"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime"-MARK TWAIN

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Love Bugs!

Not the Disney version…

 

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Most everyone that lives in, or has driven through the deep South within the last few years, are familiar with love bugs.  For those of you that haven’t experienced them, consider yourselves lucky.  Seems every part of the World has their bugs from Hell.  Biting flies, mosquito’s, black gnats; the list goes on. Our most hated insect is the love bug.

A native of Central America, it migrated North, and was first identified in Texas over fifty years ago.  They get their name from their mating process.  A male and female lock up and stay connected till death, apparently.  The female is the larger of the two, and the male is along for the ride.  They live together and die together.  Though they don’t bite, they are a real pain in the rear end.  They hover over the roads, fields, and most other open spaces. They are drawn to anything of a lighter color. That includes bare skin.

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They slowly spread across the Gulf South, living, breeding, and dying along our highways.

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A swarm of them usually last two to three weeks. When smashed by a vehicle, they leave a greasy residue that is really hard to remove.  If not removed quickly, it will damage the automobile finish.  We met up with some today near Alexandria, LA, and they stayed with us all the way to the campground.  I’ll spend Monday cleaning the truck and camper of all this mess.

On a brighter note, we spent Saturday night at a great COE campground near Jasper, TX.  Sandy Creek has over fifty sites with water and electric.  Many backing right up on the lake.

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Though most are back-in, there’s a number of huge pull-through’s.

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A really nice place to spend the evening, in spite of the bugs.

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More later……jc

8 comments:

  1. I feel your pain with those love bugs...nasty little creatures and indeed a pain!
    What a beautiful campground! We'll have to jot this one down for a future reference.
    I know you'll be feeling the love as you wash your truck and rig tomorrow!! :-)

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  2. After experiencing them once, I always try to avoid the love bug season down south. Sometimes I'm successful. :)

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  3. Those bugs are one thing I do NOT miss about Florida! Thankfully they haven't made it up where we live now -- yet!

    Sandy Creek looks like a beautiful place. Maybe we can check it out in person when we finally make it to Texas.

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  4. Mom said the love bugs had made it to Texas--glad we missed them!

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  5. Kids came back from FL....vehicle was covered. Now I know what they were! What a nice park...will put on our list for TX if we ever get out of IL. Still day by day....hopeful something good happens.

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  6. Thks for the education.....we have probably ran into them somewhere in our travels but wasn't aware of their origins.

    Lovely shine on your truck and Casita! Currently working on ours! Have fun!

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  7. Did any of the alligators in the lake come by for a visit? It has plenty of them.

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  8. The Gsons experienced those Bugs this summer...thought they where wasps and made a made dash for cover..lol....Nice park...almost stopped there a couple years ago....looks like you are having a grand time...safe journey...Horst sends

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Thanks for looking, and comments are welcome.