The Human Toll of Oppressive Heat

The toll for a First-World, financially stable, healthy white person, that is.

I have decided that the van needs AIR CONDITIONING!!!! I thought that by taking this northern route I might avoid oppressive heat. But nobody can avoid the compounding effects of climate change we are witnessing this summer of 2022. Since I left Glacier National Park, I have rarely experienced a daily high below 90 degrees. And so I devote a good part of every day to coping with or avoiding the heat. I have become obsessed with my weather app. I think constantly about where I can park to minimize the sweat, discomfort, and potential dehydration of this oppressive heat.

The parameters for choosing a parking place on work days are even more limited. I need a place that is connected, quiet, and cool. My routine is to work from the van in the mornings until the heat is unbearable and then take a “lunch break” to move the van. Unfortunately, when I start out on that lunch break, I have very little idea where I’m going to end up. Here is a sampling of the daily high temperatures and my solutions:

• Helena, MT: 90 degrees, parked in a field with no shade. Worked the first afternoon at a Starbucks. That worked well enough, so the next afternoon I went in search of a café part way toward my next destination. I didn’t realize that 15 minutes outside the capital city of Montana would not be suburbs but tiny, tiny ranch towns. The “internet café” I had researched before I left turned out to be one of only 4 buildings on the town’s main road, with two outdoor tables. I ventured onward to a slightly larger town and found a bingo parlor with an attached pizza joint.
• Vicinity of West Yellowstone, MT: 90 degrees. Camped in a shady, cool campground with ZERO cell reception. So I woke at 6:30 am, drove until I got a signal, and parked. Nice view, but no shade. Moved in the afternoon to an air conditioned restaurant where, though only half the tables were occupied and I ordered a full meal, the waitress gave me the evil eye while I worked there for two hours.
• Jackson, WY: 85-95 degrees every day, parked at a horse ranch with no shade. Worked one afternoon at a coffee shop where, shortly after being seated, I adjusted my computer and knocked over my full glass of iced coffee: broken glass, coffee, and ice cubes everywhere. Another afternoon, I moved to the outskirts of Grand Tetons National Park where I hoped I could still get a cell signal, but I got caught in a buffalo herd traffic jam. I was actually so anxious to get back online for a meeting that I found myself annoyed at the buffalo (well, mostly at the humans for stopping to take pictures). Then I thought: What is wrong with you?? There are buffalo!!!
• Riverton, WY: only 78 degrees! A thunderstorm rolled through and brought the temperatures down. Parked at a museum with no shade but gloried in the fact that I did not have to move mid-day, for the first time in several days.
• Ten Sleep, WY: 88 degrees. Parked at a brewery with no shade. Moved mid-day to a local park’s near-empty parking lot and squeezed the van awkwardly under a shady tree. Lost sight of the time and my surroundings. When I came up from my computer, I realized the park was full of families and the parking lot was full of very large trucks. A very awkward withdrawal from the parking lot later, I was on my way to Buffalo, WY.
• Buffalo, WY: 98 degrees. Worked from my spot at an RV park with a small shade tree and, more importantly, electrical hookups so that I could plug in my pathetic little portable AC unit. This little AC machine can only work with external electricity (not off the van’s batteries), and it is not strong enough to cool the van. It can only blow 60-degree air in my face. The van still reached 98 inside. I even started the van and ran its AC in the cab. It cooled the van more effectively but was not sustainable for a whole workday. My day was too busy and stressful to think about moving, though. As soon as I could log off, I jumped in the RV park’s pool.
• Rapid City, SD: 98-100 degrees. Stayed at an AirBnB with air conditioning.
• Badlands National Park and Wall, SD: 101 degrees. Stayed at a hotel with air conditioning.

On my last day in South Dakota, I took a scenic byway on my way east toward Minnesota. It was my birthday and I had taken a vacation day. But with a high of 104, it was too hot to get out of the van and walk around. I looked at the vast expanse of farmland and wondered how people are going to be able to work outside at all in future summers. And I saw workers overseeing road construction (which is near constant here in summer, when roads aren’t covered in winter snow) and wondered how they were still standing.

So that is my experience with this summer’s extreme weather. Being away from the near-perfect Bay Area weather and much more attuned to the elements by living in the van, I have found the mental and physical toll of the weather to be more pronounced than I’ve ever experienced. And yet the worst I can say is that I spilled my iced coffee one afternoon. How will the wealthy, comfortable people, with resources and options, living in rich nations, move faster on addressing climate change if our experiences don’t match those of people without those resources and options?

And now, photos. (Click to enlarge.)

I became obsessed with these rolled-up hay bales. They were all over South Dakota. They are HUGE and are deposited all over fields, presumably waiting to be gathered up and shipped somewhere. I really hoped to see a machine mid-baling, but barring that, I looked for a chance to view one up close. On my last day, I found my opportunity. Clearly a selfie was in order.

I call this my “I came, I saw” gallery. Why compete with superior professional photos of Devils Tower and Mount Rushmore? Instead, I’ll put my big fat head in the middle of the iconic view.

The Crazy Horse Monument really surprised me. I didn’t know what I was going to see when I turned into the entrance. It is still being sculpted out of the mountain. I didn’t have time to take the bus tour to the base of the mountain, but I very much enjoyed the view from and the presentations at the visitor’s center. The scale model of what it will someday look like was inspiring.

Here are my sad efforts to capture the vast wonder of the rock formations at Badlands National Park. But to be honest, once you’ve driven past about 10 of these amazing vistas, you’ve gotten the gist. And it was 101 degrees that day, so I didn’t hike or dig for fossils. Those do seem like fun activities during some other time of the year. Don’t visit in August.

Wildlife on the prairie: more astonishing herds of buffalo. And astonishing numbers of prairie dogs that are just like the memes: they sit on their mounds, look at you curiously, and squeak.