Richard Flynn :: no comment

There’s no two ways about it. It was hot in Texas. In both Austin and San Antonio daily temperatures while I was there were on average at least 100ºF. In Austin the humidity seemed to bounce all over the scale—although I couldn’t quite work out why—which made for some very uncomfortable moments. I had to slap on a hat, slop on some sunscreen, and do my best. The only problem with the sunscreen was that it was a fancy factor-30 gel which I’d got in Soul Pattinson in Sydney before I’d left. This gel is packed with ethanol, and so subsequently when I cover up for the sun I also smell like I’ve been so drunk that I’ve spilt whisky all over myself. Fortunately the smell does pass relatively quickly, but the stinging sensation remains for rather longer. In San Antonio it was possible to combat the heat by spending the day along the river walk, which I did.

When I got to Tucson by train from San Antonio—after nineteen hours on the train—it was 10 at night, but the temperature was still a remarkable 90ºF. I got across the road from the station to my rather idiosyncratic hotel, where I was told that there was no air-conditioning. Glug. But, I was told, there was an evaporative cooling system (which is affectionately known here as ‘swamp cooling’) which works with the assistance of a ceiling fan and the window being open about a foot. This did seem to work rather well but because the window had to be open my room was filled with the noise of the busy street below. Fortunately I was so exhausted from the journey that I quickly fell to sleep and woke the following morning. On my way to Tucson airport for the journey to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon via Phoenix, the taxi driver told me that that night had been the first for weeks when evaporative cooling was effective. Previously the conditions had been too humid for the evaporative cooling to work. Phew.

At the Grand Canyon, the temperature was considerably lower: about 76º–80ºF. This is a result of the altitude of the canyon rim: about 9000 feet. This high altitude presents its own problems for the unwary traveller because of the thinner air. I certainly found that the relatively easy walk along the rim required more energy than I expected, and that I had to go more slowly as a result.

Arriving in Los Angeles from the Grand Canyon, it felt extremely humid indeed. Fortunately I was able quickly to re-adjust to being at sea-level after the altitude at the canyon, and I soon came to realize that it wasn’t as humid as all that. In fact my time in L.A. was remarkably comfortable: it was sunny, with an air temperature of about 80ºF. This was aided by regular gusts of breeze coming in off the great Pacific. As a result, my experience of L.A. wasn’t of the sticky city covered by smog and cloud which I’d been told to expect: instead I saw a bright and breezy city with plenty of wide spaces and shady places. What a surprise!