GLOBAL WARMING?....NO WAY...NOT HERE!!!

I was all packed by early morning on Dec. 1st. As usual, I was worried about each of my three bags being over 50 lbs and being subject to excess baggage charges of $50 each.

Leaving Cardiff by the Sea, we hopped on I-5 and headed south to the San Diego Airport where I said my goodbys and thanks to Jim for his hospitality.. After checking my bags at the curbside check-in (where they never weigh the bags) I stood for a minute outside in the the San Diego sunshine. It felt good on my skin so I lingered a bit and really soaked it in, knowing it would be the last warmth from the sun that I'd be feeling for the next 6 months, as I was heading home to the "Living Tundra" of the Illinois winter.

The flight was pretty non-descript, but as we were about to land I could spot snow along the sides of the road. Not a good sign. The pilot made a few sarcastic comments about the weather being a fair bit chillier than San Diego.

I was not amused.

Once we landed, the rear door of the plane opened and a wintery blast filled the back of the cabin with a bone-chilling cold. It was like an icy breath whispering "welcome home...sucker".

I was back in Illinois...and the party was over.

There's not much to warrrant a jovial return to this part of the country in the winter (except that the Bears have been playing good football) so I was in a pretty bleak mood indeed. Grabbing my rather heavy luggage, I went outside to see about catching a bus to Rockford. The weather just wasn't cooperating as temperatures dipped well below 20 degrees and "The Hawk"--Chicago's infamous wind (The Windy City) was out in full. I had to immediately retreat to the relative warmth of the terminal.

Then I had to wait a humiliating 2 1/2 hours for the next bus to Rockford...adding insult to injury; so, outside of checking out the numerous beautiful, Gen X women who passed by, I had time to ponder on what it meant to be back in the Midwest with little prospect of leaving in the near future (and little or no chance of snagging one of these Gen X honeys for the duration).

My first thought is that Illinois simply does not qualify to say it's been severely affected by Global Warming. In fact it could USE a little GW to improve it's climate. Winter is simply bleak here. To date, I can say without hesitation, that Illinois has the worst climate of any place I've lived or visited. Name one that's worse!

My recent experience would influence me to say that we are entering another ice age with Illinois being ground-zero.