On Saturday January 18th Denise and I paid a visit to the Millinocket Elks Lodge #1521. Upon arrival we were met by Ronnie and some of his officers at the hotel. We treated to a wonderful welcome gift and then taken to a local brewery. At the brewery, along with Mindy and State Sergeant at Arms Jeff, we had lunch and tasted a few of the local brews. Even on a cloudy day the views of the Katahdin region from Knife’s Edge brewery were fantastic. Next we trekked down the Golden Road to another venue overlooking two local lakes. Here we caught up on old stories, it turns out that Ronnie and his crew were actually neighborhood childhood friends of myself and my brothers. I had lived in Millinocket from about 1970 to about 1977. Many of us had attended grade school together and we all had some stories about the old neighborhood. In fact, on the way back to the Lodge Ronnie drove us by my old house.
In the evening, we were taken to the Lodge and met up with State Chaplain Mike. We had a wonderful meal and then were treated to a group of three stand up comedians. They were very amusing and everyone had a wonderful time. I was presented with a check to the Maine Children’s Cancer program, gave the 11 o’clock toast and we returned to our hotel.
The next day we returned to Houlton only to meet with Ronnie, Shelly, Mindy and Jeff who were in town for a motorcycle riders meeting. All in all it was a great weekend, full of fun stories and lots of cheer. Next weekend we are off to Skowhegan-Madison Lodge #2531. My report will be posted soon afterwards.
