I don't know what a cold weather change over is...But I know I had to put long pants, a jacket, and closed toed shoes on this morning, for the first time since February and that makes this Texan really sad. Next time I see 75+ degrees will probably be when I go back to Texas next April.
-Rob
Oh, dude, brace for teh suck.Originally Posted by RevolverRob
I've gotta get off my duff and get the Outback back up and running again in the next month or two... either that or suck it up and get some all-season skins on the Zed Drei.
Oh man - I know. The 52 it was here today is basically a Texas day in the middle of January. Which terrifies me, because it is September...so what is the middle of January going to look like?!
The good news is, I have done a bunch of work in the desert of west Texas in the winter at about 5,000 feet elevation, which is just enough to make it actually cold. So moving here, I had a nice starting level of baselayers and technical cold weather gear. We will see how my layering goes, last time I was here in the winter (interviewing for my job) I really kind of overdid the layers with the wrong layers/too many. This year, I'm going to try to keep it simple and see how well I do. But today was a wakeup for me, time to get stuff in gear. And it sucks...
-Rob
Chisos? Davis Mountains?
Lovely places. I grew up there.
All I know is there were jokes here this year in the Midwest about Fimbulsummer (we didn't get any typically hot & humid summer weather until around Labor day.) Last winter was the worst since I moved up here, but if the forecasts are to be believed, this one may be worse.
It snowed in Phoenix once while in the 15 years I've lived here. Once. People thought it was the End of Days. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria.
Chisos, Christmas, and the Sierra Vieja range. Material I worked on for my Master's thesis came from Sierra Vieja. Most of my field work with a collaborator from my undergrad/grad days was in the Chisos. Another collaborator/committee member/mentor has a long-term field locality at a ranch in the Christmas area that I've been to a few times. My M.S. supervisor has a relatively new locality he is working just on the edge of the Edward's Plateau right in the foothills.
I love the area, the Chihuahan Desert is my home away from home and a beautiful place to be, serene, quiet, away from most of the morons. A person can get severely lost out there for months and enjoy themselves if properly provisioned. I intend to buy a ranch and retire there, build a nice off-the-grid house and waste away my twilight years shooting guns and reading books. And I think it will work out, because even with the goofs in Marfa there just isn't enough water and infrastructure out there to make it a region that will be heavily inhabited in my lifetime. What's more, people don't really get how big Texas is until they get out there. Brewster and Presidio counties combined are bigger than Israel or Belize or El Salvador or Macedonia...
-Rob
Last edited by RevolverRob; 09-11-2014 at 11:55 PM.
I almost feel bad that I will no longer be traveling to Kentuckiana to stand around in the sub-zero temps for hours on end.
Guess that makes this next trip the one where I make the trip to the booming metropolis of Broad Ripple........or forever miss out on Twenty Tap.
Dude, nobody should have to miss out on Twenty Tap. The beer is on me.
There are two seasons here, raining and not raining. If it's a normal year, it will start raining a little over a month from now. But then "normal" years are becoming less and less common, it seems.
My GoreTex is already hanging near the door. My windshield wiper blades are in OK shape. My tires have plenty of tread. Should be good to go.
I do remember winter though. Many years of Chicago winters. I really don't miss shoveling snow, and I try not to go back there in December-January-February if I can help it.
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