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Mosquitos

7/19/2015

1 Comment

 
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I put my battle armor on, knowing I’m going to lose the fight, but hoping for the least impact. Pants, thick socks, long sleeved tee shirt.  I take a deep breath.  Unzip my tent, hop out onto my tevas, rezip, run to pee, run back, fall into the tent as fast as possible.  Kill mosquitos inside tent as fast as possible 1-gotcha-2-3!....12-13-14….37-38-39-40.  Forty mosquitos in my tent.  Again! They’re all smooshed, I can breathe again.  They continue to swarm outside, the battle inside the tent didn’t so much as dent their numbers.  My hands and ankles and bum itch like crazy.  I apply the anti-itch (active ingredient: ammonia) and gladly take the smell of urine over the maddening itch.  

I check in with my back.  Are you well enough to keep going today?  It says…probably. The current of the river flows past as I look outside my tent.  Even if I just hopped in and didn’t paddle, I could make some time.  But that means another battle with the mosquitos.  The one that drives me mad—the one where they bite me mercilessly while I struggle with the neoprene cover for my hatches and can’t swat them away because I have to complete my task before I shove off.  It takes a great deal of mental fortitude and discipline to go knowingly into this losing battle every day. I want to ask the paddlers who have gone before me if the mosquitos get better…but I’m afraid they might say it gets worse…so I haven't asked. 
1 Comment
Spoonicus
7/19/2015 08:01:21 am

*Sighs* Memories. I haven't been on the river that you're on but I've done a few other major rivers further West and that was pretty much my experience too. The sandbars were the only places they weren't congregating but they weren't safe to put up a tent on. (We did it anyway once and it was glorious.) If I had to do it all over again I would buy a 1 minute pop up tent and coat my body in tar. Smells horrible but it really keeps them off. The sleeping bag would likely not survive the experience of a tar soaked Spoon. Good luck! <3

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    Alyssum Pohl is paddling the Mississippi River and documenting water quality and plastic waste along the way.

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