Monday, April 04, 2011

The Heat is On...

Saturday, April 2nd - - Since Butler University, located just five miles from downtown Indianapolis, was playing in the Final Four, I splurged and spent the night in a Motel so I could watch the game! Old news now, but Butler won and will be playing (for the second year in a row) in the Championship Game! My first cousin, Ralph V. Reiff, is the play-by-play announcer for WISH-TV in Indy. I was hoping to be able to watch the game on TV and listen to his calling of the game at the same time but no such luck.



Sunday, April 3rd - - Still heading West, I came across this “tribute” to the Texas Longhorn.


I stopped for the night at Copper Breaks State Park (west of Wichita Falls). Though not far, the drive had been tiring - lots of wind with gusts from 35-50 mph and it was hot! Really hot.


The photo above was taken at 5:24 pm at the campground; the van was in the shade! Yep, it was hot. I did manage to go for a very short walk (about 10 minutes) after driving up to an overlook to get this picture (below) of the lake. The “lower” campground where I stayed was on the left side of the lake. Being lower didn't provide any relief from the wind or the heat.



The sun was completely hidden beneath the hills but for a few brief moments it lit up the clouds like they were on fire, appropriate for such a hot day. The setting of the sun provided little relief from the heat. Even with doors and windows open, it was perhaps one of the most uncomfortable nights spent on the road thus far. Relief did arrive, however, when after midnight a front moved through and the temperature dropped dramatically. When I got up the next morning it was a chilly 48 degrees! And still windy.

3 comments:

Greta Koehl said...

And today you are near where I grew up in Texas - Seymour - and Wichita Falls was the "big city" for us!

Barbara Poole said...

I've never felt 108 degrees, can't imagine the feeling. Hope you got cooled off, thanks to the car.

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

I like it hot but not that hot! I wouldn't have been happy with a 60 degree drop either.