Like walking underwater in a garbage bag

[stgulik]

That was my impression when we stepped off the plane in Charleston. Boy, it only takes a few years away to forget the hideous discomfort that only West Virginia's humidity can bring. But the one-minute walk from the airport terminal to Dad's car brought it allll back.

Other things I'd forgotten about West Virginia:

• When you sit in groups of five or more, somebody always brings up the "dew point." During our visit, the dew point reached 78. This is trouble because, at 80, the air is so wet that fish in the ponds get confused and swim straight out of the water and start flying through the air. Don't get me wrong; them fish is good eatin', but they tend to splat against the windshield. (Okay, I made this up. Most of it.)

• The locals know a damn sight better than to go outside in the humidity, thank you very much. We rented a pontoon boat so we could putter around a lake for a few hours, and we saw NOBODY. Just a few isolated campers who were probably tourists like us. It was odd. I'm used to life on the West Coast where, if a lake like that had 2,000 boats roaring around, we'd be marveling at how deserted it was.

• The local paper runs a column called "Garden of the Month." Families work hard to win this honor and have their gardens featured. Competition can be fierce. There was a joke in there somewhere about unusual fertilizer and the mysterious disappearance of rivals, but I did not dare reach for it.

Comments

[rivertempest.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Double UGH. Since I neighbor West Virginia, I understand about the humidity.

And the pontoon boats. Garrison Keillor anyone?

And the rabid families that use rival losers as fertilizer. ;)

[stgulik.livejournal.com]

Yet not a mint julep in sight. ::sigh:: West Virginia is not far enough South, I guess.