Do you have some big beetles that fly in Texas?

We are supposed to get the 17 year Locusts back this summer.  We had some a few years back when I was on a group ride and I was in the middle of the pack.  We were riding out in the country and I started seeing stuff bouncing on the highway.....after looking at it a bit I noticed some of the bouncy things were coming back off the pavement and flying in very erratic ways.  It turned out the riders in front of me were being hit by the Locusts, and the stunned Locusts were falling to the road....and some of them were trying to take off again.  The Locusts were evidently being drawn to the sound of the motorcycles, and before long I found myself bobbing and weaving my head around so I could avoid being hit.  I did get a few on my chest, arms and hands.  The good news is that like any "group ride", the speeds were pretty low and the Locusts were able to keep their insides-inside during the impact!

I will warn you that the butterflies on the Cherohala Skyway really are filled with "butter"......lots of it!

I really do not know what they were, but they had to be decent sized and fairly hard based on the incredible noise they made when they hit my face shield and helmet. I was scared they were bees and had possibly trapped one or two in my jacket and was going to get stung. But nope, whatever hit me did not survive and none got into my jacket.

We do have a love bug season down here. When they are out, riding is always messy.

I followed a cattle truck hauling hogs once, even a windshield didn't help that much.
 The 17 year locusts are a real trip, lived through a summer of them in PA. They sound like the ray guns from the original War of the Worlds movie and were so loud I couldn't hear the bike when riding. If you are into strange foods they cook up great with a little seasoning and a lot of beer. Mummmmm crunchy like fries

LANCER wrote on 05/25/16 at 14:35:44:


Should've stopped to say hi! I guess maybe you'd have to get permission from my 7th grade teacher first though!  


I was in Louisiana once on a deserted highway outside of New Orleans (Nawlins?) and was being pelted by, what I found out later are called, Catalpa bugs. Big black, crunchy road hazards!

And yet, I see guys with no windshield, no helmet, no eye protection...
What? Do they think bugs only hit car windshields?

And nobody has mentioned Love Bug season yet, had to squeege them off the face shield on my helmet once, it's a matter of quality not quanity.