Are your Chapter 8 membership dues up to date.

Annual Chapter 8 dues expire May 1. Pay today with Pay Pal by clicking below. Dues are $6 per year. If you want to pay multiple years, multiply the six by the number of years: (Your membership expiration date will be end on April 1. one year from the date you pay.)
1yr= $6, expiration date May 1, 2013;
2yrs= $12, expire May 1, 2014;
3yrs= $18, expire May 1, 2015;
5yrs= $30 expire May 1, 2016.

Click Here to renew dues.

You can also mail a check to the Membership Chairman: Kyra Bronson. If you would rather mail your personal check to the Membership Chair, here is the Membership Form, and on it is the address of the Membership Chair, and the address is listed below. The fee to renew or join is $6.00 per year.

Kyra Bronson Membership .
143 Rainbow Dr. #4376
Livingston, TX 77399-1002

When writing an article for the Newsletter remember to introduce yourselves and the position you hold and what your ideas are for the chapter. We have a lot of new blood in Mexican Connection and everyone needs to know who we all are.

Pictures are nice too (identify them as to who took them, where they are, or any people in the photo)

If you are Wagonmasters in the coming years, please remind us of where the rally is going and keep us up to date on your rally.

Please put articles in an attachment to your e-mail. If you can't do that then just e-mail it to me.

      Our newsletters come out:
       March 27
       June 30
       Sept. 30
       Dec. 31

       I will be asking for articles for the upcoming newsletters in a timely manner as I will be sending them to put on the Mexican Connection website.

   I have also been playing around with the newsletter format. I would ask all of you if there is something you really would like to see in the newsletter. Do we want to make the rally updates one of the first things you see as was suggested to me? I am also toying with the idea of putting an index to what is in the newsletter on the front page with page numbers. Then I would make the newsletter heading and logo a little smaller. If you make suggestions that doesn't mean we will absolutely do it that way but I am willing to take a look at it and play around with it to see what makes sense and if it is doable. We don't have to follow the last couple years. We can have our own updated version.


IS IT SAFE TO TRAVEL IN MEXICO

Chapter 8 The Mexican Connection wants to be clear that neither Chapter 8 nor the Escapees RV Club provides any liability coverage, and everyone traveling into Mexico must provide their own insurance for travel and medical and emergency evacuation coverage. The decision made by any members to travel in Mexico implies that those members assume all risks to themselves and their equipment. This has always been the policy of Chapter 8 The Mexican Connection.

There is risk to traveling in Mexico, as there is risk in traveling anywhere. The question is, how much risk? And is it a level of risk you are comfortable in assuming? Your individual comfort level is the key. Some travelers are comfortable in assuming more risk than others. At the beginning of Rally registration and through the pre-Rally, Chapter 8 strives do a good job in laying out its travel plans, in as much detail as folks require, so that folks can make their own decision to go or not to go. But all participants and Chapter 8 representatives need to be careful because no one in Chapter 8 has the power to "guarantee" or offer "assurances" to any fellow traveler that they will be safe and comfortable. To make the trek into Mexico is a decision each traveler must make for themselves.

When planning rallys, the Wagonmaster is always thinking safety and comfort. Our very important planning guidelines include the following. We never travel at night or for long periods during the day where folks might become fatigued. We always travel in groups of 7-9 rigs. If someone has trouble, the group stays together until the problem is solved. You are not left alone to deal with it. We always avoid city congestion by going around, whenever possible. Where we do encounter congestion on our routes we can often arrange a police escort. We take the major toll roads versus the two lane country roads. The campgrounds where we stay provide security. Generally, Chapter 8 can only estimate the anticipated risks that fellow Escapees traveling into Mexico will encounter

It is important to remember that travel in Mexico with RV's is different than in the USA. We travel toll roads or major highways, if available, but there are many roads we travel in Mexico that are narrow and without shoulders. Some areas do not easily accommodate the now typical 40 ft rigs, whether its on the roads or RV parks. Driving hazards along the highways commonly include serious topes (speed bumps), donkey carts, bicyclists and pedestrians, low hanging wires, absent or confusing signage, border or immigration or agricultural checkpoints, no ultra low sulfur diesel, etc, etc. Discussion of these things occur at the pre Rally.

The Mexican Connection Rally begins at the pre Rally in the USA and always ends in Mexico. There is no planned return trip out for attendees. The Wagonmaster encourages and provides signup opportunities at both the pre-rally and during the rally for people to arrange with each other to travel together straight back to the states, or if they choose, to travel farther into Mexico. We strongly encourage that these groups be made up of 3 or more rigs to travel together. This decision again is based on each person's degree of experience in traveling in Mexico and their personal level of comfort with the current experience of the people they will be traveling with.

The Board

2010 Kino Bay Rally Photographs

• Introduce Escapees Chapter 8 Mexican Connection members to RV travel in Mexico, its scenery, traditions, food, culture and folklore.
• Travel south of the border and give back more than the enriching experiences we gain, through charity donations and business patronization.
• Enable Chapter 8 members to feel comfortable to return to Mexico for future rallies as well as their own road trip adventures.

  Chapter 8 publishes a quarterly newsletter along with maintaining this website and the Escapees Chapter 8 website at Escapees.com.  The Chapter also sponsors RV rallies, group trips into Mexico annually and helps with the charitable activities of the Escapees and in Mexico.  

  Chapter 8 has one official rally each year in Mexico at which time officers are elected, site selected for the next year's rally, charitable contributions are determined, and other chapter business is conducted.  Our elected officers are: President, 1st Vice President - Wagonmaster, 2nd Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  The appointed positions are: Newsletter Editor, Membership Chairman, and Historian.
  
  Just remember, Chapter 8 is not a commercial caravan group.  It is led by volunteers, and we help each other in the SKP way, forming friendships that last a lifetime.  By getting involved, we gain far more than we put out.

  

  Articles. The page on Rallies provides members with up-to-date information on forthcoming rallies to be held in Mexico.  The page called Rules contains our Standing Rules and Chapter Bylaws.  

  
  
  

  The Bulletin Board is also a Yahoo News Group.  This is being done to help those folks without good Web connections. Information can now be exchanged as individual messages to the entire membership who have joined the News Group.  There is an archive of transmittals for the News Group but you must join Yahoo Groups. So first go to Yahoo and join Yahoo Groups (it is free). Then second go below and click on the Subscribe to the News Group of Mexican Connection. (1) Join Yahoo. Then (2) click on Subscribe. Subscribe and give it a try.   You can always unsubscribe.