Crazy Summer of cicadas low overpasses etc.

[quillcom]

We're you guys out there in the cicadas zone in 2024 early summer @Duck ?

Man it was crazy. There are 2 types 17 and 13 year cicada and they both emerged in 2024 for the first time in over 200 years.

I was travelling up 94 from Milwaukee thru chi-townand it seemed the minute I hit the border there were suddenly swarms of cicadas.

Seriously I had to crank the windshield wiper and spray on high continuously to keep my window clear from the splatter. Some of that cicada splatter on the edges which would normally wash off in the rain would not budge until I put some elbow grease on it.
____________________________

Later that summer I almost got stuck under a low over pass in down town Chicago. I was pissed off at first because I was using my truck gps that was supposed to warn me.

So I was on an unfamiliar area with my head on a swivel watching for low overpass signs. I saw a "13 '6" Exactly" signed that I knew I could safely navigate.

Then I went to make a left thinking I was in the clear not seeing any signs not seeing any warnings pop up on the gps. Then just as I'm completing the turn where I was already partially under a new set of over passes I see the sign...

"13' 5" Exactly" . I said to myself this is not going to be a good day. Than I start thinking about all the stories i.e. some guys try to deflate there tires to get under. I'm gonna have to call the troopers to help me back out (it was 7nish, rush hour in Chicago).

Any way as I say there in traffic one lane from the curb lane with my blinkers on sand everybody going around me I decided to creep just to see how far I could get.

Luckily the trailer that I was in already had a prior incident with a bridge so I wasn't worried about creeping and actually tapping the bridge. So sure enough as I crept the truck suddenly caught at about three quarters of the way through.

So I'm sitting there saying man, I have to call this in.

But suddenly I see another semi coming the same way but he was in the curb lane and he was was not stopping. So I got out and flagged him down and asked him has he been through here before. He said no and after I told him I was stuck in my lane he got out and checked his lane and decided he could make it.

Sure enough made it through no problem. Felt like someone took 80k off my back when I saw him go through.

So I just threw down a few triangles behind me, backed the hell up and scooted over to the curb lane and I was on my way. And all this took only about 10 minutes so I did not have to call it on.

What a summer.

 

[Electric Chicken]

My truck got pelted so bad with cicadas last year it felt like one of Moses' plagues on Egypt.

 

[389 Hood]

We deal with the coveted Love Bugs every year, twice a year here and the Lake Meeechigan area deals with fish flies. A few years ago, I had to stop on the side of the road to brush off the grill on the truck because it was going over 200F because of the thick coating of those nasty ass love bugs.

It's like you see a wall of black. By then, it's too late. Don't even think of turning your wipers on. And they stink to high heaven. In a skillet truck you spray the entire front of the truck with PAM cooking spray, then get to a pressure washer when you're done. That goes on for about 3 weeks. For that 3 weeks you have a very clean truck overnight. That is what got me to working at night again. NO BUGS!!!

 

[Duck]

We're you guys out there in the cicadas zone in 2024 early summer @Duck ?

Man it was crazy. There are 2 types 17 and 13 year cicada and they both emerged in 2024 for the first time in over 200 years.

I was travelling up 94 from Milwaukee thru chi-townand it seemed the minute I hit the border there were suddenly swarms of cicadas.

Seriously I had to crank the windshield wiper and spray on high continuously to keep my window clear from the splatter. Some of that cicada splatter on the edges which would normally wash off in the rain would not budge until I put some elbow grease on it.
____________________________

Later that summer I almost got stuck under a low over pass in down town Chicago. I was pissed off at first because I was using my truck gps that was supposed to warn me.

So I was on an unfamiliar area with my head on a swivel watching for low overpass signs. I saw a "13 '6" Exactly" signed that I knew I could safely navigate.

Then I went to make a left thinking I was in the clear not seeing any signs not seeing any warnings pop up on the gps. Then just as I'm completing the turn where I was already partially under a new set of over passes I see the sign...

"13' 5" Exactly" . I said to myself this is not going to be a good day. Than I start thinking about all the stories i.e. some guys try to deflate there tires to get under. I'm gonna have to call the troopers to help me back out (it was 7nish, rush hour in Chicago).

Any way as I say there in traffic one lane from the curb lane with my blinkers on sand everybody going around me I decided to creep just to see how far I could get.

Luckily the trailer that I was in already had a prior incident with a bridge so I wasn't worried about creeping and actually tapping the bridge. So sure enough as I crept the truck suddenly caught at about three quarters of the way through.

So I'm sitting there saying man, I have to call this in.

But suddenly I see another semi coming the same way but he was in the curb lane and he was was not stopping. So I got out and flagged him down and asked him has he been through here before. He said no and after I told him I was stuck in my lane he got out and checked his lane and decided he could make it.

Sure enough made it through no problem. Felt like someone took 80k off my back when I saw him go through.

So I just threw down a few triangles behind me, backed the hell up and scooted over to the curb lane and I was on my way. And all this took only about 10 minutes so I did not have to call it on.

What a summer.

I didn't see anything unusual with the cicadas. Like two people put nets over their little trees.

I'm 50 mi south of Chicago.

_____________

I ran into the same sitchyation in Des Moines once.

Our trailers have auto dump. And they take like 5 minutes to lift a loaded trailer up.

I had already dumped the tractor bags. I just crept under this 13' 4" viaduct until it became impossible to tell if there was any gap (I don't carry a ladder) then I set the trailer brakes, let the air bags completely exhaust, release the trailer brakes and hurry up and get through before thru could reinflate.