Out of the Icebox and Into the Oven

I did not live in an air conditioned house until I was a junior in high school, and even then it was one of those small window units that only cooled its immediate surroundings; the other parts of the house were varying degrees of cool and hot. Before that time, it was open windows or fans, and sitting on the front porch after supper so the house could cool off enough to go to sleep. Growing up, I thought nothing of spending all day out in the heat and humidity, either playing when I was a kid or working outside when I was a teenager. At that time the heat didn’t bother me at all.

Then, after I joined the Air Force, I spent the next 6 years on the edge of the desert in Southern California. It was less humid yes, but still hot. It is true that a dry heat is not as uncomfortable as the humid air, but let me tell you, 110 degrees is hot, with or without the humidity.

Anyway, after a year in Alaska I went right back to humid Arkansas and stayed there until 1981. So up until I was 29 my summers were toasty. I was used to just chucking my shirt when I got hot working outside or rolling down the window in the car – “God’s air conditioner” I called it. I rarely used my car air conditioner. Then along came Monterey.

For 4 years, I lived in an air conditioner. I think I said before the daytime highs were 65 and nighttime lows were 55 almost all year long. Well, I looked it up. Officially, those numbers are 62 and 48, which is even more to my point. It was perfect weather for a hot tub, but it sure did a number on internal temperature tolerance.

So, after getting my orders I set out for Charleston, SC with Sue, Amy and Michael. Douglas stayed the summer in California with him Mom. It was late May and we made plans to stop in Houston, TX, and Montgomery, AL to see friends before heading to Loudon to see my Mom. We got to Houston the next night at around midnight. It was stifling!! It was still so hot and humid the windows fogged up. After a couple of days, it was on to Montgomery and more of the same. By the time we reached Loudon I was ready to melt. We actually cut our stay in Loudon by a couple of days because I couldn’t wait to get to someplace cooler. Each of these places had air conditioning, but that didn’t help when you went outside.

We were going to stay with Sue’s aunt when we first got to Charleston until we settled into the base and found a place to live. We got there on June 5th, and I’ll never forget it. It was 95 degrees and felt like 300% humidity, and her aunt didn’t even own a fan! I roasted all night! The next morning I was going to go to the base to sign in and Sue was going to look for an apartment. She asked me what I wanted and I said, “The first place you find with a working air conditioner!”

We eventually adjusted, at least a little. However, to this day, I still can’t take much of the heat and it’s all because of the time I spent on the central California coast. But oh, what a place that was. I’ve been back several times and sometimes think I would like to live there again, but I know it’s changed. More people, more expensive; probably nowhere near the paradise I remember. But it’s still nice to dream.