SLEEPING at 111F at Lake Meade, Nevada

[Ray Eklund]

Following Las Vegas, NV weather the lows and highs were running in the upper 60's and lower 90's days before our trip. When arriving at Lake Meade near Hoover Dam, 90 degrees would have been jacket weather.

When we arrived, the "reasonable" weather was now 110F and 90F at night. That is... in Las Vegas.

At Lake Meade which is along the original Colorado River channel, this valley might be just over 2,000 feet elevation and on our special day, 121F. The trailer cooled down to 111F that evening. I slept on the concrete picnic table with a packer's blanket as a mattress. It was pleasant at maybe 90F. My wife would not sleep on a picnic table and stayed in the Airstream at 111F. IF you turned the pillow over from excess sweating, the bottom was HOTTER and closer to the 121F daytime temperature. MY idea of HOT was under 90 degrees with a keg of nearly frozen good beer.

The RV Park to the South with POWER and Hookups were FULL at $35 an evening. Europeans were stopping to see if there were any sites with electricity and none were to be found at the RV Park and we barely had saliva. All were bringing their rental RV's back at the same time to catch the next day flight home and staying at the Lake Meade NO hookup camp sites.

We had already been through the 100F evenings and sweated ourselves into some kind of stupor, already. But 111F was a hot dog under some radiant heat element at a Quick Trip.

The amazing thought process at Lake Meade was to CLOSE the south park with the concrete sites and tall SHADE trees being "off season" and keep the north side with few shade trees and full sun exposure "OPEN". Even a few tent campers were fighting over "shade rights" with the Park Patrol and Camp Volunteer to settle the dispute. The Camp Host... they were at the south camp with power, of course.

At this moment in my life, sleeping like a street beggar in his underwear, on a concrete picnic table, my female Blue Heeler panting under the table just for... $5 a night for a Senior USA Citizen, with a 2014 25 foot Aluminum Solar Heat Storage Capsule... wife included seemed like a really good bargain with the Devil to purge me of sweat and sins at the same moment. To top it off it was too hot to wear a HAT. I needed to tie a handkerchief around my forehead to keep the salt from burning in my eyes... at midnight.

After several days of living through a Volcanic Episode of lower valley heat and no wind... we topped off our water tank in the trailer and headed north into higher Nevada elevations. Once in the 6000 feet+ the days were in the low 90'sF and into the 50'sF overnight. Not like New Mexico's 7200 feet with a 39F evening, but 50F was a two blanket evening, compared to me sleeping in a tee shirt and underwear, on top of a Park Picnic table.

To top it off, around 10PM at Lake Meade, I hear a voice outside the Airstream asking with a heavy accent, if his family could set a tent at the other picnic table next to us... Sure... help yourself. A jacket was thrown over the license plate. There were 4 kids, maybe 5 and 4 adults traveling in a small car that morning, two tents and they had pork chops and chicken on the fire pit with... no fire wood to burn and their car needed a jumper cable to start it... I pointed to an 80 foot tree the Park Service had cut down and for them to contact the Park Patrol for jumper cable help. Their plan, most likely, was to camp and pack up before the Camp Volunteer found them, who would charge them $10 for the evening. At the current temperatures, they earned the evening's stay. I asked the youngest adult where they were from... "Las Vegas" he said. If they were from Las Vegas, I was from Paris, France.

I drank FOUR 42 Ounce Conoco plastic soda cups, refills at 99 cents at a local gasoline station and did not sweat from this massive intake of cold, refreshing melted ice. I did not use the restroom. I did not count the warm 12 ounce cups of water. Did you know that if you fill a 42 ounce cup with ICE, pack it well and pour a 12 ounce can of Soda into it... it is filled to the top with liquid. No wonder on a hot day a 42 ounce refill is less than $1. Although I wanted the ice with a bit of flavoring.

I "might" post the rest of this true "adventure" in the Full Timing section. Without Full Hookups and FREE ICE... you have to be out of you honking mind to find yourself at Lake Mead in June... and it does not get hot until July, I hear.

As you drive into the "National Recreational Area" they have the high and low for that day in the window as they check your status as Knucklehead or Senior Should Know Better Citizen... using Las Vegas weather estimates. Well... I hate to break the news to you... Lake Meade is closer to the Center of the Earth's molten Iron/Nickel core than you could have ever imagined. Been there... done that once. Next time... YOU tell me I am wrong about the heat. We keep a modern battery operated temperature gizmo inside and a remote unit for temperature and humidity. We have established a new range of acceptable temperatures, rain volume, snow depth, flood, hurricane, tornado and just plain Earth cracking open and burning me alive... camp sites. This is it. Lake Meade, mid June to July.

[Jukeboxfun]

Wow, I want to read the rest of this tome.

[slowmover]

Good practice for the oilfield. Somehow those resource grabs always happen at the worlds end places.

Guess you'll be getting a nice YAMAHA 3k genset now.

[Wolfe]

long past time to move on ?.

[Lily&Me]

Yikes.


Maggie

[rodsterinfl]

Nasty. Sounds like a winter destination.

[moosetags]

That's a great story. It shows how adventurous Airstreaming can be.

Brian

[xrvr]

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. You must be like superman now! Stay hydrated, keep a good attitude and carry on carrying on! Have a good one, or two.

[barefootmom]

Well, at least you still have a sense of humor! (Or maybe that's just brain fry?). I hate the heat... I would not have survived!

[dsrtgrls]

I would definitely read the full version of this story. you are a good writer with a grueling story to tell. we will be spending an overnite in barstow in about a week and as i check the temps even with full hook up it is scary and we live in az. glad you made headway out of hell.

[Ray Eklund]

For the technical individuals among us.

My wife carries a Moto X made by Motorola cell phone. We pay $10 a month for unlimited calls and whatever else it might do. We suspect the battery might be going bad, but will know shortly.

With the heat, the cell phone seemed to heat up and just plain quit. Now we had no telephone while on the road, momentarily. The phone would not take a charge in the tow vehicle and it might have decided it was too damn hot... if I were thinking like a cell phone, that is.

I suggested that when we return to the trailer, she put the cell phone in the refrigerator's freezer to cool it down. It worked. Saved by the Dometic refrigerator's ice box. The plan is to purchase another battery to take on the road with us and keep it in the refrigerator... just in case. Sometimes the oddest ideas are the best cures for a problem. The phone is working fine as I type.

My wife would hold the cell phone up to the cool air vent in the tow vehicle just in case for the rest of this last adventure.

For those with Full Hookups, be prepared for the worst. Sam's Town RV Park in Las Vegas several years ago must have had a power draw down... low amperage? A number of RVs and trailers, mine included, had starting capacitors in their Dometic AC burnout. You will SMELL the problem immediately. A burning wire smell that will get your immediate attention, as it did ours.

The parts were not expensive, but it was still a new experience about RV Park electrical power. There is a RV service center north of Sam's Town and they were booked for days to repair Air Conditioning units. There was a flat rate to find the problem, then the labor & parts. Lewster on this Forum knew exactly which capacitors needed to be replaced. Since I find myself handy, yet ignorant at first, I replaced the two capacitors with the improved replacements and never had a problem after that. Had we left our two Blue Heelers in the trailer at the RV Park, believing they were in comfort in the heat we experienced, they could have been exposed to an immediate threat not even anticipated.

We took our dogs with us in Las Vegas, riding in their Pet Porters on the back seat, in the AConditioned truck and one of us remained, idling OR both were taken out and one of us sat it out under some shade. There are always possible scenarios to be aware in Heat and in Cold seasons.

Now, 90F is within our comfort zone. Next time in June to August Las Vegas... RV Park with hookups. Even a cooked brain can rationalize that sometimes paying for comfort is well worth the up front cost!

[Jaxon]

Imagin what it was like for the men building Hoover Dam!

[Ray Eklund]

Originally Posted by Jaxon

Imagin what it was like for the men building Hoover Dam!

*****

You are right. And when the concrete cures it creates HEAT. In Boulder City, NV there is a bronze statue in the middle of town giving recognition to one job that nobody wanted. Can you guess?

The guys who supplied toilet paper and cleaned the restrooms. A full size bronze memorial stands prepared, near the center of Boulder City, among many other bronze works. This one is by far, the favorite.

[CDONA]

I spent a year in Bullhead City, the bank thermometers max @ 120* and it gets hotter than that. Phoenix tv weather underreports Colorado river temps all the time.
I took infrared thermo readings on the shade and sunny side of my old Alfa exterior walls, 130 shade 148 full sun.
I just made a run to Vegas on Wed to pick up a new camper shell, drove back to Lake Havasu to overnite in a motel. The interior hallways were in the high 90's overnite. Next morning I was out loading up my kayak, golf clubs, tools that I left in storage until the camper showed up. High 90's @ 7:30 am, 107 when I was done loading @ 10:00 110 when I left town @ 11:00.
No way I would be there without the ac, this time of year.

[Jack46]

We stayed at the Lake Mead RV Park over the second weekend in May. Had to run the portable heater at night. That was after leaving Williams, AZ in snow. Things do change in a month.

[AWCHIEF]

Devils advocate here. If we find ourselves in this situation and environment we can alway hook up and move. We have citizens serving our country in places that make this all seem so petty. They are doing this in 120 plus temps with 70 pounds of gear on their backs while scum of the earth are trying to kill them. I have been there and done that. Glad those days are over but grateful that we still have people that are willing to put themselves thru that for me.🇺🇸

[Mrjkq]

Loving this thread. My son & step daughter live in Vegas so we make frequent trips. Summer Heat is sometimes overpowering. A few years back in our then motor home on July 4th the temp was 117 degrees. Our coach at night cooled down to 85 degrees, two air units going full blast all day & that was the best it could do. Door handles in restaurants were rapped with towels because customers were burning their hands. Well guess what, we survived & love telling the story, that's what RVing is all about!
Joe

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Devils advocate here. If we find ourselves in this situation and environment we can alway hook up and move. We have citizens serving our country in places that make this all seem so petty. They are doing this in 120 plus temps with 70 pounds of gear on their backs while scum of the earth are trying to kill them. I have been there and done that. Glad those days are over but grateful that we still have people that are willing to put themselves thru that for me.🇺🇸

That's putting it in perspective. Thanks, awchief!

[J. Morgan]

Good argument for a generator.

Nope, I wont take a chance on camping without one,,,, ever.

And sure,,, take that air conditioner off the roof, you wont need it.

[tjdonahoe]

Why would you want to be there in that heat? I sure hope every one had enough money for gas to leave... We were there in early march and the middle of April ,don't want to be there any later.....