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Weekend at the Border
February 16, 2007
It has been a little over 2 months since my last report, so I will try to
catch all of you up on what is going on down at "Camp Vigilance" in
California's Wild Wild West on the border of California and Mexico.
Last November in a nutshell we worked on the camp, and did a log of scouting
for additional areas to setup lookouts for illegal border crossers. We had
about 50 people who attended the monthly muster from all over California.
Last December was also very much like November, we continued to build up the
camp facilities and scout in the badlands for illegal crossers.
In January, the only thing I remember was how COLD it really was, it got
down to 11 degrees at 0130 Saturday morning when the power pole transformer
went out and we lost all of our power. Early that morning SDGE arrived with
2 trucks, and within 4 hours we were running again full power. Over the
weekend we setup new spotting sites and trained many new people on how to do
what we do, it was very COLD most all of the weekend, with snow on some of
the hillsides.
So, the February muster notes are now here...
It began on Thursday at 1400 I drove over to COSTCO to get the fixings for
the Friday night's dinner of ham, rolls, potato salad, green beans, desert
and drinks (soda & water). After filling up my basket I proceeded to the
checkout and the lady at the check stand made a comment like "It looks like
you are cooking for a army", I said that was close, but actually I was
cooking for the Minutemen this weekend! She then asked who are they? I about
fell over, darn another person who has never heard of us. so I proceeded to
give her the fast version of what we do and why, she was surprised that our
government was not doing this..Dah! Lady, where have you been for the last
few years, on Mars! Some people just live inside their own small confined
world (Scary!)
So, after that experience I made my trip over to Smart & Final to get the
desert and cooking pans, all went fine and I arrived back home to unload and
find room in the fridge for all the food. I had a dilemma trying to figure
out actually what to cook for the weekend, we were expecting 40-50 people
down, and wanted to make sure that everyone was satisfied with the Friday
night dinner so they would not be hungry all night on watches. Over the past
week MJ (The best wife & partner in the world) and we looked at making beef
stew, and a couple of other things, but wanted to keep down the costs just
in case we did not have a full crowd, so we decided to make the spiraled ham
dinner.
Friday, 0800- after morning coffee and reviewing of the hundred or so emails
we started up the cooking process at home. We cooked all 4 eight pound hams,
and then removed the meat from the bone and put that into large plastic food
bags that went into our dual hot/cold Coleman chest. What a great ice chest,
we had it when we had our 41' sail boat, and used it all of the time to
either heat or cool our food items, highly recommended to anyone, and it
runs off of a car lighter. Around noon I was all packed up and the truck had
all of the food and camping equipment loaded into it and I was ready to go.
About 2 hours before I had the jitters, which I usually get just prior to
leaving for camp, I think it is the anxiety of going to camp muster and
actually doing something to help prevent this terrible invasion that is
taking place in our country. A little after noon I did my hugs & kisses and
jumped into the truck and headed down to the 15 freeway. It was now 12:15
and I hit the 15 going south, traffic around the 215 & 15 was heavy, so I
made it over to the left lane and pressed the go fast pedal to start making
some time. As I made myself past Temecula and into north San Diego the
traffic cleared up and the temp was in the mid to high 70's and not a cloud
in the sky, (Great weather for a muster).
Around 1300 I was making my way onto the 8 eastbound for my last long leg of
the trip, few travelers on the road, mainly 5th wheelers, and Rv'rs going
east to campgrounds in the San Diego area or the high desert area. As I
climbed the 8 freeway up and down its grades the wind started picking up
from the north. I then came over the summit at the elevation of 4180' and
the wind just about blew the truck over! So I decided to take the remainder
of the trip in a slower speed and arrive safely instead of chancing the wind
& road. As I made my trek to the turnoff it was nearing the 1400 time frame,
and I had to get to the camp soon to get setup for dinner and camping.
I made my way down the two-lane roads to highway 94 to our campground
turnoff and onto the bumpy pothole riddled road that lead into camp.
At 1415 I arrived at the front gate, noticing that someone had painted it
white since last muster. I then cleared my access with Eric, who was
standing gate duty for the time and made my way to HQ. I pulled the truck
into the area near the Stagecoach house and went over to check-in and pay my
camping & food fees for the weekend. As I walked to the HQ trailer I noticed
that camp looked like someone had cleaned up all of the leaves and made it
livable for us ahead of time! Wow I was surprised! I was thinking to myself,
thanks to whoever did that! After greeting with everyone in HQ, I went over
to the truck and unloaded it into the Inn so that I could start cooking for
dinner tonight. I met a few people inside, and we organized a small group to
assist in getting setup for dinner, we plugged in the fridge after we
cleaned out the (unidentified materials growing inside!) and put inside some
drinks and things that I needed for dinner in it to stay cool. I sat down
for a cup of coffee and to chat with all of my fellow "MM" and meet some new
people.
It was now a little after 1500 and I needed to get my tent set up and the
truck unloaded, so a few of us pitched in together to collectively set up
each others tents, that went great and within an hour we had 3 tents and
camps set up and ready to go, now it was time for me to head back to the Inn
to get started cooking dinner for the night.
I got all of my equipment arranged, cans opened, fire lit on the stove, hams
unloaded from the ice chest, drinks our and the table set for everyone to
dig in at 1657, I remember that because I had to keep asking what time it
was (Since I had left my watch at home).
So as 1700 rolled on people started lining up at the table, and filling the
plates with ham, green beans, potato salad, rolls & butter and deserts. As
the hour went on, more and more people arrived and everyone seemed to be
very happy with the choice of the ham dinner, it sure beats driving 8 miles
to the Indian casino for dinner just to get insulted there and then drive
back. It also helps keep everyone in camp and builds a tighter unit of
people. We all sit around the fireplace, or in the makeshift dinning hall
and scarf down the food like we have not eaten for days on end! It is
amazing what healthy appetites 40 people in the high desert can muster up
for a meal!
Around 1900 our leaders took control of the meeting and out lined the events
for the night and Saturday. Time came to volunteer for camp security watch,
and offsite outings at some of the areas where we have been scouting for
possible new locations for surveillance areas for us. The times were set for
the night's operations, and the new people hung back for the normal
indoctrination by our leader. After this I did the clean up of the dinner
and had to get off of my feet, as the new boots that MJ bought me for Xmas
were killing my feet. I forgot to put on another pair of socks, and get some
insole supports for the new boots; so standing on the hard cement floor took
its toll on me.
2200-I had decided to not go out this night, and save the remainder of my
energy for Saturday's fence building/repair and brush clearing and trash
pickup event. Our night ops groups made their way out to the designated
areas for evening and early morning operations. As the night progressed so
did the winds, with the night temps falling into the low 50's, it was very
windy at camp, not as windy as a couple of months ago, but enough to be a
bother for those of us in tents, and enough to keep you awake most of the
night waiting for the tent to blow down (again!)
0545-As the night came and went and the sun started to rise; I made it over
to HQ for a cup of coffee and to get breakfast going for the crews. Friday
night we decided to offer breakfast, since I had so much extra ham, we asked
on of the leaders on Friday night to stop and get 2 flats of eggs and some
milk for Saturday. So I fired up the camp stove and cooked ham and eggs for
everyone in camp.
0800- 70-75 deg and light 2-3 mph wind and clear- we had our morning
meeting, stories were told of the previous evening's operations, and what
was on the agenda for the day. We were going out to one of our regular
sighting areas and clear some brush from the fence area that was on private
property and pickup the trash along the US side of the border that is left
there by the illegal border crossers and repair the areas of barbed wire
fencing that is in need of repair.
We divided up into teams and I took the fence repair team about 6 of us. We
got our tools and the roll of wire and loaded it into the trucks. Everyone
had water and drinks, and we made our way to the front gate to line up to
caravan over to the designated site for ops today. There must have been over
15 cars & trucks in the caravan, and a really nice new BLUE frontload
tractor that had joined the group today! (Now talk about working smart, a
TRACTOR! GREAT)
We made our way to our designated area and proceeded to analyze the
situation, our scouts were sent up on the high areas to keep a watch for
people not in our group, and people on the Mexico side of the fence. I took
the fence repair team with ma and we walked the entire length of fence
looking for breach areas that would need repair. Three of the members were
young college students, one who was in Iraq and the other two who were
friends of one of our members, and another who wrote for the UCI newspaper.
0930- We walked the length of the fence (or lack there of it) and to my
surprise the 3 college students were really shocked by the type of fence
that protected the border here in our area. We returned back to the main
gathering location and loaded up with supplies and materials to fix the
broken fences. These 3 college guys really jumped in and worked like really
dedicated people, taking on the hard areas to reach along the fence line and
picking up on how to patch up the areas that have been cut very fast. The
reporter was taking notes and pictures as best he could while still working
alongside all of us, their questions were coming a hundred miles an hour,
and you could see how discussed they were with the failure of their
governments attempt to fence our borders!
Around 1100 we ran out of materials, and started to create a re-enforced
fence barrier using dead brush & branches from the local fence line that was
being cleared for better visibility for our groups and the BP. Talk about a
deterrent to anybody crossing! This stuff will stop them in there tracks,
and they will have to go around to another area!
Around 1330 we decided to pull the work detail up and pack it in for the
day, the guy with the BLUE tractor had created a ¼ an acre parking area
adjacent to our current one within a couple of hours, WOW what a difference!
The team that had collected trash had a pickup full of black plastic bags
with trash from the desert area left behind by the illegal border crossers.
Arriving back at camp around 14:40 we all took a little well needed rest for
refreshments and snacks. Stories were being told of the great
accomplishments of the day, and how great everyone felt about the fence
repair and area cleanup project went. It was the overall feeling that
today's events will definitely deter many people from crossing into our
monitored areas, or at least it will take them a lot longer and incur a
larger risk and make lots of noise in doing so!
1600- The dinner crew was preparing a feast of pulled BBQ beef and backed
new potatoes with fruit salad and deserts... And they call this camping!
Camping never was like this!
After dinner we all gathered for the evening meeting and to get our marching
orders for night operations, the group leader called up Greg I. To present
him with an award for starting the CA group as one of the original founders,
it was very moving to hear his story, then as I was fading from lack of
energy I heard my name called..Ken..Ken come up here..I looked around maybe
it was Ken #2, no they wanted me... So as I started to get up the worst
Charlie horse hit my right leg I ever had and I could hardly stand, let
alone stand up and walk. I managed to hobble up to the front and our leader
presented me with an award on recognition of valuable contributions to MCDC,
CA. ME! For what, I just do what everyone else does. Well it hit me, this
was the first thing I can ever remember getting something for just doing the
right thing and what was expected to do.. Very very nice, and I did choke
up..So thanks to all of you for the award, I will hang it in my office with
pride and show it to everyone!
2030- Our evening meeting broke up and those people who were going out on
site security took their posts and those who were going out on field
operations got prepared for the hours in the dark, and cold temps of the
evening. Around 2300 I decided to turn in, and call it a day. Making my way
to the tent (this time again with out the flashlight!) and then locating it
in the dark, made my sleeping bags up to crawl into to spend the night. As I
tried for hours to sleep, earplugs in sock hat on and the Charlie horses
still attacking my leg, I finally fell asleep. Waking up around 0600 I
proceeded to roll up all of the camping gear, and then made my way over to
HQ for some coffee and rolls. As people came into the center we were sharing
stories from the night before, and what transcribed out in the field. I
decided to do some clean up work around the HQ and made myself busy for a
couple of hours, then packed up the truck with all of the camping gear and
said my goodbyes for the weekend. 1100 rolled around and I found myself
rolling down to the front gate and onto the access road that lead to the
highway. Riding over the bumpy road I found myself looking into the bushes
and occasionally stopping to see if I could hear someone in the bushes.
Pulling out onto the main highway I made my way to the 8 west knowing that
it would be another long 3 weeks until the next muster, and that I just had
to wait...
1300 arriving home, I pulled the truck into the garage, and kissed the wife
and headed for the shower and some aspirin & coffee. Looking forward to a
nice restful evening with my wife and the comfort and safety of the house we
live in, I dosed off for a short 20 minute "Power nap" (Right..) After
dinner we sat and talked about what was done at muster this weekend, and I
shared everything I could remember about the trip, as evening came I called
it an early night and made my way to bed, stopping at the computer to look
over some of the previous months I wrote about. I noticed very clearly how
much progress our CA MCDC team has made, and all of the effort from all of
the good people in the group who make the effort to come down to the border
each month..
As I covered up with the nice clean flannel sheets I found that I was
grateful to belong to such a great bunch of people, people who actually are
making a difference in our futures, and our children's futures and our grand
children's futures and dosed off to sleep.
More next month from the borders in California...
Ken
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