This REALLY bugs me!

[Wandering Sagebrush]

OK, it's a bit of humor. Sorry I haven't been around much lately. We've been busy catching up, after the maiden trip with the new Grandby, which by the way I really like! A couple of minor issues with the camper, but mostly we were numbskulls for the amount of garbage we felt was necessary.

Maybe I should post this in the wildlife thread, too...

 

[MarkBC]

Could be worse...

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Mark, those look like some good old Klamath Lake midges.

 

[MarkBC]

Mark, those look like some good old Klamath Lake midges.

Yep, that's EXACTLY where I acquired that nice coat of biology on my camper.
I was southbound, and had to stop at a gas station in Klamath Falls just to clean my windshield so I could see again!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I grew up in that region of the state, so I am really familiar with the "midgies". I used to get a good coating of them just about every year as I was heading out to fish the Wood, Williamson, Sycan and Sprague.

 

[MarkBC]

On another trip through the same spot -- US 97 next to Upper Klamath Lake -- I had an even worse bug-build-up experience this past fall. Really phenomenally bad!
I was driving home (north) in truck again and the bugs (midges?) were there again. Huge pillars of bug-swarms were visible in the sunset/twilight and if/when I happened to pass directly through one of the bug-pillars it deposited a thick layer of bugs on the windshield of the truck. I REALLY should have pulled over to clean the windshield -- it was getting hard to see, what with the dim light and the lights of oncoming traffic, but I figured it would make more sense to wait until I was completely out of the bug-zone so I didn't have to clean it twice. (Yes, I'd rather expend minimum effort even at the expense of safety! )
So I managed to make it to that Collier State Park rest area and used water out of my camper tank and dishwashing liquid and a scrub sponge to make my windshield usable again. The layer on the front of the camper was thick -- completely black. I should have taken a photo, but too dark. Once I got home the bug layer gradually diminished as birds, etc, cleaned it.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

It's fun to see the huge motor homes go through there during a midge event,. Totally black fronts with a gooey smear where they ran the wipers.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Hey I got plenty of those too-not all from your lovely state, either , a nice liberal dose of Californ1a, Nevada and Washington ones makes a nice combination of colors and body styles since I gave up trying to warsh them off, sort of adds a used field look to the FWC (no new guy here) -don't ya think! Still have some of those "no-see-ums" up there from the my first run into the Modoc NF as a brand new owner: Wandering Sagebrush, just think you to in time will have that used field look that marks a hardened FWCer

Smoke

 

[ski3pin]

I prefer to see huge salmon flies plastered all over our camper front. When I see that happening I stop driving.....................

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I prefer to see huge salmon flies plastered all over our camper front. When I see that happening I stop driving.....................

Yup! The brakes come on, the fly rod comes out!

Smoke, those are Califorinia bugs. Collected between Woodland and Redding. I may call Jerry Brown and insist that they spray;-)

 

[takesiteasy]

Hey, I can relate to this discussion- here's a midwest version. One of the joys of camping- cleaning off the truck when you get home. Really hot water with some good detergent and a high pressure rinse seems to work. I'm afraid if I took Smoke's approach over time I might exceed the load rating for the truck, haha.

 

[N'kwala]

Yep, I know the Klamath midges. Amazing. There's a midge-washing stop at the Kla-Mo-Ya travel station north of Klamath Falls. Never saw the like.

Great birding area--I've always thought there was some connection between the bug population and the popularity for the birds.

 

[MarkBC]

Seems like there'd be a lot of fat and happy bats, too.