Hot Pavement

Today, I prepared the RV for the trip to Archon in the St. Louis area, as I’ve done for several years now. Usually, this is just one stop on an extensive journey through the state, starting in late summer and ending in late November or early December. This year, however, family events and hurricanes (plus gas prices) have conspired to keep the RV sitting in the back yard under one of the pecan trees. I hadn’t minded too much, watching the various wildlife that lives on our property. In particular, I enjoyed sliding open the side window and yelling at the squirrels who were systematically removing every pecan from the trees before they were human-ripe.

But the clock was ticking, and in spite of everything else, I had to get to Collinsville on the eastern side of the river before my first event at the convention. Our scheduled departure day kept slipping, but it’s 1000 miles to get there, and the RV can travel only so fast.

Sunday, Mary Ann apologized because she had to do some special shopping with Debra on Monday (it has to do with particularly elaborate white dress (I did mention family events, didn’t I)) and so I packed my gear and cleaned the RV, expecting Mary Ann to frantically get her stuff together at the last minute, as usual.

But then she called. The Dress was more difficult than she’d expected. Mary Ann wouldn’t be able to come with me.

We talked it out. It would be another solo trip for me, only this time with the RV — we’d need it on the return leg.

So in Austin’s 106 degree heat, I headed out of town with the generator running and both of the roof airconditioner units running full blast.

They weren’t enough. I have a temperature and humidity gauge, and the air conditioners did keep the humidity down, but it was 6 pm before the temperature inside the RV dropped below 100.

Once I stopped for the night, I changed my weather widget to Collinsville. It predicts a high temperature of 75 up there. I can’t wait.