OMG!! Where is it Actually COOL?

[cherterr]

MOD PLEASE DELETE. IGNORE Post...
EDIT: Looked at weather again... I think it'll be okay.. MOD PLEASE DELETE. I couldn't figure out how to . (Thanks)

So I left South freaking, melting hot/humid Texas and figured I'd go NORTH to ND or something.. now it looks like it's gonna be in the high 80s all week there.  I WAS gonna try to sleep in the van.  I need somewhere comfy all day.

Answer quickly... I'm in So. OK. at a hotel.. lol  Trying to make my game plan for which way to go in the morning.

(WITH THREE DOGS..Please help keep me from just tucking my tail and going back home!!) lol
THANKS!

EDIT: Looked at weather again... I think it'll be okay.. MOD PLEASE DELETE. I couldn't figure out how to .

 

[Qxxx]

Cher, obviously you did a bad job trying to erase your post. Not happening. The best you can do around here is delete all of the words in the post and then either enter 3 dots "...", or just say "Never mind".

https://www.google.com/search?q=gilda+radner+never+mind

For reference, this time of the year you don't go north to get cool, except maybe at the North Pole, you go "high". If you had gone into the mountains of Colorado, you'd be in 4 happy puppies now. Eg, 10,000' near Leadville, sit in the tree shade.

 

[VanForNow]

In the summer, cool temps are determined mainly by altitude, not latitude. For example, summer temps can be blazing hot in eastern Montana, but in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana it is mostly cool, and you can even find patches of snow left over on the higher elevations.

Instead of traveling north from Texas to find cool weather, you could have traveled east to Cloudcroft in the Lincoln National Forest of New Mexico (elevation about 9,000 ft.) The high temps in Cloudcroft for the next 10 days will be in the 60s and 70s.

 

[ByeBye]

Mountains of Northern New Mexico are wonderful

 

[cherterr]

Yep...NM it Is.... Lol. I was just having a long day traveling trauma moment.

I've only been Studying this for 5 freakin' years. Please forgive my momentary lack of sound thought. and thanks for the tips.

I'm startin near Taos and if that freezes me outta my goose down...then I'll head down toward Santa Fe.

( I was just trying to avoid the West at this point in time because I've been back and forth so many times. However none of them were van dwelling so it's all new. And then of course there's the whole three dogs thing now.
ROFLMAO. Had to go buy a ball and Chick Filet!! We're all sane and happy now.)

This is gonna be a ' trip '!
(I was trying to avoid the whole west Tx thing..lol)

 

[Elbear1]

I had to find a place not freezing this week. Literally freezing. First snow happened wednesday and all the mountain peaks are white now 1/3 way down. Weve swung into a hot as hell when sun up and moment it goes down drops into 40's in an hour or 2.

 

[skyl4rk]

Michigan is quite pleasant at the moment.

 

[rvwandering]

cherterr - I left your first post as you wrote it. We've all been there - too hot and tired to think straight. You did good, got yourself and your dogs to a hotel to cool down and figured out what to do next. Taos and Santa Fe should be much cooler.

 

[Random Painted Highway]

Go to the Bighorn Mountains in WY/MT...ahhh!

 

[MrNoodly]

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Keep checking the National Weather Service forecasts. https://www.weather.gov/forecastmaps

 

[cherterr]

I HAVE been, Noodles!! ..lol. The north is too unreliable these days. Nice one week then heat wave the next. And if thats not enough...bring on the storms. Hell..I can stay home in Texas for that..

But thanks for the link!!

 

[Mizmozy]

Laughed out loud about avoiding West Texas.  Good luck with that.  I feel the same way about western Oklahoma.  With three little four-legged traveling companions of my own, wanted to give you a couple of tips if you're in the vicinity.  If you go up through the Texas Panhandle into Clayton, NM, there's a nice little city park at Clayton with free overnight camping.  If you're headed west on I-40, there's a little city park with free overnight camping at San Jon, NM.  My dogs love both of these places.  It's always about the dogs, right?

 

[maki2]

Seattle won't even break into the 70s this week. My favorite temp is in the mid to upper 60's.

Head west then turn north along the Pacific Coast, it rarely gets hot in the summer on that coast unless you go inland away from the coast.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Yep, head on over to Northern New Mexico.

If you have not considered it yet, you can buy a one year (about 13 month) Annual Camping Permit for any of the state parks in New Mexico. 

With that pass ($225) you will be able to stay at any of the state parks all year long. (some limits apply)

The ones in the northern parts of the state and at higher altitudes are usually reasonably cool even in the summer. The ones farther south will be tolerable, mostly, in the winter. 

Or you can pay the nightly rate, usually about $10. 

Electrical hookup is $4 per 24 hours. 


http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/SPD/FindaPark.html

 

[Weldman]

I’m freezing my ass off here in Pacific Northwest on the Olympic Peninsula, summer left here 3 weeks ago. Not saying outright why I’m still here, though soon as I’m done I’m headed back home to Montana next month then going south as winter creeps in, in around November.

 

[cherterr]

So great to hear about all the 'Survivable' places!!

And yes..whether I like it or not..it IS.. 'All about the dogs"!

 

[wayne49]

When it is really hot where you are at, it's too late to be thinking of where it would be cooler.
I would fall into that in prior years. I would then look at a regional/national temperature map and I would realize that to get to cooler temps I would have to drive 400-600 miles through the same heat I was in at the moment to get somewhere cooler.
For this summer I started my planning for my summer tour in November.
Fortunately, I have acclimated to hotter weather and high 80s with low humidity, as long as it cools when the sun goes down, is livable. Getting to a 85 high is easier than getting to a 68-72. And the nights don't get too cool.
Sometimes those cool places are cool because of cloud cover (solar issues) and rain (damp). Daytime high temps alone are not a complete picture for comfort.

 

[MrNoodly]

Right now I'm camped a few miles outside Bryce Canyon National Park, at about 8,000 feet. It's 2:02 PM and my thermometer says it's 78° and 16% humidity. There's a pleasant breeze. Partly cloudy so the sun isn't pounding down. It's very comfortable. However, it's supposed to be in the 40s tonight.

 

[SheketEchad]

That sounds downright lovely. Unfortunately it's about 2500 miles from me, hah!  We're supposed to drop down into highs of high 70's and lows in the high 50's in a few days.  Looking forward to that!
This has been a very informative thread, so I'm glad the mods kept it.

 

[sushidog]

I just left Bryce and am boondocking near Capitol Reef NP now. It's cool here too, in fact downright cold at night.

Elevation is your friend. Don't worry about going north, find the nearest tall mountain and climb baby climb. You will lose 3.3 degrees F for every 1,000 ft you climb.

I don't know where you're at in TX (as it's a pretty big state) but Guadalupe Point is the highest peak in TX at 8,751 ft. I'd head there if closeby.

Chip