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Don’t Bug Me
Dang it, Florida sure has a lot of love bugs… I had to stop before it rained to get the inch of bug guts off the windshield. I could barely see out as it was and if I had to turn on the wipers… total goo out. Luckily I did get it clean just in time.
Now in South Georgia, I stopped for the night and as instructed, I opened the toll window before putting the slides out. Dang it again. Sucked in about a million gnats.
No wonder folks go North this time of year!
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15 Replies
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Yes-sir-ree Les, May and October is Lovebug season in Florida. They arrived in Florida in the 1940’s from Central America. Scientists tell us they hitched a ride on a ship that first arrived in Texas in the 1930’s.
They can be a nightmare and you can hit pockets of them that just overwhelm the ability to get rid of them. I remember once in May 2000 driving between Orlando and Brooksville, Florida. I had to pull over four times to clean the windows to see! And they can do a serious job on your paint job if left unattended!
Harry
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We who live and travel in Florida often tend to overlook one very good thing about the so-called love bugs.
The don’t bite. For this, we are grateful.
Linda
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We like the love bugs, they go away as soon as the snow birds leave, so if you haven’t left yet, your causing us FL residents mental anguish and I know you would never want to do that, so please make smoke north bound at your earliest opportunity.
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Les, open your vent fan top in the shower before playing with the slides, as it has a screen to keep those bugs out. This being your first trip, you’ll learn :o). Enjoy the ride and I hope to see you out on the road sometime.
Now for the truth … Wasn’t that the best, smoothest drive you have ever had in an RV? BTW, You can start bragging on the Prevost chassis now.
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Ok, I’m a Dumb As*4, slide are new to me, why do you open the toll widow before putting out the slides. The coach can’t be pressurized or some other reason?
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I doubt there is much pressure change inside the coach in terms of large increases or decreases, but even a small change in pounds per square inch creates a large force that impacts everything from how hard the slide motor has to work to the amount of force pushing or pulling on surfaces such as windows.
The forward slides are very large in terms of square feet so as the slides are moving in or out the volume of air being compressed or displaced is quite significant and that translates into work for the slide motor or increased pressure.
When the toll window is open and a slide is being opened there is a large air flow into the coach to compensate for the increased volume as the slide is opened. Ditto in the reverse as a slide is being closed.
If we assume as slides move in for example the pressure inside the coach increases by a small amount (let’s pretend 1/2 PSI) that means on a single window of about 36 X 36 there is a force of about 650 pounds is being applied to the windows. Even if the increase in pressure is about 1/4 PSI there is still about 326 pounds pushing on a window.
Anything you can do to reduce the pressure makes if easier on everything that might be affected. I made up all the numbers so they probably aren’t close to actual, but they do illustrate how anything that relieves air pressure is beneficial.
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Buddy,
You will be surprised at how much air moves when opening the slides. They told us to always open the toll window as there is a lot of pressure that would be moving over the seals if you didn’t.
I see where Fred recommends opening the vent but if I open a roof vent, it automatically starts the fan. I guess we could just open one of the emergency windows as they are screened.
Safe travels,
Mark
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Just leave the entrance door open. Why take a chance …
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Rocky,
He didn’t want to pull the bugs in when opening the slide. We don’t have screen doors on the entrance door so the bugs would come right in.
In storage, I keep my toll window open about an inch and I snap on my exterior mesh screen. When the temp gets high inside, I turn on the two roof vents to expel the heat. The screen prevents pulling in any bugs/insects. (I do this remotely from my iphone).
Safe travels,
Mark
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Ok got it, thanks
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There is a fee for this fine advice. I do not accept checks.
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Mr.Mark, Jon does all of that as well with his flip phone. He calls Di and tells her to go down to the bus barn and open the windows, put up the screen and open the vents.
This being a family site, I cannot say here what Di tells him.
Buddy understands this statement.
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I know better than to ask Di handle bus duties. If I even tried she would get a big stick and beat me about the head and shoulders.
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I’ve been through the Florida swarming Love Bugs once, no love there. They are on of the reasons we don’t travel to Florida during the Love Bug Fest.
I don’t know if anyone has encountered a bee swarm on the interstate in Montana. We were returning from one of the west coast Open Golf Championships. Rolling along and enjoying the scenery until … We hit a solid wall of bees swarming to go back to their hive. The bee hives were on the north side of the interstate. On the south side of the interstate was a huge field where the bees had been pollinating and gathering stuff to make honey. That would be the light yellow, sticky stuff. Well the windshield was covered with bug guts, wings, body pieces and the sticky stuff. Big bug mistake was to turn on the windshield wipers and the windshield washer. Just made a smeary mess in the entire swept path of the wiper blade.
Solution was to exit at the next ramp, pull over and get out the ladder, some Goo Gone then some Rain-X window cleaner. Lots of rubbing and paper towel loss but finally got the windshield clean and continued on to our destination for the night.
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I hit a swarm in central OH. First, it scared the Hell out of me because the sound was so loud I though the bus was being shot at.
It took more than 2 hours to get most of the bug splatter off so the windshields were semi-clean. It was a really sticky mess and made all other bug splatters seem inconsequential by comparison.
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