Beginning next Monday, my wife and I are taking a 12–day road trip to Michigan, where she grew up, and where I went to college (Michigan Tech) and where I met and later married her.
For the past two weeks the temperatures both here in Southern Virginia and in portions of the mid–west have been brutal. This week we topped 100 degrees on a couple of days, but thankfully the humidity was low so it did not feel that bad. But, it was still HOT. We hope it cools down when we're in Michigan but we'll take (obviously) what we can get.
Speaking of summertime heat, I am reminded of when I was a boy growing up in Little Rock Arkansas—a long way from Michigan. We had no air conditioning in the simple house where we lived, but we did have small electric fans which we used all the time to try to keep cool when we were in bed. During the day and early evening until around 9PM, most of us kids kept cool by staying outside, finding shady spots where we could, by wearing only shorts no shirt no shoes, by jumping into a local creek seeking crawdads and minnows, and by drinking as much cool aid as our Moms would allow. We also had the ice cream man who came by every evening except on weekends, and he sometimes let us have a chunk of ice to suck on in addition to whatever ten cent goody we bought. Being "outside" was then something everyone did during the summer. And, my family often took road trips ourselves to cooler locations in the Missouri Ozarks where my uncle had a resort near a lake and stream. While there, all of us cousins slept on sleeping pads on a screened porch, while the adults sweltered inside.
One thing we did certainly did not have back then was the internet. But today it's a part of our daily life. For me and this blog, that means I may not be providing updates until we return on July 23rd. But, if I get a connection, I will try to do so. I might even post a photo or two if I can.
So, back atcha later.
