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Highlands Today

Lost Without The GPS

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By Raleigh Whiteman | Highlands Today

Published: June 12, 2008

This past weekend, the PW and I spent an awful amount of time learning how to get around on the streets of an unfamiliar location without our navigation device. We were in the Ellenton area where the tanker truck destroyed the bridge over State Road 301 on the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 last week. Our motel was located in the Prime Outlets Mall area, within a half mile of the accident.

Thank goodness we had a few friends who were familiar with the area and gave us maps to use to get around most of the congestion. Even so, it was impossible not to get into some standstill traffic jams. But before we left Sunday morning, the authorities had devised routes and some rerouting of traffic, which made traffic flow almost normally.

The overpass above SR 301 appeared to be completely torn down and debris carried away as we passed by Sunday morning. And we had finally learned how to use the detours so that seldom were we delayed more than five minutes getting wherever we needed to go.

The only time I got into any real trouble was when I got into a lane, which made me turn off the route suggested, and I could not find a way back to where I was supposed to be.

Love Bugs Back Earlier
Love Bugs are supposed to only be a nuisance in May and September, according to past statistics. When we got home, I found almost a hundred of the critters splattered on the windshield and grill. It must be because of the dry weather or some other abnormality.

With all the dead grass we have because of the lack of rain, they may be propagating in the little bit of moisture we are using to try to save our lawns.

The immature form is a maggot that feeds down in moist areas that have a lot of organic matter. So they're found along roadsides and swampy areas, ditches and even in lawns that have a lot of thatch built up. Places like that that have a lot of organic buildup and moisture.

Removing Them
I have found the easiest way to get them off the front of the car is to use a paint stick as a scraper, which if used carefully will not scratch the paint. It also saves your fingernails from getting broken or split. Scrubbing with a course type pad is not suggested because it will eventually wear the paint down or dull the natural finish. Regardless of the method you use, promptness is the key; just leaving them on a day can glue them securely to your finish.

Florida is not the love bug's original home, nor is it the result of experiments at the University of Florida in trying to find something to help with the mosquito problem, and a few escaped.

Not A UF Experiment Gone Bad
Love Bugs were introduced from South America. Actually what happened was that they spread around the Gulf of Mexico through Texas and Louisiana to invade Florida through the Panhandle and then down through the state. These love bugs that traveled to Florida without being flattened against a moving car, made their appearance within the past 50 or 60 years.

The few I encountered during this trip were nothing compare to past years when the front of vehicles would be completely black.

Raleigh Whiteman, of Lake Placid, is a contributing writer to Highlands Today. You can reach him on the Internet at rwwhiteman@comcast.net

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