Hot, hot, hot! And why teachers of old had to avoid barber shops

It's 100 degrees in Winthrop, Washington. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 104. That's way too hot! Mother Nature is cooking me! The only good news is that I'm not in Death Valley, where it's 117 today and headed to 120 tomorrow. I was there once when it was 122. Getting out of my air conditioned vehicle was like stepping into an oven.

I'm holed up today in my (thankfully) air conditioned motorhome in the Pine Near RV Park, a grassy, quiet place a block away from downtown Winthrop, a western themed town that earns its income from tourists. Sherri's ice cream stand was doing a booming business earlier when I visited.

Tomorrow, I'm headed out, but I won't go far. I have months to go before I need to return home. Heck, I don't need to be home anytime in particular. I still haven't accepted that: I feel like I need to race. "Gotta go. Gotta make some miles"

Downtown Winthrop

Going slow is hard. Many full-timers have told me this about when they started. My friend Greg Illes wrote this as he began his current trip to Alaska: "Too often, especially on a long trip such as driving to Alaska, we get unconsciously purpose-bound. Time to get going, gotta drive, gotta see, gotta do, lots of miles to travel and sights to photograph." 

So I'll try to go slow.

The Pine Near RV Park is across the street from the Shafer Museum where there are about a dozen buildings from the 1800s. I liked the old schoolhouse. The "1872 Rules For Teachers" is framed and on one wall. Among the rules:

•Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's lesson.
•Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
•After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
•Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
•Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
•The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Yours for only $150!

I like the many old Sears catalogs on display. The one from 1897 featured "The Highest Grade Columbus Carriages" for $150 (or $175 if you wanted leather seats). I wonder how Sears would deliver these?

What I did not like one bit was the tooth extractor used by John Anderson back in the late 1800s. He wasn't really a dentist, but when someone was suffering from a bad tooth . . . well, something had to be done. Mr. Anderson would use this device. When you see things like this you are reminded of how lucky we are to live at a time when we have good drugs (and medical equipment).

It's now 6 p.m. on Friday. I need to finish up the RV Travel Newsletter. So I better get going. I hope if it's hot where you are that you are staying cool!