Sensible Life passing along plea for assistance
Gracie on Jul 1st 2009
Our editor attended an Apologetix concert last weekend, and the band ran into some issues with their bus and trailer on the way from Louisville Kentucky to perform in Arkansas. This is a Christian parody band that takes pop and rock music tunes and inserts fun and energetic, biblical based lyrics. This music ministry is asking for prayer, assistance, or donations to help get their equipment home and onto other bookings. They also have two of their great CDs on sale for 50% off this week -great bargain and not too early to start Christmas shopping! Anyway, I’ve copied some excerpts from their home page under Recent Events telling about the incident, but you can also check them out at the their website.
An Appeal from ApologetiX
June 30, 2009, 1:30 am EDT
Monday, June 29, was the second anniversary of the maiden voyage of the ApologetiX tour bus, something many fans can point to and say, “I was a part of that.” We have raved to many people about how our fans were instrumental and vital in building our bus — both with labor and with finances.
We’ve traveled many thousands of miles in the past two years, and those miles have taken a severe toll on our 1986 MCI bus — structurally and mechanically, internally and externally. It has needed many repairs, and it still needs many more, as does our trailer. And those are only part of our financial needs.
The bus has been an unbelievable blessing to us, allowing us to play many places we wouldn’t have been able to play otherwise. We can (and often do) even use it to power the sound and light system at the venues we play. But it costs an enormous amount of money to fuel, maintain, and insure — let alone repair — a 40-foot bus with a 16-foot trailer.
Just as the bus is much bigger than an ordinary vehicle, it costs much more to repair and to replace parts. Whenever possible, we’ve done it with used or reconditioned parts. And it only gets 5 miles per gallon. Last year when diesel fuel was about $5 per gallon, it was costing us a dollar a mile.
Those of you who were fans before the bus know we had many woes with our previous vehicle — a 15-passenger van pulling that same big trailer. We had to replace numerous engines, transmissions, fuel pumps, etc. It’s just a part of life when you’re on the road as much as we are.
We’ve tried to avoid discussing anything negative about the bus over the past two years. We didn’t want to trouble our fans with it after they gave so much to build it and get in on the road in the first place. In this economy, we know that everybody has their financial burdens to bear.
After our struggles this past weekend, however, we’re really can’t afford not to bring it up, because we really can’t afford to continue to repair and refuel the bus on our own. Like you, we’ve had to cut corners in the past two years. We totally understand if you can’t help us, and we never want our fans to feel pressured or “guilted” into helping us out. Please pray for us. We really do believe God hears and answers your prayers on our behalf.
With that having been said, we know that some fans have both the desire and the finances to help. If you are one of those fans, please consider giving a donation of any size. You can do so via PayPal, credit card, bank card or straight from your bank account by clicking the link below to our secure site:
http://www.apologetix.com/store/store-donate.php
If you wish to donate by check or money order, you can make them payable to “ApologetiX” and send them to ApologetiX, 208 Charlemma Drive, PIttsburgh PA 15214-1414. Thank you and God bless you.
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Can You Help Us Bring the Trailer Home?
June 29, 2009, 6:20 pm EDT
Last weekend, we had to leave our the ApologetiX trailer at the church in Arkansas, because the metal structure under the bus that attaches our trailer hitch to the bus was about to break off for the third time in two days — despite two separate welding jobs.
We have been looking into sending somebody from the Pittsburgh area back down to Lake City AR to pick up the trailer, but that’s a 1500-mile round trip, and before we do that, we thought we’d ask the following:
Are there any fans out there with pick-up trucks who are traveling northeast (or north OR east) from that area of the country in the next 10 days? You wouldn’t have to come close to driving the whole distance. Even if we could find a few fans who could relay the trailer from one place to another and gradually get it across the country (or to a place much closer to us), that would be a blessing.
Several years ago, when we had our van broke down in Wisconsin and had to be repaired there, we had three teams of fans who blessed us by driving it back — the first group from Wisconsin to Indiana, the second from Indiana to Ohio, and the third from Ohio back to Pittsburgh. It worked well, and we are forever grateful to them.
It’s a 16-foot cargo trailer and can be pulled by a pick-up truck that has a trailer hitch. In fact, two other pick-up trucks pulled it from Missouri to the concert in Arkansas when our bus could no longer do it.
To give you an idea where the trailer is right now, here are some nearby cities in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky: Jonesboro (15); Memphis TN (75); Jackson TN (135); Cape Girardeau MO (140); Little Rock and Conway (145); and Paducah KY (170).
The quickest route back from Lake City AR to Pittsburgh goes through the following cities: Dyersburg AR, Fulton KY, Mayfield KY, Leitchfield KY, Louisville KY, Cincinnati OH and Columbus OH. From there, it can either go through Mansfield OH and Akron OH to Ellwood City PA or to Zanesville OH and Wheeling WV to Pittsburgh.
We’re off this weekend, and we fly the following weekend, so we just need to get the trailer back before our next bus weekend, which is July 17-19.
If you are interested in possibly helping, please send an email to j@apologetix.com with the subject line “Bringing the Trailer Home.” Thank you.
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Bad News This Past Wkd: Trailer Trouble with the Bus
June 30, 2009, 12:12 am EDT
With many movies these days, the best thing about them is the trailer. With our concerts this past weekend however, the worst thing was the trailer. After we played in Louisville KY Friday night, we noticed that our trailer had a flat tire. Thankfully, we were in the church parking lot, and although it’s no picnic changing a flat when the trailer is full and already attached to the bus, we were able to do so.
The real problems with the trailer wouldn’t occur till the next day on our way to Lake City AR. After driving for about five hours, we stopped at about 12:30 p.m. for fuel in Charleston MO, and our driver, Super Dave Johnson, noticed that the bus’ trailer hitch was only barely hanging onto the bus. It could easily have detached at any moment, not only damaging our equipment but putting the lives of people behind us in jeopardy. Through God’s grace, it didn’t, and through His provision, the fuel stop was right next to a truck garage, and a Christian one, no less — Faith Global Truck Repair. Although they weren’t open on weekends, they had a phone number posted in case of emergencies, and their owner came out and re-welded the trailer hitch infrastructure under our bus.
A couple hours and a hundreds of dollars later, we were back on the road. About 40 miles after that, the bus generator shut off, turning out all indoor lights and power, including the air conditioning (it was literally about 100 degrees outside at the time). That had to be restarted from the outside, so we pulled to the side of the highway to do that. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t restart, although the engine ran fine. Fortunately, Super Dave checked the trailer hitch and discovered that the new welding job had disintegrated, leaving our trailer barely hanging on once again, but we weren’t anywhere near a truck stop. This time, a good Samaritan stopped by, went home and got a jack, and used his pick-up truck to drive our trailer 15 miles closer to our destination, to a truck stop in Hayti MO, as we followed him in the bus.
In the meantime, our concert coordinator for the night, Brother Larry Ward from Refuge Baptist Church, was on his way with a crew of volunteers from his church, an air-conditioned mini-bus and a pick-up truck with a trailer hitch. They drove 60 miles to Hayti, picked us up, and brought our trailer back to the church. Super Dave, Keith, and Tom M. drove our bus right behind them, although the AC was still out. Ironically, the driver of the pick-up truck was the cousin of Jim “Dandy” Mangrum, the lead singer of the 70’s southern-rock group Black Oak Arkansas, the band named after a town just five miles down the road from where we were playing. To paraphrase their hit, this time it was Jim Dandy’s cousin to the rescue.
By the time we arrived at the church to set up, it was already past time for the concert to start. The church drama team kept the audience entertained in the building next door, while the band and our team of volunteers sprang into action setting up for the show. The audience was very patient and still remained enthusiastic, even though the show started 1.5 hours late.
At the start of the show, Super Dave drove the bus to the nearby barn workshop of a church member named Tony, who is also a professional welder. Tony made significant efforts to reinforce the trailer hitch on the bus, as he and Super Dave braved the humid, mosquito-infested outdoors of Lake City. This time, the welding job seemed much stronger, and after the concert it held our trailer well on the 15-mile trip to our hotel in Jonesboro. The indoor power on the bus (including, most importantly, the air conditioning) also finally started working again, and everything looked fine.
Alas, it was not to be. On our way home Sunday early morning, we had to drive right past the church in Lake City, so we pulled into the lot to check the trailer hitch again. Once again, the weld hadn’t held, and the trailer hitch was barely hanging on. To clarify, the part of our trailer that hitches to another vehicle is fine; the part of our bus that hitches to the trailer is not. So we emptied the trailer of any equipment we’d need for our concerts July 10-12 in Idaho, Utah, and Colorado, and left the trailer locked up in the parking lot at the church. Then we drove home.
Although the incidents with the trailer were discouraging, we are extremely grateful to God for sparing our lives and the lives of those around us. If we hadn’t stopped for fuel when we did on Saturday afternoon, or if the power hadn’t gone out later, or if we hadn’t driven right past the church the next morning, the trailer could easily have broken off. We are also extremely grateful for guy who stopped by to help us by the side of the road, for the staff at the church who came to get us, and for Tony the welder.
What happens next? Well, we’re still writing that part of the story. But you can help us write it. Please see the other articles in this week’s newsletter
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