Out west we complain about them but the truth is that we're not even in your league as far as bugs. For Californian's visiting the south is like visiting Jurassic Park.
Forgive me telling this again... traveling thru Louisiana on my motorcycle I was having a great time. I had my helmet visor down but just slightly cracked open....but still covering the opening.... so in other words the air coming in had to travel UNDER the visor then up into the helmet opening to reach me. IMPOSSIBLE, going around 75mph, for any bug to navigate such an opening, right?
Had some Lynyrd Skynyrd coming thru my helmet speakers, watching the louisiana countryside fly by, when WHAM...... at first I thought I had been hit by a brick, maybe a beer bottle, the impact was so powerful. It snapped my head back. It, (whatever it was), had hit the corner of my right eye.... somehow it had come up under the visor into my helmet and had reached my eyeball. In like what? .00000000001 seconds it must have taken? Anyway....
I had to pull over... luckily I was right at a turnout. Removed my helmet to assess the damage. Tried to figure out what in the living hell had hit me but all that remained of it was bug guts....to this day I don't know what king of insect it was... all I know is that it was HUGE and had nearly taken my head off. Also... it had 'stung' me....I had to remove the stinger.
Started feeling it swell immediately but it was a slow process so I mounted my bike and continued my ride. Somewhere just south of Dallas (I always avoid big cities when on my motorcycle if at all possible), my right eye closed. But I continued on.... then somewhere in west Texas I stopped at a campground for the night.
The next morning I rose early and went to take a shower.... I looked in the mirror over the sink. Remember that scene in the Harry Potter movies when he gets hit in the face with that spell that causes his entire face to swell making him unrecognizable? Well Harry had nothing on me. I didn't know WHO was looking back at me out of that mirror.
Luckily my left eye was still open, partially anyway... so I continued heading home. Got home 2 days later and none of my family recognized me.
Yes sir... southern bugs.... you don't have explain 'em to me. - JamesJM
