Texas Iced Tea

Nobody told me it could be so cold in Texas! I thought the Lone Star State only got snow up in the Panhandle, when those furious Prarie winters reached down from the north. But it has been bitterly cold down here in Bryan-College Station this week. This morning, there was a patch of ice right outside our motel room, which prompted SFC Burke to attempt an impromptu "ice dance moonwalk," demonstrating that not even the formidable tread of combat boots could grip a smooth blanket of ice.
Then there was the van. What I thought was a layer of dew was actually a rough surface of ice. Next to the van, SSgt. Ford commented "We don't have ice scrapers in Texas." A plastic motel room key worked just as well instead.
Yesterday, for PT, we conducted 60-120 sprints on the track at Bryan High School. Every gulp of that cold air felt like a huge gulp of ice water! The thermometer on the high school sign out front was at 31 degrees. So far, the cold weather only seems to hit on PT days. The day before this frosty plunge, it was warm enough to wear T-shirts and shorts! I thought the weather could change rapidly back in North Carolina, but Texas has Carolina beat!