Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Lost my thick skin!

So, I've been back home for 5 days now (for a 3-week vacation), trying to overcome jet lag, but mostly, the cold!

Living the past 12 years in the tropics, where hitting 20C means putting on a sweater 'cos it's getting a little chilly, has made my skin much thinner than before!

We've had someone so nice -20C and lower, and it feels...... terrible!
First day I ventured outside, and had to rush back in within a few minutes, with frozen cheeks and nose!

I do not miss going outside in the morning, cleaning up the car from the overnight snow dusting, freezing hands and butt, and sitting on frozen car seats, until the heater finally kicks in.

Traffic jams, there are no traffic jams where I live in Asia. Here, it seems there are no more traffic rush hours, it's a constant, all day, all night jam of cars everywhere. Doesn't help that I see 95% of the cars with the lone driver inside.

I am enjoying family and friends gatherings, eating the food that is out of reach where I currently reside, but it's not enough to make me want to move back.

The white stuff is beautiful outside, but not so much where it turns to brown slush in the city.

Did I mention the cold? My skin is parched, I get nose bleeds from the dryness of the air, and huge headaches from dehydration. We never get lower than 70% humidity in Taiwan, here, it's under 25%.

I'll stay in the tropics for a few more years at least. And enjoy riding 12 months a year.

I only visit my family in the north between April and September.

Being that I live in Fl ... I know of what you speak brother!!! 70f and I'm chilly lol

Yeah, well, say what ya want about "70 percent humidity", either in the tropics of Taiwan OR Flordia, but I've been in the "tropics"(of Flordia anyway) during times where the mean humidity was pushing 95 freakin' percent and the temperture was 95 degrees F, and when it doesn't matter if one is in the shade or not 'cause THAT does NOT make it feel any cooler! And so, for MY money I'm happy as hell to be livin' in the beautiful high desert(4500 flt elevation) of Northern Arizona and where 40 percent humidity seems like a "muggy day", and even during the summer when it's pushing 100 degrees up here during the daytime(though up here because of the altitude it cools off nicely to the mid-60s during summer nights) and once you get under some shade, it seems like it's 20 degrees cooler. In other words, the classic "It's a dry heat" kind'a thing.

And, where today in majestic Sedona Arizona it's presently 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22c) and not a cloud in the sky. In other words AGAIN, it's GORGEOUS!!!

(..now PHOENIX is a WHOLE other animal entirely...you couldn't PAY me to live down there where the summer tempts are 115 degrees for weeks at a time...'cause once it's over 105 it's freakin' hot and no MATTER if it's a "dry heat" or NOT!!!...and down there in Phoenix during the summer's hottest months, it can STILL be 90 freakin' degrees at MIDNIGHT...noooooo thanks!!!)

Btw, and speaking of the "Great White North", but in THIS case just south of the 49th Parallel, namely Minnesota...

While working for many years at LAX for the old Northwest Airlines(and now of course merged with Delta A/L), the management would send this "Ground Security Coordinator"(that means I was the local NWA "liason" with the TSAs) each year for a three day recurrent training and updated security measures seminar to Minneapolis(the old NWA headquarters) every year, and wouldn't you know it, that damn class was ALWAYS scheduled in JANUARY!!!

And, this old L.A. boy remembers each and every year after I deplaned and left the MSP terminal to catch the shuttle bus to my motel, well, I remember thinkin' to myself somethin' like, "HOW in the HELL do you people around here PUT UP with this freakin' cold as hell weather for 4 to 5 freakin' months EVERY freakin' YEAR?!". NO thank you. Hell, if it RAINED more than 4 or 5 DAYS in a row in L.A., I'd start gettin' "cabin fever"!!!

(...just also wanna add here that I always did find the local Minnesotans very nice people on the whole.."doncha know".."yeah, you betcha"!)

I know! Still so many don't mind the cold around here, but my not-so-old bones feel so much better in the warmth. And my eyes don't hurt as much when I look at the blue Pacific instead of the white snowy plains here.

When I mentioned 70% humidity! that's when the dehumidifier is working over time. We usually hover between 90 to 95%... hitting 100% in spring which causes my house to be covered with molds. Not fun either.

Hard to live in the perfect place. Just have to enjoy it as it is, for what it is. As long as the positives outweigh the negatives.

Dwight, i know what you mean. I'm only 17 miles from the ocean ( 13 miles as the crow flies) and will soon be moving to NC. I worked at a Nuke Plant, San Onofre for the last 30 yrs and was right on the beach. What a fantastic place to work most of the time. I 'll definitely miss the climate but not all the fruit & nuts that are here too.

Pu**y!

I hear ya though, if you have left for a while it can be hard, for those of use that have never left it can still be a pain in the you know what, i envy what you have though i do.

don't forget us brother LOL

Morning Jeff,
lol. Here in central FL one is constantly debating whether or not to leave the jacket lining in or leave it out...No heated vest, gloves or grips. Culture shock riding north of Jacksonville though. Traffic? We proudly boast the worst drivers in the USA. At least a gentleman from NY agreed with me just the other day. One of the favorite places to to idle a vehicle when waiting for a red light seems to be slap dab on top of Railroad tracks. Marbles are free and cheap here in Brevard County. (as in most drivers have loose ones).

Over in Newt land, the land of a 'blue glow', dead sardines have more room in their tins, then do drivers on those roads.

How about naming one of the food items you can't find in Asia that still is not enough of a draw to entice you into staying stateside...

Quote:

---

The closest we have to a "beach" around here is "Slide Rock" along Oak Creek just a few miles north of town...

---

Looks like a nice place! Maybe a bit crowded on nice summer days though.

The thing I like about the place I live, is that many beaches are not crowded as Asians do not like to get dark, so not many beach-goers.

My wife and I spent some time in Florida during June a few years back. Disney and Key West, the usual tourist clap trap. I gotta say, Moe, the humidity was kinda tough to take. My wife got overheated a couple of times and we had to pull the bike over to cool ofF in a restuaraunt. But going through Georgia was WAAAAAY worse. Now, that's HOT!

Food items I can't find in my little corner of Asia?

Plenty!

- No cold cuts (deli style salamis, pastrami, ...),
- we have beer, as long as you like Heineken and Budweiser in cans, and the local Taiwan beer,
- bread... we have bread that looks and tastes like cake, and cakes that are actually puddings.
- spices. There's salt and pepper. And hot chilly sauce plus soy sauce. That's it.
- Nachos!
- real steaks. We have steak that's 1cm thick. I would need to slaughter my own cow to get something thicker.
- Soups. The only soup available is corn soup.

The list goes on....

What Poutin isn't on the list?
We are in Portugal where it is 13 during the day not hot but not as cold as it is back home in Ottawa/Montreal. My brother in law who lived in Singapore used to complain about the dryness when he came home in the winter.

Visiting with family should make it all worth while, hope you enjoy yourselves in a great city to come from.