November 21 - 30, 2013

Zibiah Temple in Tulsa was our next stop on the tour. The banquet was held at the Saba Grotto building, which you ask, what is that? Well, this is another masonic organization which assists the less fortunate with gaining accessibility to dental care. To my knowledge it is an international order and has many locations in North America; new to me?! The weather has been cold and now freezing rain was predicted for Oklahoma and northern Texas. Great!; just the direction we were going. Oh, well, I kept telling myself, we’re from Maine so we can handle anything…..freezing rain is a fact of life in New England, so off we went to Oklahoma City on the 22^nd.

 

Shrine Patient Ambassador Brendon Wiseley was the guest speaker at the Zibiah Banquet.

 

 

Another Shrine Center opened their doors to us; India Shriners and am glad that we arrived when we did. The freezing rain began just after we set up across the parking lot from the building. Within an hour my car was coated with a thick sheet of ice and so was the parking lot. No fear, I’m from Maine, I can handle this! Despite the inclement weather, the ladies did a great job with their ceremonial and I got to fill in as an attendant, what fun! Actually since being on the road on this tour, I’ve had the chance to pro-tem the stations of Banker, Recorder, Tirzah, Royal, Attendant, Marshal and walked the part of Badoura. (I know all of you non Nile people have no idea what these positions mean, sorry.) The banquet for Adoram Temple was held at Remington Park Race Track and Casino on the east side of the city. The freezing rain was still falling…..did it concern me? No, I’m from Maine. Granted just because I knew how to drive on these roads, I recognized that many Oklahomans did not so, cautiously we hit the highway, arriving safely at our destination after witnessing several cars off the road. The Remington Park Complex was a really wonderful venue to host the banquet. The private dining room overlooked the horse track so we could watch and bet on, if desired, the races. A former Shrine patient, who is also the granddaughter of my counterpart Val Daniel, made a presentation to Margaret Ann, a Past Potentate of India Shriners recited the “Old Red Fez” and two of the India Divan members held a friendly competition which involved raising money for the Love for the Children Tour Million Dollar Fund. (We started this “fund” a week or so earlier by putting out a request to have 1 million people donate 1 dollar each by December 15, 2013, of which all collected money will go to the Shrine Hospitals this fiscal year.) These two gentlemen passed their Fez’s and we collected about $150.00. Thanks guys…every dollar counts!! This was really a fun day, regardless of the weather; it certainly didn’t rain on our parade!! Off to Wichita Falls, TX and the last stop on this leg of the tour before the Thanksgiving week break….yeah!!!! Even though the weather forecasters were predicting more freezing rain, they were wrong; the skies actually starting clearing and the rain moved out, however 25-30 degree temps were still a little below the norm. We drove to Maskat Shrine Center where Shelomi Temple meets. A wonderful surprise for Margaret Ann was that 10 of the ladies from her home Nile Temple, Rithmah 93 drove up to surprise and support her! Directly after the banquet, we hit the road for Keller, TX, arriving just before 11pm.

 

 

We celebrated Thansgiving in Keller, TX at Bill and Margaret Ann Risk's home. The week flew by as there was much stuff to catch up on, plus, we had to get some shopping in! Bill roasted a domestic duck as part of the Thanksgiving dinner....my first time eating duck and found it quite delicious! Saturday of Thanksgiving week we drove to Roanoke, just north of Keller and had lunch at Babe's; a locally famous restaurant which has only two entrees on the menu; fired chicken and chicken fried steak. Both were excellent!!!

November 17 - 20, 2013

November 17, 2013 – Here we are in Kansas City, KS, well actually Merriam which is just a little southeast of the city and parked at an RV Park. Time to catch up on the laundry! The ceremonial of El Mat Temple was held at a Masonic Center not too far from the RV Park so we spent the night at the Masonic Center then headed out the next morning to Salina, KS, a 175 mile ride due west. The ladies of Magdala Temple meet at the Masonic Center which also houses many other fraternal organizations. It’s a huge 6 story historic building with a beautiful ballroom which is where the banquet was held. The Ceremonial began three floors up after dinner, in another beautiful room. I can’t imagine what it costs to maintain this old building!!!! Wichita Kansas became our next stop on the tour. Due to the location of the Midian Shrine Center, we stayed at a nice RV Park just north of the city. However, the banquet was held at Midian Shrine Center, which sits in the middle of downtown Wichita. It was really fun to be here, partly because earlier this fall my brother Denny was here for SCRAFA (a Shrine Circus organization.) and the people whom he had met promised him to greet me warmly when I arrived. They didn’t go back on their promise….thank you Queen Julie, her husband and the Byrd’s! Also this is the home Temple of the future Imperial Sir, Jeff Sauder, who spoke to us in Lexington and brought greetings here at the banquet. Jeff is a very motivating speaker and a wonderful cheerleader for the Daughters of the Nile, singing our praises for our efforts in supporting the hospitals! Thank you Jeff.

One of the models who participated in the "Hat" fashion show. Soooooo funny!!

 

November 20^th found us on the road to Pittsburg, KS, which is located 166 miles east of Wichita and close to the Missouri border. Seems like we were just in Missouri on our way to Kansas City, almost went full circle! Azrim Temple Daughters of the Nile, meet at the Mirza Shrine Center just off the main drag in downtown Pittsburg. I had a few extra minutes to walk up and down the street and browse in the many sweet shops of this quaint and quiet city. I didn’t find anything that I had to have so returned to the motor coach without any new purchases, but truly enjoyed the time. The ladies of Azrim Temple put on one of the best Ceremonials which I have seen so far; I’d put them in the top three! Congrats ladies on a superb job!

 

 

November 10 - 16, 2013

We arrived at Jerusalem Shrine Center after an uneventful ride. The nobles of Jerusalem had been wanting to install a few RV hookups next to their building and the scheduled visit of the Supreme Queen prompted this to happen. We were hooked up to a brand new system! Thank you Jerusalem Shrine nobles! This was just another of many examples of the Shriner’s embracing the Love for the Children Tour! The Jerusalem motor corps had just arrived back from a parade so one of the riders offered to take Supreme Queen on a spin around the block, and she accepted!

 

 

The next day, Veteran’s Day, November 11^th we drove north to Jackson, MS and the Official Visit at El Kanah Temple which meets at Wahabi Shrine Temple on the south side of Jackson. The ladies of El Kanah have their own room at Wahabi Shrine. We’ve actually seen this at several of the Nile Temples. How nice for them to have the support of their Shrine counterparts in supporting the Shrine Hospitals! Off to Memphis, TN…El Kanah’s Queen, Jennifer’s husband Brien, escorted us from Jackson right to the Masonic Center in Memphis which was great, seeing the building was close to downtown. Cold, cold, cold temps….I swear the wind was whipping at 50 mph and blowing Canadian Arctic air around….but we survived it! Not sure how that Arctic air ended up in Memphis. The ladies of Zia Temple welcomed us with loving and warm greetings and put on a lovely Ceremonial and banquet. Oh, I forgot to mention that the Masonic Center is located about 200 or fewer feet from a railroad crossing and the trains ran all night! Next stop, Little Rock, AR. We stayed at Scimitar Shrine Center, which is located just off the main highway with easy on/off access. Lots of room at this Shrine Center for Mollie to run and exercise. On the morning of the 14^th, Margaret Ann flew to Las Vegas and Harold, Mollie and I headed to Kansas City, KS. We had 3 days to make the journey but like I’ve said in the past, Harold is a mad man when he gets behind the wheel with an extended destination ahead of us! We made the trip in two days, bypassing Branson, MO….darn it!!

November 7 - 9, 2013

Montgomery, Mobile and Biloxi were our next three consecutive visits. A TV camera crew was waiting for us when we arrived in Mobile. Mollie (as in most cases) was the first person (because she thinks she is the Qeen) out the door. Margaret Ann had been given a crocheted crown at an earlier visit, so I quickly put the crown on Mollie, who greeted the waiting crowd as Supreme dog. It was actually quite comical, as everyone was anticipating that SQ would be the first to step out of the coach! Again, I can’t state how wonderful these southerners are with their love and hospitality…thank you ladies of Naiad and the Shriners of Abba!

 

 

 

In Biloxi, MS Nila was in a Veterans Day parade which many of the Joppa Shrine units participated in as well.

 

 

This was Nila’s fourth parade. While Harold was driving Nila in Biloxi, Margaret Ann and I headed to Gulfport for the Official Visit. I actually played hooky for part of the day and drove up the coast between Gulfport and Biloxi, found a mall, did some shopping for essentials and enjoyed the ride along the coast back to Gulfport. While walking along the shore, I heard my name being called, turned around and saw two friends from Shreveport, LA who were enjoying the beautiful warm weather as was I. We sat and talked for quite some time before we realized we needed to change clothes and get to the Ceremonial. Boy, I really wanted to stay right there, drinking in the view, the smells and the warmth of the sun but alas, reality hit, this tour is not a vacation, back to the task at hand! After the ceremonial and banquet we went back to Nila which was parked at the Shrine Center, to spend the night before leaving early the next morning for New Orleans (pronounced “Norlens” by the natives).

November 4 - November 6, 2013

Well after visiting Charlotte, NC, Columbia, SC and Charleston, SC we headed to Atlanta, GA for two days. The ladies of El Tehran Temple arranged for our overnight accommodations at an RV park in Norcross. We so enjoyed the hospitality of the Nile temple, who executed a wonderful Ceremonial and banquet.

 

 

Next stop – Irondale, AL.

Aromaz-Dynasty Temple No. 163 is the baby temple, although not in their dedication to the Supreme Temple and their devotion to the Shriner’s Hospitals! They are an amazing group of ladies! Not only were they celebrating their 10^th Anniversary during our visit, they have a member who celebrated HER 100^th birthday this year as well and was present at the celebration! We should all hope and pray that we are as sharp and pretty as this lady when/if we become centenarians. We were welcomed by the Shriners of Zamora Shrine and given to permission to park at their facility, which high on a hill on a beautiful plot of land. As we were about to leave the motor coach to go down the hill to the Masonic Center for the Ceremonial, a trolley car chugged up the driveway, circled the Shrine building and picked us up. What we didn’t know until we embarked on the trolley is that it was full of Nile officers and members of Aromaz-Dynasty. The music was blaring and we were ready to rock!! What great fun!! The ride set the pace for a fun-filled evening with these wonderful ladies and their Shrine family.

This member turned 100 yrs old this year too!

October 14 - November 2, 2013

I know, I know, it’s been over two weeks since my last posting and I apologize to everyone who has been following our travels!! At this moment we are heading toward Columbia, SC from Charleston, SC with our destination being Atlanta, GA. Much has happened and these wheels have rolled over many miles since October 14^th; and so, the story continues.

We arrived in Fort Wayne, IN on October 14^th around 9:45 am at the Mizpah Shrine Center, which is located in the heart of the city. We were met by Queen Karen, her noble and a camera crew from the local TV station. To my knowledge the interview with Supreme Queen Margaret Ann, aired that evening on the 11 o’clock news.

From Fort Wayne we visited the following cities – Columbus, OH, Dayton, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Terra Haute, IN, Peoria, IL, Springfield, IL, Lexington, KY, Greenville, SC, Charlotte, NC, Columbia, SC, Charleston, SC, Atlanta, GA, Irondale, AL, Montgomery, AL, Gulfport, MS, New Orleans, LA and Jackson, MS which is our destination today, November 11, 2013, Veterans Day. Since I’m so far behind in my blog, I’ll keep the details of these last few visits to a minimum; not that these are any less significant than the other visits, so many wonderful things have happened, I’m just short on time. In Cincinnati we visited the Shrine Hospital which specializes in the treatment of burns. One of the things which I learned is that the number of severe burns has dropped significantly since fire safety education and regulations have been implemented. That’s not to say that this hospital is not busy because it is; however there are less severe cases being seen than in the beginning days of the hospital. Otho Daughters of the Nile Temple in Peoria had a tailgate party for us when we arrived with lots of really great tailgate food.

 

While visiting Lexington for four days, we toured the Shriner Hospital for Children and were there for the presentation of the second million dollar plaque from Daughters of the Nile, to that hospital. Hospital administrator Tony Lewgood was our tour

guide of the hospital and also assisted us with a special project which many of the Nile temples participated in. He allowed the use of the auditorium to set up a call center where we and some members of the Foundation, contacted the odd number temples by speaker phone to log their information and results regarding a 100 Year Project. The outcome was phenomenal and the participating temples all seemed to enjoy being part of this wonderful call-in! That day almost $50,000.00 was reported by the Temples!! Not only that, but the Daughters of the Nile Foundation voted to make a million dollar capital fund donation to the new hospital! We frequented a couple of nice local restaurants while in Lexington before moving on to Greenville, SC and the Shriner’s Hospital there. This is another amazing hospital in the Shrine Hospital network and whose main focus is orthopedics. The hospital was full of patients and activity that day….the theme of the hospital is jungle and jungle animals…really beautiful.

I have to talk about something that struck me so funny and in no way do I mean to insult anyone with this comment. After having spent the first 3+months of the tour in the north, and listening to the accents in the north and eating the food in the north, I had major culture shock when we hit South Carolina! After the banquet of Al Ansar Temple, and going back to the motor home, I said to Harold “I feel like I’m in a foreign country”. Don’t misunderstand me, I LOVE the south, their hospitality and their accents, however it was almost southern overload for the first couple of days!! The food…..well, I find it quite different from how I normally eat, but that’s okay, except that green beans seem to be the vegetable of choice every single night, and not only that but the beans are cooked and cooked and cooked and then cooked again until they hardly resemble what they looked like coming off the vine. Most of the foods are highly seasoned. In Charleston, SC, a truly southern city, the banquet food was interesting. Of course, we had green beans, southern style and the main entrée was something called low country boil? This consisted of sausage meat, potatoes, shrimp and small ears of corn all cooked together. Yes indeed, interesting. Maybe it was fashioned after our New England boiled dinner?! I truly DO love the South.