Just how hot is it???

Valle Del Oro RV Resort
Mesa, Az

OK, I know we disappeared off of the face of the earth, or at least the blog face any way.....

So like I was saying, Tuesday's ride out into central Missouri is just way too hot for this big chicken..  So what would be better than that??  How about a hot ride in the car where the air conditioner can't keep up??  How about two cars following each other, but I think the Camry did better with its A/C.

It was 107 all the way across Kansas on Monday afternoon, and we saw every mile of it...  And to boot, they were burning off the wheat fields that had recently been harvested.  They cut off the top of the stems to combine the grain, and then chop off the straw and roll it up into those 7 foot around bales.  But after that many farmers just light it on fire and let it burn...

We drove thru smoke and haze until we were South of Greensburg, and after that the wheat was kind of small and some hadn't been harvested at all.  I don't know what happens to that crop....  Maybe just abandoned..

We stayed in Liberal, Ks at a Super 8 that was doggie friendly..  The room was hot since the A/C wasn't on when we got there.  And after we had it on for a long time, the compressor struggled to stay engaged,  cycling off when it was still hot....  Perhaps low voltage in the town.....

Yesterday, we drove thru Oklahoma and Texas and all the way across New Mexico..  But the event that stuck firmly in our minds was an accident we came upon on Tuesday morning, South of Guymon, OK..

Sunday morning, two Union Pacific freight trains were on a destination course to meet head on...  And they did just that in a massive explosion, that killed three folks.  A forth conductor jumped from the train and lived with minor injuries..

It was Tuesday, by the time we were there, and the wreckage was still smoldering.  A massive crane was on the scene pulling apart the mangled wreckage...  The train out of Kansas City that was Westbound contained a large quantity of passenger cars and trucks that were brand new..  The only thing left was melted mangled blobs of steel... They were lined up along the side of the highway like dead corpses.   The locomotives were fused or welded together by the heat generated as the diesel fuel ignited and burned..

We were still talking about what we had seen in our short drive by on the highway at about 10 mph.  The Ok highway patrol was waving us thru to discourage rubber necking.....  My information was gained from Googling train crash at Guymon...

New Mexico wasn't as hot at only 98 degrees yesterday, when we stopped in Gallup for the night...  This time a Red Roof was the pet friendly choice.  It was more expensive but cleaner.  The only problem was that the entire section crew of the BNSF railroad had the place rented out.

They stood outside our door drinking a few cold ones and carried on until dusk...  Then they were up at 5:30 today stomping on the floor to get ready for work...  We had the first floor room, but might have been better served by carrying our stuff to the second floor....

Today we had the quick 300 mile jaunt over the mountains South of Holbrook, Az, as we gained yet another hour.   But as we arrived the temperature reached 109...

We are parked in Valle Del Oro again, with our rear end facing West, but our A/C's have struggled to keep it under 100 inside....

Just how hot is it in here?....  Well, the glue melted that holds the full length mirror on the outside wall behind the slide out.  It fell on the floor as I was driving between the storage lot and the RV park...  The frame is toast, but the mirror is still in one piece.  We think it is plexiglass..

And not to be out done with the mirror, one of the splash blocks that surround the cook top completely fell off of the wall.  Again the glue had separated...

I am told that it will not be much cooler during the night either...   But once the sun goes down, it has to get better doesn't it...?

Retired Rod