Libertas-Security Lodge #466 2013

I spent a wonderful evening with the Brothers of Libertas-Security Lodge No. 466  Free and Accepted Masons in Bakersfield, CA.  The evening was scheduled to be a training night, it morphed into opening an E.A. Lodge and installing their new Jr. Warden and Stewards.  Their building is in the center of the city and very much reminds me of Manchester, Ct’s Building.  I took the photo from across the street where they have a large parking lot that they share with a very upscale restaurantnt.  All parties benefit from this arrangement.

I’m shown with W.B. Gary Jackson who invited me to pro-tem the treasurer’s chair during the E.A. Lodge.  I demonstrated my unique memory of Connecticut’s Ritual to the general satisfaction of all present. 

W.B Gary is also the Lodge’s web master.  Make sure you click the Hyperlink above so you can see the wonderful work he does as such.  Make sure you visit his joke page from which I purloined this story:

One evening after a brother had been a guest at an installation, he had partaken of too much wine, and his host was very worried, as he did not want him to drive home in his present state which was some distance away, so insisted that he stay the night at his house, and travel home the next morning, and after much persuasion this is what he did. 
When he got home the next morning, his wife was furious with him because he had forgotten to phone, and she did not believe his story about staying with a brother because of the state he was in, but wondered if he had been with another women, however she pretended to believe him, by asking how the ceremony had gone, and asked how many other brethren had been there and all the regular questions that wives do ask, and he told her that it had been an excellent Lodge meeting and that 65 brethren had turned up, etc.
However at the next Lodge meeting when the secretary rose to read out correspondence, he read a letter from the wife asking if the brother where her husband had stayed the night after the last lodge meeting would please write to her and confirm his story that he had stayed the night at his house because he was unfit to drive home. 
The next day in the post she received 64 letters.

Note that 3 Lodges all the appendent bodies, 2 Chapters of O.E.S and Job’s daughters and DeMolay all meet in this building giving it a great feeling of community.

 

 

 

 

My evening ended with a sour note.  When I returned to the Kern County Fairground, I found the gate locked.  It would not open with the digital code I had been given.  All of the 3 telephone numbers I had been given went directly to voice mail.

Time to crank it up, I called 911.  The operator said I did not have an ‘emergency’  No? said I ?  I am a citizen and visitor in distress shall I do something provocative to ramp it up to an ‘EMERGANCY’?  She gave me a new number which was also N.G.

A Bakersfield policeman came out, he work very hard for about 30 minutes trying several phone calls.  The fire department told him to nose his car to the fence and blow siren for 4 or 5 seconds, which would trip the gate system.  It didn’t ;-(  He was in the phone with a gentleman and told him in no uncertain term the it was HIS responsibility to to rectify the situation.  He said he would arrive in 15 minutes.

After 10 minutes of waiting, the sergeant called and directed my Cop to respond the a car accident with injuries.  As he ripped away he shouted to me that he would check back.  About 10 minutes a gentleman who was a senior manager showed up.  He was very contrite and gave me a master key to the facility.  It seems that the {New} fancy system had been giving the grief for several months, he moved it up his list to address.

Time Elapsed: 2 hours and 20 minutes!

 

San Diego to Bakersfield all up hill it seemed 2013

 

You are well advise to watch your step while visiting the desert out here.  There are sakes, scorpions and manmade dangers left behind by our Father’s generation.

Look what I found on my hard drive, a lone photo of a fireworks burst at Lake Havasu.  As you can see they start them before complete darkness and they go on past 9:00pm.

Like oranges?  These were 5/lb. for a dollar.

 

 

 

Here, we are EAST of Los Angeles at a fuel stop.  It is 70 degrees out, I’m in a T-shirt.  Note the snow in the mountains.

Below, I am driving 35mph in the right lane, downhill at 7% grade for about 10 miles.  Speed limit of 35mph is strictly enforced, all heavy vehicles stay in the right lane.  Thanks to the ‘Jake Brake’ on our truck, I never had to use the service brakes and all went very well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just heard from a couple that continued south after our trip with The Mexican Connection.  They had catastrophic type failure on the Allison Transmission in their GMC truck.  $880 tow bill for about 80 miles.  Part, air freight and labor was about $400 and they are continuing to Cobo San Lucas.  They gave no indication of the bar bill!

We’ve ended up at the Fair Ground in Bakersfield.  We are virtually alone with only the ground crew and 2 other campers, tonight I’ve been given the night off so I can visit the local Masonic Lodge.

Hanging in Southern California 2013

 

Some years ago, Steve Allen termed California, ‘The State where the Fruit Picks You.  These babes were not camped next to us this weekend but I’ll keep looking!

We are staying a week at Pio Pico RV Resort, a Thousand Trails Reserve.  These are full service membership parks with very good services and amenities.  Our plan gives us 14 days usage after which we must leave the system for 7 days.  We have 50 days ‘free’ each year.  At $500 dues gives us very good value assuming we use the 50 days, which we will.  We can upgrade to an ‘Elite’ membership for about $1700 which gives us more freedom.  I doubt that we will do that as we do like to spend a lot of time Boondocking and State/Federal Parks.  We have to choose between the SE and SW quadrants, where would you like to stay? 

We have no Verizon phone here due to the fact that we are surrounded by these hills that I would call mountains. The Large Pool gets use in the afternoon on the warmer days, most folks use the hot tub instead.

 

 

 

 

Another view of the Pool & Mini Pool area.  This park is very well maintained and clean.  The staff is uniformed and helpful.

 

 

 

 

Our treat today was lunch at the park’s café.  I had a huge Country Fried Steak, that overhung the hard roll.  Annie ate about 1/2 of her Chef’s Salad.  About $10 was very reasonable.

 

Renewed the registrations for the truck and car on line.  Texas gives you a $1 discount if you do it on line, saves them a bunch of money in office help.

Lake Havasu Winter Blast 2013

Our 350 mile trip from San Felipe to Lake Havasu (Stopped at Escapee’s Park in Yuma which was very nice) was uneventful.  50 miles South of the border there was a quick stop at a Military Check Point.  We had about a 1 hour wait at the border, when it came our turn US Border Guard did not board our rig, passed us after about 10 questions and a 10 minute wait while they did a computer check I assume.

 

 

 

 

The pictures above are take in Mexico. The road is very good 2 lane and the mountains are awesome to say the least.

Our arrival at the BOL site at Lake Havasu was exciting to the point of being the most hazardous thing I have ever done when parking out 5th wheel. I will not attempt this type maneuver again.  I was going up a grade steep enough to require 4wd low range and than forced to make an acute right turn to the right and steep down hill.  ‘Steep’ as in you could not ride a bike up that hill unless your name is Lance and you’ve taken all your pills!  The pictures below don’t show the angle involved.  The small motor home (near my flag) is about 500’ away at the point I made the hard turn.  It is a very steep walk up the hill to get to him.  Leaving on Monday, I had to wait for him to clear the corner.

The good news is that once we were parked we had a awesome view of the 3 night Fire works displays while looking out our back window if we so desired.  My photo abilities stop at trying to capture photos of fireworks. The displays are 3 evening and last from 7:00 until 9:30. Each evening had 3 ‘Grand Finales’ as different manufacturer's showed their best stuff.

:3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Havasu Is also the home of the relocated London Bridge.  A good size city which seem to be a Winter Snow Bird destination of choice with lots of restaurants, shops and very active activities at the town’s parks. 

 

Lake Havasu Car Show VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The Rally Winds Down 2012

We had a house guest on Tuesday, Chloe Schaffer is Sue and Charlie’s doggle.   Well, they think she is, Chloe figures them to be her two legged pets.  Charlie & Sue had to make a quick road trip back to the states to drop their Daughter at the Imperial Airport so she could go home and play G’ma in Indiana.  Chloe quickly found a spot on the sofa where she could keep her eyes on things.

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day we had our Annual Meeting.  Interesting fact is that we constitutional only have one Business Meeting per year and it must take place in Mexico.  Our outgoing Wagon Master (Charlie Bowles in a white sweater) was congratulated for running this successful trip.  Ed (With Hat) served us as pro-tem President.  The fellow with the silver hair is Steve Buffy, out Treasurer.

Steve had just given us the great news that our Charitable donations this year have reached $6,000.  This is very good performance when you consider that there were only 30 rigs here, you do the math!

Than it came time to nominate and vote in new officers.  There is an ascending line that includes: President, 1st Vice President {Who is the Wagon Master}, 2nd Vice President (2014 Wagon Master and 3rd Vice President.

Guess who was appointed 3rd V.P.??

 

 

 

As you can tell, it was cool at the meeting.  We were all very happy to go into the attached Mexican restaurant for our 3rd catered meal.

We return to the States tomorrow, 1st destination is more desert camping at the Western Winter Blast pyrotechnics convention, held at Lake Havasu, AZ.  After that I’m hoping to get to the March Meet in Bakersfield, CA.  This is one of the oldest fuel races and is attended by a huge field of Nostalgia Cars in all classes.

 

 

 

 

Carnival 2013

Sometimes that young kid in you just wants to party.  When it does, the place to be would be any village in Mexico at Carnival Time.

You don’t understand the language or music?  That’s OK, just dance like nobody is watching!

 

This is a very small town, Carnival is 3 days with a party every night.  You may find fellows doing Wheelies, Ladies in gowns, all the youth groups parading and dancing to the music.  Street vendors selling great food and trinkets are part of the mix.

Unfortunately, this year it was unseasonably cold. Our dinner reservations were overlooking the parade route, however it was too cold at this waterfront location to fully enjoy ourselves which is why we went into the street with the crowd.

I posted a picture of our beach front  a few days ago, this shot is same view at low tide.  Much as The Bay of Fundy, this area has radical tide movements.  The tideland in front of you is about 1/2 mile!

This beach house is on a small bluff overlooking our campsite, brings a smile to our face every morning.

For you car guys, how about this early 50’s Mack with Thermodyne to pull your toy hauler?

Charitable Work in Mexico 2013

The stated missions of The Mexican Connection are to educate RVer’s in the nuances of Mexican travel and to dispel several of the myths that are involved with it.

Lets discuss safety, the true fact is that the towns on the border are the marshaling points for the bad guys that want to bring misery into the United States. Unfortunately for those towns we do not stop and spend our resources there.  We know several folks who do shopping for pharmaceuticals, dental work and other good during the daylight hours when there is a high level of security in evidence.

Prohibited Items:  This is real simple, no drugs and no guns or ammunition.   Possession of either of these will deem you guilty of violation of the law and you will go directly to jail, no trial required.  The Mexican system of the Napoleonic Law system requires the defendant to prove his innocence, very upside down  from U.S.A.  If you are busted, Uncle Sam is not inclined to help you, he’s trying to keep that stuff out of the country.

After all that dry dialog, I think it is time for a light lunch.  No photo trick here, this shrimp cocktail is in a huge stein and full of good size shrimp that are swimming is salsa.  The Bloody Mary  has a secrete ingredient revealed here for the first time: A splash of Margareta mix, which gives a delightful hit of citrus.

Simple cars are the rule here.  VW bugs are cheap and don’t over heat.  Giving a 10mm wrench and a claw hammer that are easy to repair also!

 

Back to the Title; Charity.  This is a 3rd world country with all the needs that come with it.  There is very little state funding for the welfare needs.  The Mexican Connection usually looks for opportunities in supporting the needs of the children via gifts of good and money to the local orphanages and schools.  Anne-Marie and I were one of the 4 couples that served on this committee.  The first item on our agenda is to visit the local candidates, there tend to be faith based organizations that receive the majority of their funds from Church Groups in the States.  That being said, we are very diligent in assuring that any gifts go to organizations with 501c organizations in the States which have recognized corporations with boards of directors and attending audit trails.

Our 1st stop was at Casa de Fe-.  (www.casadefesf.com) It was started by Bill Spradlin, the taller American fellow in the right picture, wearing sun sunglasses {Our buddy Charlie Schaffer in the front seems to have picked up a toddler to take home!}.  They have a home about 3,000 sq. ft.  in which they house about 12 children infant to 11 years old.  He and his Mexican Wife have another volunteer local couple that run this very active house.  The primary need they have is money.  Giving them $100 worth of food is a wonderful gesture, giving them $100 will probably supply $300 worth of local supplied food.  We often here this as we also heard in the States.  DO NOT BUY FOOD FOR THE FOOD BANK, GIVE THEM CASH SO THEY CAN GET VOLUME DISCOUNT.

Our next stop was at Sonshine Hacienda, (www.sonshinehacienda.org).  The founders, Rev. Gary and Karen Lewis have many years running non profits in San Salvador and Mexico.  I was very impressed with his ‘Business Plan’ and the progress they have made it it’s implementation. They take children with needs into their modern 20,000 sg/ft facility and fill their material, spiritual and educational needs.  They have several students in High school and 3 in college!  In addition to monetary needs, they are rather desperate for  used laptops for the older students.  If you have one please consider giving it to this great cause, Details through me or on their website.

As you can see, the sun is coming up here at 6:15am P.S.T.  This is the view out of our camper window, hope it will warm up our friends in Connecticut who are spending the weekend digging out.