It's the big itch I need to scratch.

A few years ago, hubby and I took a trip to Washington D.C.  To save money we decided to drive.  About halfway there we stopped to stretch ourlegs.  

We took a short walk in a littlepark to get the blood flowing before hitting the road again. 

We had gone a short distance down the highway when my legsand ankles started to get all itchy.

While I was scratching and scratching the itching didn’t getbetter but kept getting worse and worse. I put my feet up on the dashboard to take a look at whatever it was thatwas causing all that itching.  When I lookedI saw all these tiny little bugs crawling all over my legs . . . hundreds andthousands . . . maybe millions . . . of them.

Naturally, I commenced to freak out.

In the side pocket of my door was a can of bug spray.  I grabbed it and proceeded to spray thosenasty little buggers.  The airborneliquid covered my legs giving me a small measure of relief. 

At that point, hubby commenced to freak out.

Keep in mind, that we’re still driving down the highway; I’mscreaming and spraying bug spray all over the place and filling the car withfumes and ruining the dashboard.

While he’s yelling at me hubby managed to find a place tosafely pull of the road.  I scrambled outof the car and ripped off my shoes and socks.

He came around the car to find out what in the blazes wasgoing on.  He didn’t easily get ananswer.  I was still flipping out.  All I know is that tiny little bugs arecraswling up my legs, biting my ankles and I have no idea what they are.

Hubby knew . . . chiggers. 

Chiggers are tiny, six-legged wingless organisms (larvae)that grow up to become a type of mite. Chiggers are found in tall grass andweeds. Their bite causes severe itching and red pimple-like bumps.

After crawling onto their host, they inject digestiveenzymes into the skin that break down skin cells. They do not actually"bite," but instead form a hole in the skin and chew up tiny parts ofthe inner skin, thus causing severe irritation and swelling.

Nasty.

We managed to get them off but I remained skeeved,  I was reminded of that icksome episode forweeks after  . . . and beyond.  Those creepy crawlers left behind extremelyitchy bumps that bled when I scratched them. And of course there were the foot prints melted into the dashboardleftover from the bug spray.

It was fairly horrible.