El Centro last August... 114 to 118 degrees at 3:00 pm cooling off to a "balmy" 96-102 degrees at 3 am...
I don't think anyone gets "used to it" when it is that hot, but, mornings and late evenings are good for sightseeing if you dress in light colors and wear a wide brimmed hat. Take it slow and easy, plenty of fluids. From 12:30 to about 5pm, retreat indoors, twin A/C units; good for reading and naps. Would we have preferred upper 70's, lower 80's? Sure, but, wasn't going to happen. We felt the sorriest for the field hands (never seen so much hay in my life and we live in dairy country) and road workers.
Didn't have to deal with as many "tourists", that's for sure!
My 2 cents, your mileage may vary...
Don
Bronwyn
3 Cats - Coco, J-Lo and Ragamuffin
2011 Keystone Cougar 318SAB
2011 Ram 2500 Longhorn CTD HO
Built in brake controller and exhaust brake
Tri Glide TrailAir Pinbox with a B&W Companion Hitch
What heat? some how you get used to it when you live there but like others said it can be dangerous. I lived 3 years in the Pheonix area with out AC in my car. Now I live in Utah and I wouldnt do it again but I loved the warmer- extra camping season.Many of us ran away to the higher elevation areas when it got too warm like Prescott and Flagstaff and Payson
I have to agree with you 100%. We live in Michigan, and and spend winters in Texas, but once it starts getting hot for us.....even much into the 80's.....it's time for us to head home. I'm always worried that the A/C will go out on us! We don't like COLD weather, but we can handle that much more easily than HOT weather. As much as we love Texas, we could never be year-round residents.
I live in Texas. Unfortunately, swamp coolers do zero good here, due to the humidity. So, the only way to get comfortable is to have the AC at full tilt, and it stays this way until late September to early October.
I learned that it is easier staying warm than keeping cool. If it is cold, one can use a propane furnace, a Buddy heater, electric heaters, electric blankets, or just bundle up. If it is hot, it is A/C or nothing, and even then, RV air conditioners don't remove the humidity until run for a few hours, so it might require a secondary dehumidifier to be comfortable. A/C fail == vacation over for a lot of the year in this area.
We live in Corona, when it gets hot, we head to the beach or down to San Diego! We desert camp (atv riding) in fall, winter and spring - NEVER summer (or summer weather!).
I'll take the heat and my 18' TT with 13,500 BTU over -30 degrees in MN. in the winter and 80's in the summer with all the misqueto's, I lived in MN for 20 years and have been in the south now for nearly 4 years. Keep your cold and rainy weather. I'll just bask in the sunshine then cool off in the pool and under the awning with a cool one.
2004 Ford F150 5.4 Triton 3.73 Rear 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0
2006 Fleetwood Mallard 18' TT
E&J push'n wind wrote: Desert dwellers.., how do you enjoy camping in the heat?
We just got back from a VERY SHORT weekend trip after testing the heat. Paid for two nights, stayed one. This trip wasn't suposed to be this hot! It was a rescheduled trip that got put back from the Easter weekend. Almost wish we would have gone then. All indications were mild weather but it was hotter than a pop-corns fart. When we finally decided to pack it up & go it had cooled down to 105* at about 5:00 pm. I didn't check the actual temp for the high of the day but I estimate it got upwards of 110* to 114* in the shade under the awning. Even the 15K BTU AC unit couldn't keep up with the heat load, just to much!
Is this suposed to be fun? I wish I could say never again but I can't predict the weather so I'll say I hope to never do this again.
Anyway, have another trip scheduled in two weeks to make it up to the little trolls, they kinda got short changed in this. I'm done with the desert though for the time being till it cools off, it's only gonna get hotter till summers end.
Hey E&J,
First, we don't camp. We're fulltimers and don't enjoy the heat of the desert, but we work here, so we move to the mountains where it's 20 to 30 degrees cooler during the day and still only have a 45 minute drive each way to work.
You can say "never again"! You can predict the weather!!! It's done all the time!!!! Check the weather channel!!!!!!!! You can get a 10 day forecast that's pretty dern close to what it will be.
Now if you have to make reservations more than a week out, you takes your chances!!
Desert Captain wrote: Been there done that and no, 105 is not a lot of fun. Anything over 100 is actually down right dangerous if you are not prepared and equipped for it. This is why we head to higher, as in much higher elevations, when summer approaches. I'm a former San Diego guy, (51 years), and now reside in Tucson but during the warmer months we are off to the White Mountains, Mt Graham, Flagstaff etc., where 7, 8, or even 9,000' make for very pleasant camping. Sadly the best you can do in San Diego is about 6,000' and even there it can get warm. At least you had a 15K AC, lots of 30 something trailers limp along with just 13,500.
We've been to Big Lake in the White Mountains before the summer rains started in July.....hot even there at 9000+ feet! Now, when we want to go up there we wait until the middle of July or a bit later.
Cya l8r,
the oakman
funny, I don't remember being absent minded
funny, I don't remember being absent minded
Offline
