Bucket list

Bob, I rode my motorcycle to Key West from Pennsylvania in 1996. I remember on the return trip passing through Wheeling WV, the cicadas were overwhelming. It was a sunny day and in the distance I could see the sky was looking black which were these huge swarms of them. Fortunately, my windshield took the brunt of them but they struck me in several areas the neck being the worst. My riding buddies and I pulled into a service station to clean our windshields and hope they were in passing. Unfortunately, even though the major portion of the swarm was gone, the stragglers were still present and it hurt like hell getting hit by them.

What struck me as somewhat weird was their red eyes just like you show in your picture. In my area the cicadas are green eyed and the tops of their heads are also green. This was the only time I saw a red eye version. Our flying field located in the state park has the huge bees which prey on the cicadas. So while were flying, they are usually returning to their homes in the ground with a cicada in their legs. This thing flying is huge and the bees are as large as hummingbirds. They land on you when flying and this pretty much gives me a heart attack. While they don't present a issue unless you sit on it, I don't like them landing on me. They're usually just resting for a second before they fly off.