Bites

From Boulder, we drove up highway 77 through Nebraska, passing fields of corn like we had never seen. Living in Colorado we thought we live

d in the middle of farmlands, horses, corn fields, peach stands, farms with squash and pumpkins as far as the eye can see...but Nebraska wins the prize for most acreage without trees, lots of sun, and a lot...A LOT of corn.

It's amazing that this expansive lake (100 miles of shoreline!) with white sand exists in the middle of Nebraska. We turned a corner in our 36 foot RV and caught our first glimpse of the beautiful body of water. It was so hot that we imagined we could hear the lake yelling "come in Millers! It will feel so good to swim".

Found a wonderful campsite in the state park campgrounds, right next to the water. Skip hadn't even parked the RV before the kids were getting suits, towels and bug catchers.

After 2 days, 3 frogs, 7 card games, 1 boat rental, 15 different bugs in the bug catchers, 2 fabulous dinners cooked on the grill, a few short bike rides a lots of swimming, we went to bed feeling pretty relaxed and happy. Then, the

y came. And they came in spades. I could hear one of them buzzing over my ear at about 1am ... mosquitoes. The love me, hate my husband. We had been bitten a little throughout the last 2 days, being near water, but nothing outrageous.

I swatted at the one buzzing in my ear. Then I felt the itching over my eye. Maybe 20 minutes of swatting and itching in the dark, half asleep, i realized i couldn't open my eye. I went to the bathroom to see what was happening to my face. The light was left on in the bathroom for the kids as a pseudo night-light, so i could easily find my way in there. As I closed the door and looked in

the mirror, i viewed the damage that had been done. My eye had been bitten, maybe 3 times, and was swollen closed.

Cursing the mosquitoes, I caught a glimpse of lots of movement from the shower stall. As I opened the door to see what was in there, I saw a commune of them. They had built apartments, garages, even a city hall. There were probably 60 (no joke) all hovering in the shower to find the light. I took our swatter and stared hitting them. I knew it was kill or be killed. They was no way they would get out of the RV, so if i didn't get them i was a goner.

i swatted and swatted until it was mosquito carnage. I stood in that bathroom for probably 35 minutes. My 10 year old came in at one point and asked "mom...what is that smacking noise?" "go to bed honey. I'm just killing mosquitoes". She didn't even blink. turned around and went back to bed like it was just another typical night. I was in the heat of battle! There were about 20 left. I waited, hiding, until they thought I was gone...then they would start to move and...SWAT! Waited longer, SWAT. I literally waited, until they were all dead.

I came back to bed and did the classic, "Skip, you up?" no response. "Skip...You AWAKE babe?"

no response. "BABE. I was totally attacked by mosquitoes and we need to leave tomorrow! Can we talk?" I retold the story of the mo

squito battle, down to every last detail, including even the story of the little baby-sized bugs that thought they could get away. "Babe, so can we leave tomorrow?" he said "Lets talk about it in the morning" "But BABE! I am one-eyed and itchy and its just gunna get worse!" ...silence. I waited for some comforting words form my husband that would reassure me that they wouldn't be there in the morning, that we would leave, that somehow it would all be OK. Was he asleep again? Then, I hear something...its him! Here it comes! "Babe" he says "yes?" "Do you know where the IZZY sodas are?" WHAAAT? I thought...Is he kidding? WHO can think of a soda at 2am with mosquitos loose all over the RV!?

Well, we left first thing in the morning. I was a happy, itchy person headed to the cooler tempatures of South Dakota, where there are NO mosquitoes.