We've been reading about and hearing about a legendary heat wave sweeping the western United States for a couple of weeks now, but by and large we've been OK. The weather got into the 90s when we were in a few places, but it was always cool overnight, and that's the important part when sleeping in a van that doesn't have AC (it has AC when the engine is on, but there's not an AC unit. A furnace, but no AC).
The tables turned in the last couple of days.
On Monday we left Jackson (more on our time - our second time - in Jackson here) and headed west into Idaho. We planned to stop for an hour or two in Idaho Falls - a place we'd previously spent 2 nights and which has a delightful river-walk area and the best cheese/gelato shop outside of Italy - and then sleep at a camping area we'd found in Twin Falls. The campsite was down a rough road, but it was right on the Snake River Canyon and very very beautiful.
The day started fine. We got to Idaho Falls, walked a loop around the river-walk, got some cheese and gelato, and carried on.
It was a pretty rocky drive into the camp spot, and we were getting there around 5:30 p.m. You might think that this is the time of day when things start to cool down, and normally you would be right, but not this week and not in Idaho.
As of 6:15 it was still 100 degrees in Twin Falls, and our campsite was in direct sunlight. No trees, no shade of any kind, nothing. The views were great, as you can see below, but there's only so much a great view can do when it's so hot that you can feel sweat dripping down your ankles while hiding in the shade of your van.
By 6:30 we were cooked. We found a hotel 30 miles away for an affordable price and made a beeline for it. It had AC and an ice machine, and honestly, that would've been worth more than the $85 it actually cost.
But there's more!
We had planned to spend Tuesday-Friday in Boise and had previously booked an Airbnb in the city. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and headed straight for a Planet Fitness to get an indoor exercise before grabbing a late lunch.
At some point I checked my phone, as the heat was once again unbearable. This is what greeted me.
107 degrees is one thing. 104 in the shade is another thing. Arriving on the afternoon of the hottest day in recorded history in the city of Boise? My god.
A little research has shown that this was the record high for July 6 and maybe not the hottest day in Boise's history, but it only missed that mark by about 3 degrees. And this was the kind of heat where it was still 90 degrees at midnight. At midnight. It was still 90 degrees AT MIDNIGHT.
So we spent most of our time indoors and will continue to do so over the next few days.
It's hot.
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