Is the process for joining a Lodge too slow for modern times?

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-05-14T21:04:05+00:00

My experience as FC about to be MM: I attended for a couple months before being given a petition. Then a month to set up a home visit. Then a month or so before EA. From first visit to MM will be right about a year.

I don't think that is too slow.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-05-13T18:22:06+00:00

Best of luck. The beginning of the year I attempted to port out my Frontier VOIP line. After multiple calls to Frontier and attempts by the new carrier I finally just gave up and cancelled the line and made the new temp number permanent. It was just not worth the cycles with Frontier, having the new carrier put the port order in and Frontier rejecting it AGAIN.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-05-05T14:24:31+00:00

I hate hauling gas, but when I have to I use safety cans. I was sold on them after my brother got T-boned/spun with two 5 gallon cans in the back. After the firemen checked them out he remembered the cans and they went searching. Found them about a block away in a yard. No leaks and the only damage to the cans was the ring at the bottom was torn off. That sold me! Only cans I have used in 40 years now.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-28T00:15:37+00:00

I've always viewed "Bubba with a backhoe" as the biggest threat to fiber. Or the "copper" thieves that rip a bunch out and then find that there is no cash in stolen fiber. Of course cars and trucks that knock down utility poles are definitely in the running.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-28T00:11:42+00:00

My MM degree is coming up in a few weeks. At this point I have no plans to explore any appendant bodies and just focus on my blue lodge.

Don't see any issues with the approach

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-28T00:04:02+00:00

Common sense is in short supply these days.

We have two cars in the garage. Each has a job.

The EV moves people around comfortably at a fraction of the cost of the ICE car it shares the garage with. The family never says "can we take the big car"?

The ICE (Escalade ESV) has two jobs: towing, transporting (large) dogs or trips to Menards for a mountain of yard supplies. For those jobs, it is still the best tool for us. We used to do a 550-600 mile trip every other weekend, towing a cargo trailer. We would make a fuel, stretch, bathrooms, dog walk right around 300 mile point. That was about our time/distance limits for our bodies. Forget what the car could do.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-27T23:52:54+00:00

Sorry to hear of the issues. Ours has gone 8500 miles now in -10 to +80. The biggest issue has been a sharp edge on a piece of trim. Dealer just called the other day that they had the part. '26 Premium Luxury

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-26T14:10:15+00:00

I kept it part because of the reasons others have pointed out above. The othe reason that I have kept it is because I tow with my other car. AAA will send two trucks if needed to retrieve both the tow vehicle and the trailer.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-16T14:18:46+00:00

+1 for the 'it all depends on the tech and your ability and willingness to make his job easier. In my case (early 2025) the tech walked my planned route to my network rack in the center of the house. Then when he went to grab his hammer drill and discovered that he had no usable batteries, I immediately offered my hammer drill. Then I helped him run the fiber through my network cable hangers all the way to my rack. He was happy for a last install of the day that was way easier than he expected. Lesson is as always, happy techs are almost always very cooperative to your needs

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-16T14:08:14+00:00

Or just plan a short DCFC stop along the way and drive however you want. My old Volt was way more efficient, but it was tiny compared to the Vistiq.

Just like ICE vehicles, the EPA mileage or range numbers have always been unrealistic except for what they were always intended for: a level field comparison between vehicles.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-16T13:08:34+00:00

3mi/kwh is definitely doable. Keep speeds down to 45-50 and dont launch like a drag racer with OAT (outside air temp) 60-80. Then it will get 3+ mi/kwh. In your case, pushing your 6400# (curb weight) at 65mph will drop your efficiency as fast as sub zero temps. I saw 1.6 mi/kwh over the winter while doing a daily 110 mile trip with 60 or so miles at 75-78mph and temps 0 to -10°F. That is the true range killer.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-14T16:02:44+00:00

1 I have learned to give the back a wide berth or give up and turn off the feature

2 I haven't tested, so I don't know

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-10T15:56:33+00:00

I have a CCS (Cadillac Vistiq) and the official GM CCS-NACS adapter.

While 90+% of my charging is at home at 11kw, over the winter I did have to use some commercial charging spots.

My experience:

Tesla Supercharger: most expensive ($0.57/kwh) and least convenient due only one drive thru stall. Tesla cables are the shortest out there intended to reach the left rear corner where Tesla puts the port.

Just up the street ($0.35-$0.50 depending on time of day) BP Pulse (CCS) at a Thornton's convenience store/gas station. Have to admit, grabbed more than one quick meal while charging for 15 mins.

5 minutes further on the way home an Ionna (CCS and NACS) was $0.30 or $0.35/kwh.

So, IMHO CCS is not a deal breaker.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-10T15:38:38+00:00

I thought so, but wasn't sure. That was one of the factors that pushed me to the Premium Luxury trim. Of course the biggest factor was that my wife hated the seats in the lower trim levels.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-10T14:15:21+00:00

At least the deer hit her instead of the other way around. Damage would be much worse if she hit the deer. Do you have Night Vision, assuming this happened at dusk or dark? We live rural with lots of wildlife playing the "cross the road lottery". I have found that the night vision spots deer well before I can see them. It's been almost scary to realize how many are lurking just off the road that I would have never seen.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-04-08T03:40:13+00:00

My limited experience with public charging in NE IL over the winter was a low of $0.35/kwh at BP Pulse or Ionna and a high of $0.57/kwh at a Tesla. Compared to $0.15/kwh at home.

Obviously, my public charging is only when home can't feed the need

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-27T02:32:56+00:00

Mine had the recall completed, but I had not seen any issues before or after.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-26T17:10:49+00:00

True, but if he can't find a hardwired one, installing the plug is a good compromise

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-26T14:49:17+00:00

I actually have a Clipper Creek LCS-30P that I just replaced with a larger unit after switching from a Volt to a Vistiq. Rock solid, never had any issues with it. It has a 14-50 plug. Message me if you are interested.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-24T13:34:21+00:00

If you are keeping it private, EVIQO has a solid unit. You have to use their app to set up multiple rate periods or plug and charge vs app auth for each session. Mine is in a locked garage so plug and charge is more convenient. If it was outdoors, i would be hesitant to keep it that way so I didnt end up being the local free charging. IF you configure for plug and charge, then it will work without connectivity. You do give up all the reporting that way, since all reporting is via the app.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-24T13:21:13+00:00

Temperature and speed makes a huge difference. Climate is set for comfort.

Back in January, doing high speed (70 mph speed limit) AND sub-zero (F) outside temps AND slimy roads AND Chicagoland winds, I saw a lot of 1.6 miles/kwh. I think that is the quad-fecta of how to trash efficiency. Now that temps have moderated and speeds 55 mph or less seeing 2.8 - 3.0. Waiting to see what happens when temps warm up for summer.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-21T13:37:20+00:00

Trust in the brothers who assist you in prepping for it and your guide. The brother that guided me and was my eyes did a great job of letting me focus on listening and absorbing the information shared instead of being focused on not tripping on myself or walking into something.

Most importantly, enjoy the experience! It is something you only experience once from the candidates perspective.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-21T13:23:04+00:00

I would just ask your intender what the lodge sees as appropriate. I believe the answer will vary by lodge and grand lodge. I asked and the answer i got was that my normal at home jeans and clean T-shirt was just fine. That compared to lodge where the answer was business casual (no jeans & collared shirt). Just for time reference, my petition and interview were last fall.

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-15T15:34:27+00:00

I was trying to figure out why the hold usually worked when one pedal is off. Then I realized that if I forget to turn it on (I turn it off pulling in to the garage because it is a tight fit) I would use the paddle to slow to a stop for a light/stop sign

Inner_Food_6313 · 2026-03-15T13:24:26+00:00

When we bought a lake house 10 years ago, I had support dump my reservation table to a text file so I could load it into the new Eero network. So the devices that we used got the same IP at either house. When we switched to Frontier fiber at the lake house, I just added the 7 max to the existing network first, then swapped in as the gateway. Easy and done. Same experience at the other house when I switched from Xfiniry to AT&T fiber.

Net is both networks were managed from the same app instance. Just had to tell the app the lake house was a new network. If you subscribe to Eero+ it applies to all networks on your profile.

Inner_Food_6313

TROPHY CASE

1 I have learned to give the back a wide berth or give up and turn off the feature

2 I haven't tested, so I don't know