06/20/2008 - Bradford Bug Run

Friday night my church did a motorcycle event fundraiser called the Bradford Bug Run. It’s a game I’ve heard about but never participated in where you pay money to buy a target, the target goes on your bike or your helmet and you go riding in the dark of the night where the bugs rule. We arrived at the church about 6:30PM. Jade was going with me and Shawnette was helping with the food. We ate dinner and reviewed the route and off we went. I was leading the first group and you could choose one of two directions on the route. I chose the shortest route to the mid point stop which was a store not far from Henry Neeley Lake. After about 20 minutes I pulled over because we were NOT getting any bugs. I waited a while for the sun to go down and we went on. We left first but we were the last to arrive at the mid point with most folks choosing the other direction. At the mid point nobody was reporting any significant bug activity but I hoped by saving the lake side road for the last it would result in some carnage. And boy did I ever get my wish, We left the store and followed the lake for a few miles. At one point I was practically assaulted. One bug of some type hit my glasses, crawled behind them and proceeded to bite me. I was clawing at my glasses with my left hand as the bike wavered back and forth, Then after getting that bug out I was immediately hit by something on the other side of my glasses that exploded and some body parts went into my eye, nothing wet, probably some legs or something. But it bothered me for a while and again I’m trying to get it out of my eye while moving. All the pain was worth it as when we returned I won one of the grand prizes for biggest bug on my target, a sweat bee. Next time I do this I’m wearing a full face helmet! The final total was $500 bucs raised for the church camp fund so it will help some kids get to camp who otherwise might not be able to.