Monday, July 16, 2007

Bug Guts and Signs

The above picture is very familiar to many of you. It’s a sign warning of a deer crossing the road. It’s natural to see this when traveling our vast highways across America. On our way back traveling along Hwy 97, we’ve seen many a sign. This was just one of them. What I thought interesting was when the deer crossing sign was accompanied by a little sign underneath, “next 4 miles.” I wondered how the deer knew that they could only cross for the next 4 miles. What happened if they should cross at 4.2 miles? Was there deer police patrolling the boarders after the 4 mile mark? You spend that much time in a car and you mind just goes off on tangents. But that was not the only sign I’ve seen along the highway. We traveled through a forest and Tom saw a bear crossing sign with little baby bears like the one below.
My favorite sign was the cow crossing sign. We were traveling through a forest and there was a warning that a cow could appear. After about the third sign I said something. I started to mock the cow signs. Just as I finished mocking the signs in the corner of my eye on the opposite side of the road I saw a pasture with…you guessed it – cows. I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t see a house or anything else, just the cows. I laughed my butt off. Maybe I was tired, I don’t know, but I had to laugh at myself.
Tom and I stopped at the, “Olive Pit.” You couldn't miss it. There were signs everywhere directing you to it for miles. It was a nice store that stuffed a green olive with every type of stuffing you can think of. The best part was the samples. We walked out with olives we didn’t really need, but they were so good we couldn’t resist. (See the Olive Pit pictured below.)
On the way to California I could not believe the amount of bug guts on the windshield. You expect that on long trips, but this was excessive. It was like glue and it wouldn’t come off easily at all.

WARNING!!! The pictures below are not for the squeamish.
What really got to me was that on the way there an entire bug got caught under the windshield wiper. (Pictured below)
Okay, in all my years of driving and we drove cross country from WV to WA state and not once did an entire bug get stuck in the wiper blade that was not moving at the time. On the way back it happened again. (Pictured below. You can see the wings if you dare to look closely enough.) So imagine you are a bug on a nice leisurely ride flying around in the country when all of sudden an invisible wall comes up and . . . splat! . . . your guts are all over someone’s windshield. I guess the bugs’ justice is that it’s almost impossible to get their guts off completely with wiper fluid.

So that was my California road trip with my honey. I had the best time ever. I got to see my son, eat an In and Out burger, go to Hollywood, stayed in some really bad hotels and one good one and spent lots of quality time with the man of my dreams. Life is good. I would do it all over again bug guts and all.

© Nadine Z. 2007

25 comments:

KAYLEE said...

SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT TRIP:D

a woman who is said...

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!
I hate bug guts on the windshield.
It is one of my pet peeves. I drive Dan crazy making him use the wiper fluid very often, so it doesn't get so gross. Those were some big honking bugs!

Glad you had such a great time!

Susan said...

Enjoyed sharing your travels.
Susan

Unknown said...

EW! LOL!

Around here, I even occasionally have to stop for turkey crossing the road :-)

Tammy said...

OK, gross....
And we have those deer signs right in our neighborhood, and even though we're very much in the suburbs, there is a forest park reserve they have kept near out house. Sometimes we actually see the deer and we all get so excited!
Too funny about the cows! :)

Oh...and I finally, finally posted a little something on my old movie blog...:D

Dedee said...

If your windsheild looked like that, what did your grill look like?

Your trip sounded fabulous. I wished I was in a car behind you. I love traveling, and I love getting home!

Knit-Wit said...

I've often thought the same thing about the deer crossing signs. :)

We used to live in a state where the bugs would hit the windshield and it would sound like rain. Yew!

Jill said...

I enjoyed reading about your trip - and these photos are great. Being from Iowa, I'm very familiar with cow crossings!

Art said...

The Olive Pit sounds great. The bug guts, not so much. But it reminds me of a joke: What's the first thing that goes through a bugs mind when it hits your windshield? -- It's butt!

Glad you had a great trip!

Delina said...

Those road signs are cool and that's one helluva bug! Ew!

Elle*Bee said...

Ewwwwww to the bugs, but yum to the olives. I'm glad you had a great, safe trip!

Believer said...

The bugs I could do without! Seriously, you had a great time and you made lot of memories with the man of your dreams.

Growing with Julia

Keshi said...

Sounds like a great trip with alot of Deer ard :)

We hv Kangaroo, Koala and Cow Warnings in the country.

Keshi.

Anonymous said...

you are so right-bug guts don't even come off in the car wash.
All the pictures (not the bugs, the ones with the signs, and Tom and Tommy, etc) included are great. Mt. Shasta sure doesn't have much snow on it, does it? What a trip! You amaze me that you can write something about just about anything! Love you, Helen

palmtreefanatic said...

that bug is HUGE! wow! Gross Nadine very very grose;)

Those olives are interesting! Ny hubby so would have loved trying each one!!! ice cream means they also served that?

Glad you had a nice trip! Glad your back safe and sound!

Shionge said...

What a great observation and yes I do notice them when we were on the road trip...just have to be more alert I suppose.

Whoa! Those bugs are really huge Nadine.

Anonymous said...

Those signs are great!! There are a bunch of Moose Crossing and Break For Moose signs in Maine. Whenever we travel there we see a lot of them - they're huge animals, even the babies!!

So glad you had such a wonderful trip! Those bug guts are disgusting!!! You really got close to the action on those! haha!

By the way, we know you already won a Blogger Reflection Award, but we wanted to award you again, just to recognize you for being a blogger who brings us lots of reflection. Don't worry about doing the passing along! :)

Glad you are home safe!

Jane, P&B Girls

Mrs.Martin said...

I have traveled those same highways from washington to california and those seem like big bugs and large amounts of bug guts. LOL Little odd Nadine.

I love to follow the signs to cafe and tourist stores, while traveling. My dad always stopped and must have had a good effect on me. How many olives did that darn store have anyway?

Shadraq said...

how do they get the deer to cross at those little yellow signs?

Deb said...

Pfffft!!! dem sum big bugs! They shouldda had signs for dem!!!!

Happy to hear there were no deer, bear or cow guts on your window! We can praise God for that!

Sounds like you had a great trip all around.

Unknown said...

bug guts... hmmm.

I love you anyway!!

D said...

I've been out of town so I just read through your trip posts and caught up with your news. Love the bug and sign post! Funny!

Demara said...

That was a very cute post Nadine. I wonder what kind of bugs those were too?? They looked huge almost the size of a bird. Are you sure they weren't bird guts???

Ann(ie) said...

I've been to the Olive Pit. I was in heaven!

Louise said...

Sounds like a great trip! thanks for sharing..your bugs guts thingy was TOO funnY!