How Cold Is Cold?
By MVP Outdoors, Special to the Pekin Times (01/30/08)

Yesterday the temperature dropped 50-plus degrees in just a short time and all I could think about were the good times and some of the bad times in the Illinois extremes.

There is a saying that fits Illinois to the letter, “If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change.''

When I was growing up I remember being so full of energy and zeal for outdoor adventures that being cold just never seemed to register. That zeal allowed me to peal off my clothes to swim after the ducks we would shoot. I would then shake off the water just like a dog, get dressed and keep on hunting.

Trapping wasn't much different. Sometimes you would have to reach under the ice clean up to your neck to get a muskrat out of a trap. In those days, you could make good money trapping. Getting up early to check your traps was a joy, then running home from school to check them again. Years later, things haven't changed too much.

It was January some seven or eight years back almost to the day. That morning I was with Bill Scott and Allan Lee from Mapleton. We were on ATV's doing some scouting for a place to goose hunt in the Pond Lily area. Bill and Allan drove in front of me as we crossed the ice in the back waters.

I figured that if Bill and Allan made it across the ice it would be safe for me to cross. Sometimes it doesn't matter what we think, it's just going to be wrong. The ice was fairly thick, but when the back waters begin to recede that water movement on the under side begins to melt the ice, in spite of the temperature.

Well, I knew this, so I let the boys cross first knowing that if they made it I could safely cross. The first two ATV's evidently weakened the ice.

As I crossed the spine chilling sounds of cracking ice were overpowering the engine sound. The next moment gave me a new meaning of what cold is. The saddest moment was holding on to the ATV because it floated and I watched my friends ride off unaware of my predicament.

The coldest part of the ordeal was the thought that they might not realize I wasn't behind them any longer and no one would be there to help me out of the water. They finally did come back to get me.

I was too cold to ride on the ATV because of the wind, so I had to hold on to the back of the ATV and run behind it to get my body temperature up. Now that was cold!

On a coon hunting adventure to Kilbourne some 31 years ago another cold moment occurred that made a lasting impression.

The temperature dropped to -20 degrees, and we headed back to the car to head home and try it again some other time. Everyone took off and I got in my old Maverick, not realizing it was frozen solid.

The water pump was frozen, the radiator was frozen and I had no idea were I was. We didn't have cell phones in those days.

As I sat in the frozen darkness, I remember sitting and weighing my options and suddenly life became simple. I was rapidly becoming sleepy and starting to hallucinate.

I shook off the overpowering influences of the cold and knew I had to do something different than what I was doing if I was going to survive. My wife was eight months pregnant and I wanted to live and get home.

So I wrapped up in a blanket from the back seat and headed down the road. I never did find a farm house but early the next morning I did find a town.

My wife and I had just moved into an apartment and I didn't know my new phone number. So I called my dad and told him the story, (and had to listen as he laughed at me) then he called my wife to come and get me.

So, how cold is cold? Cold is when you're cold enough that you don't even feel the pain any longer.

So if you don't like the cold wait a few minutes because it will change it's not as bad as it could be.