Now I am by nature a very meticulous person when it comes to vehicles and travel. By this, I mean that I keep accurate track of the fuel consumption of everything that uses fuel. I can tell you, almost exactly, how far the vehicle can travel on one full tank of gasoline; I can tell, almost to the hour, how long the bottled gas will last either with full use or conserved use; I can tell how long an extra battery will last on a full charge, and how long the water will last, according to conditions, etc. I do this by keeping an accurate record of the usage of each piece of equipment in the vehicle. I have always been that way because I don't like nasty surprises, like running out of gasoline in the middle of nowhere..

    Somewhere near the end of the second year on the road, we found ourselves in Louisiana, parked behind a church about 10 to 12 miles out of town. We did our cooking on a gas stove, using propane. Because we relied so heavily on propane, we carried three containers of this gas... two 10-pound bottles and one 100-pound bottle. We used the smaller bottles when we were on the road, moving, and we used the big bottle whenever we had to be parked for a while. (It should be noted here that the gas in these bottles had to operate the refrigerator and heater as well as the cook stove) In the wintertime, the large bottle would last 21 days with normal usage because of having to use the heater constantly. If we really conserved, we could make it last 26 days maximum, then we would have to get a refill or freeze.

    Because we had to put the motorhome on blocks while parked for long periods of time, the Lord allowed me to buy a small car to get to town for groceries, propane and other needs. The engine had to be pulled and repaired, and I decided to go ahead and take care of that as soon as possible. It was winter, and quite chilly when I backed the little vehicle up beside the motorhome and proceeded to take the engine out. (The four-cylinder engine was light and easy to handle with only a little help from the family.)

    As I calmly went about the task of dismantling the engine I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to refill the gas bottle before taking the car apart. As it happened, we were on our 25th day of usage. I walked over to the bottle and ran my hand down the side to tell how much propane was left. I was concerned to find that it was at the bottom of the bottle, and we would have to be there for 4 days before anyone would be out to the church. It would get mighty cold in that motorhome without gas to operate the heating system. Needless to say, I began to pray for the Lord to stretch that propane till I could get into town for more. What I didn't know was that my wife had realized the same thing, and was inside the motorhome praying for a miracle.