Midwesterners and the weather

Having grown up in Minnesota and Iowa, if there is one thing I know, we are never happy with the weather. It is either too hot, too cold, too rainy, to dry, too much sun, too overcast. You name it we can complain about it. The old joke is "if you don't like the weather just wait a minute". We get a little bit of everything.


We have been back in Iowa since late April. Spring was cold and rainy and we all wondered if summer would ever get here, well it did, with a vengeance. The midwest is sweltering along with much of the country. The lush green lawns are now turning a little brown. So now we hear the common "is it hot enough for you?" I'm not sure exactly what that means, but yea it is plenty hot enough for me but it is summer and I can remember plenty of other summers when it got this hot. When the kids were little we lived in a house that only had a window air that would cool down our living room. We had plenty of shade protecting that house but if we got a stretch of 90+ days it would get hot enough for us to retreat to our 1 air conditioned room. I do remember getting creative with places to go to get out of the heat. We would go to the pool, the library, the mall, anywhere to escape the heat in the middle of the day. But you know we lived through it and the cool weather always returned.
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2280


Today we had to move from one park to another, our 14 consecutive days were up. By the time we hitched up, moved and set up we were pretty sweaty. The good news---we have a well insulated air conditioned little house on wheels and we don't have metered electric. Spent the afternoon and evening inside. I think there are going to be a few more days like that before the heat breaks. Here's hoping you all stay cooooool.


Happy trails.......................

Comments

  1. owensontheroadJuly 19, 2011 at 6:06 AM

    I'm amazed how the weathermen are making like we haven't seen heat like this. Must be young fellers :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jim and SandieJuly 19, 2011 at 8:53 AM

    We definitely did survive heat without air conditioning when I was young. It's amazing how used we get to our comforts like air conditioning and think we can't live without it. But I will admit, I sure am looking forward to a small cool front that is supposed to go through tomorrow night.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kevin ReadJuly 22, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    Where would we be if we didn't have the weather to talk about or complain about. You can bet the ones complaining about the hot weather were complaining about the cold, wet spring and when would it warm up. Well it has and now they are comlplaing again, just never happy. We love the hot and like you find fun ways to keep cool. What did the people do in the days where there was no air conditioning, they survived and so will we.

    Enjoy the summer while we can.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Urban Life

Image
The view from our balcony I have been thinking about this post for awhile. When we are not traveling I find it hard to sit down and write but I have wanted to tell you about our new digs and what living downtown has been like for us. Another balcony view We moved into a one bedroom apartment on the west side of the river in the downtown Cedar Rapids area. This is a brand new building that actually they are still working on. The first floor is businesses, floors 2 and 3 are apartments and floors 4, 5, & 6 are condos. We love the building. Every apartment and condo has a balcony that looks out over the river and the McGrath Amphitheatre. Our little apartment in this building is 767 sq. which, after living in our 5th Wheel for 7 years, seems huge. We feel these apartments were well thought out. The kitchen is wonderful. It has a large island (all  solid countertops - quartz I think) with a large sink and plenty of seating room . We started by buying 3 barstools but found
Read more

Time for me to learn to drive this rig.

Image
Trail at Squaw Creek park Yesterday we moved back to Morgan Creek park (about a 15 mile drive) and I drove the rig! We have always said that I needed to start doing this but I never seem to do it. The first year I think John just felt he needed to get proficient at all the driving & parking things before he had me do it and then we just got lazy. It was just easier for him to do it. Recently friends of our that we met in Tucson, John and Terri had a very harrowing experience that reminded us why we both need to be able to drive this rig. John they think had a seizure while driving, luckily not towing but still it is amazing that they survived it. What this meant is that now Terri had to do the driving back to their former home town Sacramento and like me she had not done much driving. She did great and they are now coming off the road and starting a new phase of life. All of John's test look good so far and we wish him the best and hope that it was just a one time isolated
Read more

Three plus years of full timing....what have we learned

Image
Zion National Park,  Utah, December 2010 Harris Hawk at Sonoran Desert Museum, Tuscon Feb. 2011 When we left Cedar Rapids it began our 4th year of living and traveling in our RV. The last three years have flown by and we are still not ready to go back to a sticks and bricks life. We have traveled a lot of the western US but even with time out there all three years there are so many places we have yet to discover. This year will be our first going south and east, all new places for me and many new ones for John. I think one of the things that I learn every time we find somewhere new is how beautiful this country is. If you slow down and take the time you will find amazing things everywhere. I think the thing I appreciate the most about this lifestyle is that freedom to take it slow. BLM land near Quartzite, AZ in January 2011 Putah Creek, Winters CA in Jan.2013 Crater Lake, Oregon, fall 2012 Diamond Lake, Oregon, fall 2012 When we first took off we were
Read more