it. The voltage regulator was waiting for me when I arrived and it seems simple enough to install. The instructions have some things I am not clear about so I will need some clarification before I put it on.

We hit the ground running on September City Reach plans for Wichita and other bus projects and then washed the BoggsMobile and Green Machine after it cooled down a bit in the evening. They were pretty grimy so it was nice to get it done.

That pretty much takes care of the last two travel days. Thanks for reading.

Davy

Marty Millikin His Life His Music

We received a brand new CD Wednesday night and we are so excited to share it with you. It is a memorial CD in memory of Bro. Marty Millikin. It has songs that the Millikin's have recorded through the years plus songs by other friends and family members including Kim Collingsworth, the Williams Family, the Blankenship family, Kevin Collins, Greg Moore and Bro. Joey Hight. It even has the song that we sang by request at Bro. Marty's funeral as recorded it on our Christmas CD.

It is a tremendous honor to be acquainted with such quality people and the Millikin's are some of the best. Bro. Marty was the personification of integrity, humility and grace. He was a true Christian gentleman.

Bro. Marty is gone and the hole he left in lives will never be filled. Yet he will live on in our hearts through precious memories and the music that he left behind. I am listening to this CD as I am writing and I am more convinced than ever that we have been amazingly blessed by His Life and His Music.

This CD would be a great addition to your music collection. If you would like one you can order it directly from Bro. Jimmy Millikin at the address below. When it is available to order online I will pass the information along.

Davy

Rev. Jimmy Millikin

P.O. Box 2772

Claremore, OK 74018

CDs are $10 each.

Please add $2.50 each for shipping.

If you order more than four and they are sent to the same address the shipping will be free.

Travel Day With Adventure

Here are the totals for Tuesday. 380 miles makes for a pretty light day as far as driving days go. But the amount of time stopped in the lower right corner, one hour and forty five minutes, gives a little clue to the adventure.

We had not gone five miles yesterday morning when a warning light came on that I had never seen before. It said House Batteries Low. What? How could that be? 

First, when the batteries are good we have enough battery power to run an air conditioner for several hours without plugging into electric. After we turned off the generator at bed time Monday night we ran the fan but no air. The batteries should not be low.

Second, IF the batteries get too low the generator was set to start up and run. That did not happen. Therefore the batteries should not be low.

Third, when the batteries were bad three years ago and they did get very low this House Batteries Low light did not come on then.

I smell a rat some where.

I pulled into a very conveniently placed rest area and went to the electrical panel to check the inverters. Both inverters were in error but the house battery voltage was not low. It was high. Evidently the warning light is for low AND high voltage. I thought something might be wrong with the inverters so I cleared the errors and started the generator to see if things would even out. Nope, right back into error for high voltage on the house batteries.

The eight 4D AGM house batteries are very expensive and a bear to change. I did not want to boil them so this is a serious problem. I turned off the engine and the over charging of the batteries stopped immediately. Ok, there is a clue, Shaggy. No engine, no overcharging.

That told me there might be a problem with the bus alternator. I went to the back with my voltage meter and had Kelly Jo crank the engine and the alternator was putting out 35.1 volts instead of 24-26. Oops, that is not good.

I checked the wires and connections and everything seemed good. That was pretty much the end of my trouble shooting ability. I called Jeff Rowe at East Tennessee Luxury Coach and thankfully he was available for a moment. I brought him up to speed and he had me do some additional tests. He came to the conclusion that the external voltage regulator is probably bad.

He told me which wire to disconnect so that the alternator would not charge and then gave me advice on how to proceed. I turned on the 24 volt trickle charger I installed last August, cranked up the bus and rolled on down the highway. 

The trickle charger barely kept pace with charging the chassis batteries as long as we did not run the bus air conditioning or the headlights. We ran the generator all day to keep the house batteries charged, run the roof airs and to have power for the trickle charger. We needed the trickle charger to top off the batteries over night so we are plugged up in a campground.

We tried to find a voltage regulator in St. Louis, Springfield and Tulsa but no one we called had it in stock. I finally ordered it from Prevost and had them ship it to Wichita. Today and Wednesday we will run the generator and trickle charger to keep things going while we drive as we did today.

It was a rough day and my nerves are frayed down to bare copper but there were some very good points to the day and I am thankful to God for every one of them.

-At least I am not pastoring a church.

-We had a safe place to pull off the road when we needed it.

-I knew what to check and did not waste a lot of time running in circles OR falling apart.

-Jeff Rowe was available, willing to help and knew what to do so I could roll.

-We had a safe day and good weather to drive in.

-Diesel was $2.41 in Missouri and that is a whole lot better than $2.85 that I passed up in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

-Finally I am thankful we made it to Coachlight RV Park in Carthage, Missouri. 

We have stayed here a bunch of nights in the last 12 1/2 years and we are very familiar with the park and the long level pull thru sites down at the end. We purchased our 2004 Kountry Star fifth wheel next door but we have stayed here in our 1984 Hitchhiker, the Kountry Star and the BoggsMobile many, many nights through the years.

One night here an RV burned to the ground. Another night we spent part of the night in a tornado shelter with all the folks AND their cats and dogs and way to many senior citizens in their night clothes. It was not a pretty sight. Other nights we have had no excitement at all, thank God.

It is relaxing to be some place familiar at the end of a long stressful day.

We are supposed to pick up our new tent section this morning less than an hour a way so last night we removed the Green Machine and prepared the trailer to receive the tent and poles in a little while. It was a lot of work to put the car in the trailer with all the extra chairs but it saved Kelly Jo a bunch of hours of driving so it was worth it.

After all of that I was ready for bed but we had not taken time for a meal all day. Odie offered to take us to El Charro about 3 minutes away so after she twisted my arm I agreed to go. Thanks, Odie Podie Pickle Hymer Schmidt!

If the BoggsMobile will crank up then we will be on our way shortly.

Thanks for reading.

Davy

Travel Day = Home to Effingham

Monday started early with Kelly Jo running errands and me preparing the barn, bus and trailer for departure. There was a 100% chance of rain in Waynesville for most of the day so we wanted to get as much done as we could before the rain set in.

Although we had a few spells of sprinkles the rain ended up holding off so we had the bus started and pulled out of the barn, the trailer hooked up and the car loaded in the trailer before 1:00 PM. One of the reasons I finished quickly is that Dad came and helped me along with my cousin Gerald Livingston. Dad, Mom, Gerald and several other have helped me so much with stuff that needs to be done the last few weeks and I appreciate it very much. Thank you all for your hard work and unselfish spirit.

Since everything was finished, there was only one thing left to do, one more little ol' trip to Acapulco for some fantastic salsa.

Here is a picture of the inside of the barn just before we rolled the wheels toward Oklahoma. It sure looks big without the bus in there!

We really had a pretty good driving day with only a little rain as we neared Indianapolis. We did have one major slow down where we probably lost 20+ minutes to very slow traffic. I-465 around the south side of Indy was jam packed because of construction on I-65 and an accident.

We stopped at the rest area on I-70 west of Indy for a break and quick walk around.

Since we drove 335 miles in the Green Machine Sunday and it was after 3:00 PM by the time we left yesterday afternoon, a short driving day was in order. Only 275 miles Monday.

We pulled into Flying J in Effingham, Illinois about 40 minutes before dark. The RV parking was nearly full with everything but RVs but we snagged the last one. We could park back with the trucks and we have done it lots of times but I would rather be out front with all the lights and constant traffic. It feels safer to us.

Miami Missionary Tent Company in Miami, Oklahoma has our new tent section ready and we are supposed to pick it up Wednesday morning. They made the tent we have used the last three years and we are now adding a new 22x44 foot middle section. We are excited to pick up this new section and have it ready for City Reach!

We are only a little over 400 miles from Miami so we may move the pick up time to this afternoon. If we get started early and have smooth sailing we can make it by this afternoon. We have to skirt around St. Louis and we have several miles of hills on I-44 in Missouri so we will not be in too big of a hurry that is for sure.

I will try to bring you up to date on everything tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Davy