Tuesday, December 4

We left our motel in Savannah, Georgia, shortly after 6 am and were on the road to Ocala, Florida.

Enjoy the beautiful sunrise. This is my favorite time of day to travel.

We saw lots of flags at half-staff to honor George H.W. Bush.

Entering the Pilot Travel Center at Ocala, Florida, just before 11:00 am.

Now it was time to prepare the chapel for its move to the Flying J at Dade City/San Antonio about 70 miles south.

The first thing Cerwin and Chaplain Ralph did was remove the wooden steps at the emergency exit and load them unto Ralph’s pickup truck.

Ralph was a chaplain at the Harrisburg Chapel for many years before his move to Florida and is excited to serve at Dade City.

Cerwin removed some of the signs at the entrance steps.

The awnings had to be removed before making the interstate trip.

While Cerwin and Ralph prepared the outside, I made sure all the inside things were safely secured or on the floor.

They had to remove three tree frogs from the back awning before taking it down. 🙂 The frogs have suction cups on their feet.

One more awning to go. They were deciding which they wanted to do first – remove the awning or the steps. They went with the awning.

Doug and Ellen Kraus stopped in to see how things were going for us. This was their moving day – from Florida to Tennessee. He had been a vital part of finding a new truck stop for this chapel. He is TFC’s Director of Location Development. What fun to see them.

We finished the job just before 4 pm.

A few minutes later, the driver who offered to move the chapel, drove into the truck stop. Perfect timing! He learned that we were in need of a driver through a church member in Florida.

Traves, the driver, and Cerwin making sure that everything is okay for the move.

Shortly after this picture, Traves moved the chapel around the truck stop toward the exit and tore the trailer cord – which involved 7 wires. Meaning there were no trailer lights. It took him about an hour and a half to rewire the trailer plug. 

It was just before 6 pm when we left the truck stop. Traves did a good job of making the repair.

We were soon on the Interstate, but within minutes the lights went out again . We immediately pulled over. This time it was a short repair and we were on our way to Dade City. The lights flickered off one more time, but no repairs were needed – and we were pleased to make it through the truck scales without any issues.

Pulling into the Flying J at Dade City just before 7:30 pm.

We stopped next to the fuel island so Cerwin and Traves could find Ralph and the spot where the chapel would be placed.

Backing into place

Before long we were in place and leveled. THANK YOU, Traves. Great job! (He stayed calm and cool during the issue with the lights.)

~~~

We were all tired, but very pleased, and ready for bed. There would be time for setup the next day.