Welcome to Kat's Korner El Rincon de la Gata - The San Felipe Scoop

30th Annual Poker Run >> Click the Sea for Joya del Mar

Wornout sent me the following this morning "Tecate-Mexicali & Ensenada-San Felipe Highway closures - and here is the web site for more information: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/22/800-baja-california-seek-safe-shelter-storms/ - This is a photo of Wornout's rig after his trip back down from the old country.

"The state government announced Friday afternoon that a section of highway in the mountainous Centinela-La Rumorosa stretch was closed because of snow. The closure is at kilometer 26 of the toll road that connects Mexicali to cities in the western part of the state, including Tecate, Tijuana and Rosarito Beach. Officials said the closure will remain in effect until further notice. For more information on the status of the highway in the La Rumorosa area, call 011-52 (686) 575-0202 or 011-52 (686) 575-0207. Governor José Guadalupe Osuna said that, along with the trans-peninsular highway south of Ensenada, a 40-meter stretch of the San Felipe-Ensenada highway in the northeast of the state, in an area known as El Chinero, suffered damage that forced the closure of the highway." I believe this photo was sent to me by Warren Sundquist (aka Wornout).

23 January 2010 - Saturday late. I believe Eddie G. is at the Pavillion tomorrow morning for brunch at the Pavillion, but I have to check my email again. The SFAR Hoe Down was fun and a good crowd showed up. I have a lot of photos but I wanted to say a special goodbye to Carol and Henry Blau, who are leaving today to go back to England. They both have been with SFAR since the beginning and Henry was instrumental in catching a lot of stray cats. At any rate, it was great to see them again and they'll be back again some day. Happy Birthday to Rita whose having a little party tonight that I am supposed to go to. I have a splitting headache so I'm going to lay down and if I feel better, I will go. If I miss it Rita, I wish you the best, sincerely.

Don't forget about the San Felipe Animal Rescue's Hoe Down out at Las Manitas to beginning at noon until aout 4:00 and Bubba will be spinning records and they'll have food and drink and it's for the benefit of the dogs and all monies that are collected go for the dogs, not administration or any other purpose. Hop-a-Long and I are going to go and we'll get some photos and hang out for a while. I went to El Centro and Mexicali to do some banking and drop some papers off at the Secretary of Exterior for my naturalization and it seems Immigration put the wrong month of my birth on one of my renewals for my FM2, so the Licenciado was very nice and he tells me I should have my naturalization in three months. The ride back down was a trip. The screw which held on the plate on my brake (front left side) broke off and having to stop in the mudd was pretty scary. The scariest was when the Highway Patrol was stopping cars just past La Ventana and I couldn't stop for about a quarter of a mile. The road "Gods" were with me, that's for sure, and when I tried to stop at the Army checkpoint, it was rather funny because they had me pull over and my wheel wasn't spinning. It was a trip I'm glad is over with and I shant attempt it again when there's a storm. If you'll click on these arrows >> where the link wasn't working, thank you Wornout, I fixed it, you can see the highway construction. Keep in mind the photos are backwards - meaning the latest one is first.

This is the guy whose name (I believe) is Graguerio (pronounced Gra-gare-i-o) who has just opened a tire shop across the highway from the fireworks stand and he's a great guy. He is not a mechanic, but he knew exactly what was wrong with my brakes and took the tire off and fixed it. He has a great selection of new and used tires, so give him a try.

I believe Tavo's Revolution will be playing tonight at La Vaquita Restaurant, so Hop-a-Long and I will probably go down for a bit. Mac and Nan are doing their karaoke tonight and Vatos Locos (who have improved greatly, I've heard through the grapevine) will be at the Jollymon. Tomorrow there are two brunches I know of - one at the Pavillion with music (you can read about it further down) where I believe the Baja Boys minus one will play and brunch at Baja Java where Carlos Bono will play. I am so proud of Natasha James. She won the latest award for Best Artist and I truly believe she's on her way to a Grammy. Please go on to our front page and follow the clicks. I understand it's going to get colder tonight and we can expect more rain on Monday, but who knows. Gardenia of El Dorado Ranch sent me some photos of the snow on the mountains this morning and they are beautiful. This is good news for San Felipe because the snow melts and we have more water in our aquifers. Photo by Gardenia Kimmey

Please say a few prayers for Lisa Shackleford (Irene Smith's daughter) who just lost her 25 year old son in a car incident in Idaho. Lisa is back in Idaho at the moment and Irene is still at Dr. Abasolo's office. What tragedy for her family. I stopped in to see Irene on my way into town as I had heard about Lisa's son. Hop-a-Long told me he had heard from someone that Lisa's son was "beat up". That's a rumor. He was out with friends drinking and when they left the bar, he jumped into the back of the truck and the person driving the truck took off and he flew out the back. They kept driving and then called the police for an ambulance, so I would imagine the driver of that truck is facing some heavy duty guilt. Lisa's son died of massive head injuries. Photo by Gardenia Kimmey

In case you haven't heard, the date of the Paella Festival at the El Cortez Hotel has been changed (which is carnival weekend) to February 20. Carnival week is February 12 through February 16, so we have a pretty busy couple of weeks. Well, off to SFAR's Hoe Down but I'm missing my cowboy boots! I'll write more when I return. Photo by Gardenia Kimmey

21 January 2010 - Thursday. Eduardo Duran, MHRT I - Supportive Engagement Network - of the Imperial County Behavioral Health Services - 760-482-4021. "Good Afternoon, Hope you are having a good day so far. My name is Eduardo I’m a case manager for the County of Imperial Behavioral Health. On December 22 a local police department brought in a older gentleman in a very confused stage; which he still is. We have reason to believe he used to live in San Felipe with his wife. Up to this time no one has filled a missing person report here in the county. Question I would like to pose is if you have heard or know of any American who has gone missing within the last month. We really would like to reunite this person with family or friends. At this time I can not divulge any information on his name or picture due to confidentiality laws. If you do have any information we be more than happy to share the appropriate information. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments."  If anyone has any clue about this missing gentleman, please call Mr. Duran.

Thank you everyone for your response to my request for safety emails. I received this one tonight from Rolo Andreola: "Kat, I saw the post about the kids and the safety of San Felipe and I will be the first to say its Safe. My friend Bob and I go down for the Baja 250 and 1000, New Years, and the Chili Cook off every year. We then make a few random trips in between and we have never had an issue down there or on the way down to San Felipe. It's like I told my friend who just came down to San Felipe with his girl friend. If you want to find trouble trouble will be there but if you are smart and just go to have a great time then San Felipe is the place. I think ppl have to remember that the violence we are hearing about is in TJ which is closer to San Diego then to San Felipe. Again if you don't go looking for trouble you will be golden just like any place else. The parents that are so worried should take a trip themselves and enjoy a weekend or two before they send their kids down. They will see why everyone else loves it so much down there."

Happy Birthday to Baja Jimmy Smith - he turns the big seven-o today and I would have never guessed he's older than dirt! So, if you see a sign on wheels going down Chetumal, it's Jimmy's new sign for his restaurant. I told him to have it put on wheels because he moves so much. His new digs will be in the new strip mall across from La Vaquita II or in that area. He expects to move in by February 1. I wish him all the luck in the world and hopefully, he'll stay in one place for a while. I should explain that it hasn't been his fault that he's had to move and he has a one year lease on this new place and hopefully, he'll be able to put tables and chairs on the sidewalk. For those of you who haven't seen Linda Sullivan of People's Gallery lately, she's dropped a ton of weight and looks great. Here's a photo I shot yesterday.

I left San Felipe at about 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon because I had to open an account at Bank of America. I made it to the line to go across at 5:03 and it only took about 30 minutes or so to get across and the bank stays open until 6:00 p.m. so I really lucked out. The woman who helped me was so efficient and got everything done in twenty minutes, so I'm a happy camper. I did find out that my boots leak, so my feet got wet but my coat has a hood, so it was not that bad. When I left sunny San Felipe, as I crossed the Salida the dark clouds started to form and by the time I hit Mexicali, there were a few drops of rain, but nothing like there was later this evening. There are streets in El Centro that are flooded. This is how far the water is or I should say 'how near' the motel room door it is.

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