They made it!  They made it to LA.  They’ve parked the truck outside of Dan’s apartment and unloaded his car.  Thursday they will unpack the truck.

Starting on Monday of this week it turned hot again, too hot.  The thermometer has been hovering near the century mark all week.  Pile on the relatively modern invention of the heat index and you get numbers like 110, 115 and higher.  It is beginning to look like the quickest relief from this heat will come only by putting Saint Louis in our rearview mirror.  The Post-Dispatch published a list of years and the number of days in those years that were 100° or more.  I’ve selected a few relevant years and annotated them as follows:

Number of Day of 100° or More

• In 2010 there have been 4 days, so far.  As you’ll read further you might wonder what all the fuss is all about this year.
• In 2009 there were 0 days; in fact August of that year was one of the coldest on record.  Now I get it, short-term memory.  People!  Saint Louis is supposed to be hot in the summer.  If it wasn’t, we couldn’t afford it here.
• Both 2006 and 2007 had 6 days, sort of average, well maybe high.
• In 1980, the year we moved here to Saint Louis, there were 18 days and we did not have any A/C, not in our black car and not at the apartment.
• In 1954 there were 22 days and Betty didn’t have any air conditioning either, plus she was pregnant with Aimee.
• The record though goes to 1936 with 37 days and almost no one had air conditioning back then.  I think they went to the movies a lot back then.

OK, enough whining about the weather.  Wednesday morning I managed to get out on my bike before work.  Five o’clock is now before sunrise and with the morning’s cloud cover daylight was even further delayed.  You don’t have to look for shade at that time of day.  It was 81° when I rode in the morning, which was close to the dew point.  The air felt heavy with moisture, almost soupy.

Construction of the last segment of the Park’s double path ring trail is progressing well.  They started laying the limestone slurry for the section of the trail from Steinberg to Clayton Avenue.  They have blocked off the bike trail going up to the Science Center.  This barricade looks to be the most effective yet.  This work has a November completion date, but unless there is a bridge in the offing, I don’t see the need for that much time.

After my ride in the Park, I put my bike on the back of the Toyota and drove it over to Telle Tire, my Car Guys.  I left the key in the drop off mail slot and then biked back home.  After work and also after a $1000, I reversed the process and picked up my (Dave’s?) car.  I got 16 miles on the bike.

The only thing hotter in Saint Louis than the temperature are the Cardinals.  On Wednesday they completed a sweep of the former NL Central Division leaders, the Reds, and vaulted into that division lead.  There were some ruffled feathers in game two of the series, but I think that the series was much better punctuated with that MoaH (Mother of all Homers), the Grand Slam.  At this point, I don’t think that any chill in the weather will cool Saint Louis’ Cardinal favor.  The town is now ignited with pennant fever!

Anne sent along the following picture of a view of the Mojave Desert and some relevant commentary:

106 °F from the Weather Channel, 117 °F from a McDonald’s employee in Needles, CA.  Either way, it’s frigging hot!!!   But of course, it’s a DRY heat.   Thank the gods the truck’s air-conditioner works.

But Anne, it is August, it was also the middle of the afternoon and you were in the Mojave Desert.  Last time I was there, it was cold, grey and drizzling, but that was in February.  I would complain to the wagon train leader.  Well, maybe not.  Death Valley is just one wrong right-turn away from the Mojave.