Why do I live somewhere that gets so unbearably hot? I’ve lived here in Maryland for 22 years. Summers in western Maryland are sweltering. It’ a point of fact I’m more than acutely aware of, yet I choose to live here.
I don’t get it. I don’t like being hot. If I had to make a choice between extreme hot or extreme cold, I’d gladly take the extreme cold. With that said, I’ve lived most of my life in places that got ridiculously hot.
I grew up in the California Mojave desert. It routinely got over 100 in the summer. Later, when I joined the Air Force, I spent a year in Biloxi, Mississippi for training. In the 1988 movie Biloxi Blues, Matthew Broderick’s character accurately described Biloxi as being “Africa hot.”
I’ve never been to Africa, but I’ve experienced a summer in Biloxi. I don’t recommend it.
I followed up my stay in Mississippi with three years in the Philippines.
3rd CRS dormitory, Clark Air Base, Philippines (photo: Tim Tuttle)
There were two seasons in the Philippines, the wet season and the dry season. Both were sweltering. One just had a lot more rain than the other.
I then spent another two years on the island of Guam. The weather was a lot like the Phillippines, hot and muggy. One of the officers in my squadron died from heat stroke while jogging.
After Guam, I spent four years in upstate New York. Although it got extremely cold in the winter, the summers were brutal.
Feels hotter than Satan’s armpit
I then got out of the Air Force and moved to Maryland for a job. I’ve been here ever since. Unlike the other hot places I’ve lived, I chose to live here in Maryland, where the summers are Satan’s armpit hot.
I wish I lived somewhere that remained cool year round. I’d love to live somewhere where the temperature didn’t get higher than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Does such a place even exist?
August 26, 2016 at 8:50 PM
San Francisco Bay Area . Average year around temp is 70 degrees.
September 05, 2016 at 1:40 PM
I remember Guam’s weather very well. Lots of rain and humidity!
September 05, 2016 at 2:14 PM
Were you there when the officer died from heatstroke?
September 05, 2016 at 3:30 PM
I don’t recall that event. Was the officer from OMS? The 3rd CRS dorms photo by Tim Tuttle, I remember a Tuttle at Spangdhlem AB, ECM Pod Shop. Could be the same guy.
September 05, 2016 at 4:28 PM
Yes, he was one of the maintenance officers we had. It may have been before your time.
September 05, 2016 at 4:35 PM
I would think Bloomer would’ve had a heart attack.