Driving Creeping along on "The Snake" (Interstate 10) yesterday at a robust 15 MPH, enjoying the balmy 90 degree afternoon from behind my tinted windows and turbocharged A/C, when I noticed an '80s era van up ahead. We get all kinds of vehicles on our perpetually under-construction highways, so I didn't think too much about it until I pulled up alongside and noticed all of its windows were down.
Again, plenty of peple in this sulphurous bog I call home have a much higher tolerance for heat than yours truly, and plenty of other vehicles on the roadway were likewise ventilated. What set the van apart from the rest were the occupants: four miserable-looking pasty bastards, all with shoulder-length or longer hair, sweating like a concierge at the hotel hosting the Cinderella Man publicity tour. One could actually see the gleam of perspiration running down their flushed faces.
As the van pulled a little ahead of me, I glanced at the plates: Wisconsin.
Now, for all I know their air conditioning conked out between San Antonio and Katy, but I understand that A/C isn't standard issue in all cars north of the Mason-Dixon line. So it's entirely possible these guys actually drove all the way from the "Forward" state (the official fish is the muskie!) to Texas in June without climate control, leading me to believe they're either woefully ignorant, certifiably insane, or they just ran out of weed.
Welcome to Texas, fellas. There's a reason we don't have a lot of longhairs here, and it isn't (entirely) because we hate hippies.
They need to learn to pull their hair back. It helps get it off your neck so you can cool off a little.
--wife of a Texas longhair
wife of a Texas longhair
He is a more robust man than yours truly, I admit.
I showed her. I bought a Miata. Now she worries about rollovers.
But how's the air conditioning?
I don't think it's unheard of to cruise around without air conditioning in the summer in Texas. Thw Wife used to spend her summers in Beaumont without it, and several UT dorms didn't have it when I was there. My car didn't have any for about two years during the early '90s, and theDave and I drove from Houston to Anaheim in his non-air conditioned POS in August of...'98(?). It can be done.
I had prior experience enduring the heat, though. These WI guys may very well have been enjoying our climate for the first time.
The truck I currently drive is the only vehicle I have ever owned with A/C. My prior ten years of driving in Houston were all spent without the benefit of sweet, sweet airconditioning. A large chunk of that time was spent as an east Texas Longhair. I blame this on a staggering combination of stupid, stubborn, young, and poor. I also spent a year and a half in a shitty garage apartment without A/C. But his was due to poverty and a slumlord. I feel for those poor sweaty cheeseheads, they had no idea what they were getting into. One can only hope they found enough cheap ass texas pot to make it worthwhile.
During the first couple of years in Houston we only had a early 90's, no-A/C-havin' Chevy nova, power nothin', cracked windshield. (You get the picture). When I clerked at some law firms during the summers, life was hell. It's bad enough driving around with no A/C in a crappy car during a Houston summer. But doing so in a suit and tie is simply inhumane.
I spent some time up in Boston, including 2 summers. It is somewhat cooler, but nothing has A/C. It sucked. Driving around without A/C in Houston is one thing, trying to sleep without A/C is quite another.
Most of the folks I know in Wisconsin now worship the AC. Back in '90 when my parents put AC in their house it was seen as an extravagance, but nowadays more and more people are putting in Central Air or at least have a few window units.
Cars--I don't know of anyone who's bought a new car in WI without AC. But an 80s van? Even if AC was an original feature, it's probably broken down by now. And yeah, when you don't have the money for a ponytail holder, chances are you aren't fixing an AC unit.
Just don't accept their hot cheeses and bratwursts.
Heading up there in 20 days, baby!
Katy
Have a seat, I am about to blow your mind.
Prior to our settling in the lovely country of East Texas, we lived in Michigan for about 4 years. While there, I purchased a 1990 Celica, brand new, with no AC. AC is not standard up north, nor is it necassary more than 2 weeks out of the year, so why pay to have it fixed every year from non-use? I never expected to move back south, especially so soon.
We moved to Houston in late July of 1994. Drove the whole way with the windows open. In fact, I kept the car until 1999, when my Floridian mother, who kept hearing stories of people dying from heat stroke here in Texas, actually sent us a downpayment on a car so that I would have an AC.
I showed her. I bought a Miata. Now she worries about rollovers. ;)