Day 87 / 278

Saylorville Lake – Sunny 94 Degrees

The only thing that seems to be pleased with this early season heat wave in Iowa, are the second generation, Texas Blue Bonnets that I grow in a big pot and tote around with me everywhere. They are thriving! These temps typically don’t show up here till late June. When they do it’s generally for one day then it’s back to the 80’s that are normal for May. We’ll have 8-10 days of 90’s by the time this passes. So far the violent weather that tends to accompany early heat is only coming in the form of hail. No tornadoes, yet.

Memorial Day Weekend at Saylorville this year is a bit of a bummer for the visitors. The lake is a major boating destination in central Iowa and has 2 large beaches. This year with record heat occurring, the beaches are filled with debris instead of pasty white Iowans basking on the beach for the first time. They are still closed due to the carnage of recent flooding. The lake peaked at around 30’ above normal pool a couple of weeks ago and is dropping at a rate of around 18 inches a day making boating and swimming dangerous due to debris and submerged breakwaters. Only a couple of boat ramps are accessible. The lake looks inviting from a distance , but it is very hard to access this weekend. The cruel irony is that most Memorial Day Weekends in Iowa are too cool to enjoy the water. After the coldest April on record, we are having the warmest May on record, so the water temp is actually fit for swimming. The quality? Not so much.  Remember that aquarium you had to have once? Remember how it looked after a couple of weeks of neglect? That would be a tropical paradise compared to the muck that is Saylorville right now.

We attended a great nephews graduation today and have a quite weekend ahead to relax. While most are running to multiple graduations, family reunions and other events, we hit a quiet patch and are both happy for it.

When we imagined being full-timers we, like many, had a false notion that we would mostly avoid extreme weather. I’m realizing quickly it’s a myth that lives in the hearts of full-time dreamers. I do realize that we are doing just fine when I couldn’t find and ice scraper this past spring and our wardrobe consists of mostly summer clothes. I think we’re doing just fine.

Until tomorrow…