The worst heat I have ever experience was when I was a boy at Bible Memory Association summer camp in Ruston, Louisiana.

This was in the 1960s. It was hot and humid. I was kind of used to the heat because I grew up without air conditioning in Tulsa.

But this camp was in the middle of what seemed to be a swamp. The only building on the campus that was air conditioned was the chapel. And you couldn’t go in there except when there was a service or if you went in to pray.

I prayed a lot that week.

The camp had one horse, an Appaloosa, and there was a trail cut in the woods that circled around the camp. The wrangler told us to walk that horse but most riders had him gallop after they were out of site of the campus.

That poor horse camp back drenched.

We have taken a few family ocean cruises mostly in the Western Caribbean. Cruises are all about comfort. Even during our Christmas cruises we dress in shorts and enjoy the ocean breezes while at sea.

It’s different in port.

The ships stop in place like Cozumel, Costa Maya, Belize and other places that are a lot closer to the Equator than Tulsa.

I remember it was so hot in Cozumel in one stop that I could not wait to get back on the docked ship. I had on a wide brim hat (thank goodness) but it felt like I was in an oven. I sunburn easily and that is mandatory when you visit this part of the globe.

Next time I might just stay on the boat.

I love Florida. I know it gets hot and humid in Tulsa but somehow it seems worse sometimes in Florida.

Shortly after Susan and I got married, we traveled to Orlando for a vacation. We spent part of the day at  Caladesi Island on the Gulf Coast. We were on the beach and it was a bit overcast so I didn’t put on any sunscreen.

That was a big mistake.

I got sunburned really bad. It was so bad that I had to sleep with two pillows under my legs to try to ease the swelling in my legs. I couldn’t lace my shoes for several days.

And we were scheduled to go to Epcot Center that week at Disney World. It was very hot and we had to walk a lot and I was miserable.

We have been to Disney World several times and it gets so hot in the summer that they provide water misters over the long, long lines for the rides.

We took our kids to the beach at Daytona Beach once. I used sunscreen because I had learned my lesson. But it was hot, really hot. It was so hot that you could feel the heat from the boardwalk even through your shoes.

I used to play tennis in my younger days. I remember one time playing my brother Jon at an outdoor high school tennis court in the middle of the summer.

We started in the morning and we both wanted to continue playing but the concrete court got so hot that we had to stop because our feet were burning through our shoes.

When I was in college, during the summers I worked as a delivery driver for Manhattan Furniture. I was in the best shape of my life and it didn’t bother me to be lugging around sleeper sofas in the middle of July.

But it was really hot in the back of those big furniture trucks. At the end of my shift, my shirt was drenched with sweat. I carried a gallon jug of water in the truck that started the day filled with ice but it was lukewarm water by 5 p.m.

I lost 35 pounds one summer.

When I was in high school, I worked one summer as a stock boy for J.C. Penney at Southland Shopping Center (now Tulsa Promenade).

It was hot but I worked mostly in the air conditioned storage rooms in the tunnel below the mall.

One day my supervisor told me and the other stock boys that he had a project for us. The store had rented a huge storage space in a center near 51st Street and Mingo Road and he took us over there.

Our assignment was to load up junk from that building into trucks and clean the place up. It was so dusty and there was no air conditioning. My clothes were covered with sweat with a layer of dirt from that dusty room.

That’s when I decided I was absolutely going to get a college degree.

It’s hot in Tulsa but I have been in hotter situations.