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.

October 13, 2013

October 13, 2013

What a nice visit we had yesterday in Southfield, which is a western suburb of Detroit. Ahmose Daughters of the Nile meets at the Moslem Shrine Center, and at one time was a Jewish Mosque and Community Center. It’s beautiful! We had a great drive down from Saginaw once we got on the right road after numerous construction detours. One thing is for sure, a lot of money is being spent on road work across this nation, helping to keep the economy alive! Harold dropped off Margaret Ann and me at the Shrine Center, and then found his way to the Brighton State Park RV facility. I hear it’s really beautiful there, you see I arrived in the dark and left in the dark; only thing I saw was the restrooms. It was so nice to have two reigning Queens in attendance at the Ceremonial, Queen Ellen from Saginaw, who rode to Southfield with us and sweet Queen Sara from St. Paul, MN. (Love that girl!)

 

 

Monday morning, October 14^th – like I said we left in the dark, actually at 5:45 am to head to today’s destination of Fort Wayne, IN and the Official Visit at Teti-Sheri Temple No. 60. Since Michigan is on the western most edge of the Eastern Standard Time Zone, the sun didn’t rise until almost 8 am and how absolutely magnificent the sunrise was. Well, almost to our next stop so I’ll be back later! Have a great day! Oh, don’t forget to check out www.donfdn.org for ways to support the Daughters of the Nile Foundation.

 

October 10 - October 13, 2013

October 13, 2013 – Since our hiatus which began on September 18^th, we have traveled to Point Peninsula New York where we pretty much closed up camp for the winter and where we left Nila so we could travel to home by car and confirm that all was well on the home front. Our week at home flew by much too quickly however; we were able to spend time with my folks, my sister Karen and her husband Phil, our kids Jeff and Tracey, Chris and Rob and their families. Fall is soccer season so we had the opportunity to watch Ryan play in two high school boys’ varsity games (and I might add that he is awesome)! Grandsons Brennon, Brady and Devin all play on youth rec teams so we saw all of them play as well. Fun, fun, fun!!! We headed back to camp in a very loaded Mazda Protégé, (Harold’s summer beater car) to finalize the closing of camp, say goodbye to friends, reload Nila and hit the road for Chicago. Thank you Wal-Mart for allowing travelers to park in many of your parking lots overnight. On the way to Chicago we stayed in Erie, PA and Elkhart, IN. The third night on the road we had reached our destination of Yogi’s Jellystone Park in Portage, IN. The 2.5 day trek from upstate New York to Portage was wonderful; the landscape of the states which we passed through is gorgeous! New York and Pennsylvania and their acres and acres of vineyards, Ohio and Indiana with miles and miles of corn, soy, oat and livestock farms. The harvest season was in full swing with many of the fields already having been plowed and readied for the winter rest. The fall foliage was changing colors along the route; however, I didn’t see anything that mirrors the beautiful fall colors which we left in Maine. Love you Maine!!

We visited and toured the Shriner’s Hospital for Children – Chicago on October 10^th. Our tour guide, Cathleen Himes from the Public Relations Dept. of the hospital led us through this wonderful hospital, introducing us to many staff members as we were guided through the units. This hospital specializes in orthopedic surgical procedures especially spine and spinal cord injuries and abnormalities. When we arrived at the hospital and got out of the car, there was the wonderful aroma of chocolate in the air. This hospital is located next to a MARS candy factory, which very generously assists with special hospital events by supplying lots of candy! Yum! The tour was followed by a luncheon in the private dining room where we enjoyed the company of the hospital administrator Mark Niederpruem. Every hospital which we have visited has its own character and uniqueness, they are all different, but one common denominator with the hospitals in this network is the upbeat and happy demeanors of the staff! The positive attitude permeates throughout the halls of these facilities and you see the outcome in the faces of the patients and their families. Folks – this is what it’s all about!!

 

 

I have to add that when “Nila” and two of her inhabitants were on hiatus, Supreme Queen Margaret Ann was busy at work in the Northwest, visiting 15 Daughters of the Nile Temples and 3 hospitals. She joined us in Chicago. The next day we visited Aretas Temple in Michigan City, IN and were escorted from the noontime banquet to the Ceremonial venue by Orak Potentate John York. It has been amazing to me, the support that we have had from so many of the Shrine Temples, sitting Potentates, Divan members, Gentlemen of the Creek and Masons. Thank you all! We left directly after the Ceremonial at Aretas to get a head start on out drive to Saginaw, MI and the Official Visit of Makere Temple. It was another Wal-Mart night, this time in Lancing, MI. The ladies of Makere put on a wonderful ceremonial and their banquet was done by the Marsha Washington OES chapter; a fabulous meal of homemade cooking! Those OES chapters really know how to put out a meal! Today, October 13^th we are in Southfield, MI just a suburb west of Detroit, for the Official Visit of Ahmose Temple. Stay tuned.

 

 Imperial Sir, Bob Bailey and SQ Margaret Ann

 

September 12 - September 17, 2013

Next stop, RE Temple, Cumberland, MD where we were met by the Campers Club of Ali Ghan Shriners. This shrine center boasts a nice RV Park for its members and guests. The front of the shrine building looks like the front porch of a southern planation house, with pillars and multiple rocking chairs in which to rest and take in the view of the Pennsylvania/Maryland mountains, beautiful! This Nile temple, Re Temple, went all out with their Official Visit, beginning with a “paving brick” in honor of the Supreme Queen, which will be placed in their memorial walkway which surrounds the gazebo. Following a newspaper interview, she was greeted by two Shrine patients, the Ali Ghan Highlanders and presented with a yellow rose. At the banquet she was presented with a Key and Proclamation from the City of Cumberland, an Official Citation from the Alleghany County Commissioners and an Official Citation from the Maryland State Governor.

 

 

To be in Endicott, NY the next day at 11 am, we left Cumberland at a very early hour, daylight was hours away….

Endicott, NY – we had reservations at the Pine Valley Campground, a nice campground outside of town. I learned the difference between a campground and an RV Park. Gravel and grass sites versus paved; gravel and muddy roads versus paved; unheated restrooms versus heated, tiled and individual units. No cable or WIFI to…. well you get my drift. So okay, I may be a little spoiled! Multiple Proclamations were given to SQ Margaret Ann by Zuleika Temple No. 9.

 

 

 

The next morning we had another early start to get to Albany/Latham, NY by 10am. We were met there by a photographer who with the assistance of Rosemary Caruso, put together a wonderful news article for the Altamonte Enterprise, a local paper. Check it out at - www.altamontenterprise.com. Click on Community then Correspondents. The ladies of both Zuleika and Cyrene Daughters of the Nile Temples put on beautiful ceremonials and banquets. Thank you!

 

 

Sunday, September 15^th, off to Utica, NY. Well actually, the Villages at Turning Stone RV Resort in Verona, NY. Now that was an RV Resort, holy moly! Large shady grassy lots with paved slabs. Clean, beautiful and heated restrooms. Yes indeed, very nice! Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to take advantage of the shuttle bus which delivers guests to and from Turning Stone Casino 24/7. Maybe another time. However, what we did have time for was telling several of the other campers (those curiosity seekers which I’ve mentioned before) of our mission and reason for the tour. So now, three more couples have knowledge of our philanthropy and hopefully will share the information with three more and three more and so on!! We had a delightful day with the ladies of Uarda Temple and can’t thank them enough for their hospitality.

 

 

Monday, the 16^th we were off to North Syracuse. I think that this was the shortest journey which we have had so far on the tour; less than 40 miles. I’ve had the opportunity to visit Ilderim Temple Daughters of the Nile in the past and love these ladies! A record number of ladies were in attendance, > 90. They meet at a fairly new Masonic Center in North Syracuse and had their banquet at the American Legion Hall in Cicero. Grilled steak that was cooked to perfection!!! Now, let me tell you about the campground, not an RV Park, where we parked that night after the banquet. First let me preface this by saying that I was the one who found this place as it was the closest to Cicero and on the way to Webster, NY. Talk about a mud hole….no sewer hookup and no satellite reception. Definitely a “campground”. I’m really not complaining, although it sounds that way, I’m just really noticing a huge difference in the parks.

 

A Donation Presentation from the Gentlemen of the Creek

 

 

 

Tuesday morning, bright and early, off to Webster for the official visit at Zama Temple which was wonderful. Dumpster diving and all!!

 

 

 

 

This was our last visit of this leg of the tour. Nila is on hiatus now until October 10^th when we are scheduled to tour the Shriner’s Hospital in Chicago. ‘Til then……..