Out on a desert highway, it's all a matter of degree
This is a story conveyed to me via four e-mails, three pictures and a phone call, all on Monday. The first e-mail from my brother Larry reads simply: “Tad warm here.”
This photo is attached.
My reply: “Where exactly is here?” He travels a lot.
Before he could respond, a second email from Larry hits my inbox, and reads: “Warmer.”
And here’s the second attached photo.
My new reply: “Ignore previous question. You’re clearly driving into the depths of hell.”
Not so, according to his third email: Calexico, Calif., which as the name might tell you is located on the U.S.-Mexican border.
Now I know that some of you will scoff at 119 degrees; “We call it Monday,” etc., etc. Bully for you. But I’ve never experienced anything near that hot that didn’t involve oven mitts. And so, with all due respect to the fine people of Calexico, I stand by my second reply to my brother.
Now we get to the fourth email and the third picture, below, which my brother explained to me over the phone a bit later:
On his drive out of Calexico back toward his home in San Diego, through a stretch of desert where photographic evidence proves that temperatures can reach 119 degrees, he happens upon a pickup truck hauling a large RV travel trailer, the latter of which, unbeknownst to the pickup’s occupants, is trailing fire out the back.
As a former auxiliary police officer, the trained professional in Larry knows exactly what to do here, so he pulls up alongside the moving truck, rolls down his passenger-side window, and yells: “Hey, you’re on fire!”
Both vehicles pull over; everyone gets out OK; and firefighters eventually show up to do their thing.
Of course, there’s no reason to believe that the third photo is in any way related to the first two except by coincidence and physical proximity. But just the same, I’ll be out in San Diego visiting Larry in a few weeks and I’m thinking there will be no side trip to Calexico on the itinerary.
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