Conner and I went to Antelope Island on The Great Salt Lake with the scouts over the weekend. We biked over the causeway into camp to fulfill a merit badge requirement—a 20 mile round trip. Before we started the ride, we noticed an electric sign at the toll booth that indicated that the biting bugs had hatched and were particularly "BAD" right now. The sign wasn't kidding. About half way across the causeway, we were greeted by a huge welcoming party of bug clouds—plumes of living, flying drilling machines. The last thing a few of the more unfortunate bugs saw were my tonsils as they made their way down the back of my throat. I tried to hack the little guys up, but to no avail. I soon learned to keep my mouth tightly shut and my head down. If you look on the bright side, bugs are a wonderful source of protein and without the unexpected snacks, we surely wouldn't have had adequate energy to carry us to the other side of the causeway. After we arrived in camp everyone applied bug spray by immersion and only then could we relax a little. Overall, the camp was fun and the night was relatively warm. In retrospect, the sign should have read, "All the bugs you can eat for the price of admission."
Here's Conner at the beginning of the ride. You can see the sign just to the right of the toll-booth that warned us of our impending snacks.
This is at about the 8-mile mark of the ride.
This is what the bumper of the car looked like after traveling only 10-miles into camp. There were so many smashed bugs that you couldn't read the license plate.
It didn't take the seagulls long to find us after we started breakfast.
The campsite.
A few of the scouts on a sandbar of the lake.
The scouts rode their bikes to the shore of the Salt Lake.
Preparing to ride back across the causeway on Saturday morning. They rode a 20-mile round trip.
There was a professional bike event taking place on Saturday morning so we had a lot of company.
4 comments:
That bumper is nasty! I'm glad you got your protein in for the day... but what a gross way to get it. That looks like a fun camping trip.
Trevor came home with bites all over his head, but he still had a lot of fun!
i'm so jealous, (of the bugs of course--they now have solved the mystery of what the inside of a human throat looks like...) this ride is so beautiful don't you think? i want to do it before we leave.
What I love is a well-rounded kid...music, sports, scouts, outdoor activities, intelligence, academic superiority, religious, friendly, and good looks. My goodness, Conner, you've got it all!!
The "reporter" isn't so bad either ...love your style and creative narration.
Love, MOM/GRANDMA
Post a Comment