well everyone, after Taldor’s suggested strategy for traveling light i figured i better just post again rather than comment…
how cute ~ a boy and a girl, at about 1/2 to 1/3 scale of actual size!
dude, crows don’t even eat the crickets ~ though i’ve heard wayward sea gulls do. man that stuff reaks. it’s especially funky cause the live ones seem to be drawn out on the road to eat the dead ones, and then they get splatted too. they get sooo thick on Austin Pass that NDOT comes through with snow plows. the piles of cricket carcasses in the ditch along 50 were still there in late August, and a dark line of litter even remained last November. eeeewwww!
next time we’re out travelin’ in cricket season i’ll be sure to collect a few. put one in baby food sized jar of formaldehyde or some clear epoxy…
hahahaha, i just remembered the time i rode my motorbike to Missoula to climb the North Face of North Trapper Peak in the Bitterroots with some buddies and i pulled over at the rest stop on I-80 near Battle Mtn. i was getting drowsy and was going to take a nap on a picnic bench. oh the stench from mashed crickets made my nose hairs curl! the flood lights at the rest stop seemed to draw the buggers out in the open. what was especially weird was seeing them crawling all over the walls of the rest stop buildings, jumping around, chirping… i just stood there and watched in horror, tried to eat a bean and cheese burrito that i’d packed next the the muffler of my moto to heat up, and gagged. i got back on the bike and rode all the way to Wells before getting stuck at a gas station at 11pm due to a car hitting a telephone pole in Jackpot, NV causing a failure that left the whole Wells area w/o power. i didn’t have enough fuel to go anywhere, so i waited and met the other stranded motorbike tourers. what an experience…
i like the whiskey part though. i’d probably just carry a pistol and some tequila. come to think of it, cricket season is just around the corner! anyone up for a fixed gear loop around the Toiyabes in early June? it could be a 2 dayer… with dirt and pavers from Reese River V. to Austin down to Big Smokey over the Toiyabes again on the Kingston Canyon road, and back to the rigs. just an idea… Dharma Biker said it was really freaky with those things jumping up in front of his bike when touring across 50, hitting his bare legs or getting crushed by his bike tires. how fun does that sound?! on a lighter note, there are a few hot springs out there, which could be hit up w/o too much extra travel. i wonder if crickets swim?
J.r.
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I’m down, or course. As long as we’re–fuckin’–in the tubs by sunset after having beers @ the Owl Club.
-M
ps I have a short story about the Spencer Hot Springs in the first issue, June 2006, of COR Review.
ah, you mean “in the fuckin’ hot tub” by sunset, right?
what’s the COR Review??? i’d love to read a short story about Spencer’s. last time i was there, in mid February, we drove up at night, came over the hill to the iron tub and my headlights illuminated two wild burros going at it by the side of the tub. does that qualify for “fuckin’-in the tubs?” if so, you might be a little dirty for me wolfy.