Odd things that Happen when on the Road
Last Fall we were heading south on I295 through Portland Maine. Moderate traffic moving along at 60 mph or so. Out of the corner of my eye I see a Sea Gull carrying what looked like a good size Quahog...
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About 8 years ago, I was visiting the Las Vegas area and wanted to take in the Hoover Dam tour. I had the camper on the truck and while driving towards the dam and visitors center, an employee was flagging over any RV’s that were entering the facility. They asked to look inside the camper as it was standard procedure to look inside since all RV’s at the time had to cross the actual dam to park on the other side since campers would not fit in the new (at the time) parking garage. I complied, they peeked inside and drove over the dam to the large vehicle parking lot.
I crossed the dam, parked on the other side, walked back over the dam to the visitor’s center and took the tour. After several hours of tour, visitor’s center, walking around I was ready to leave... I was tired and hungry having been in the casinos rather late the night before. I walked over the dam again back to my truck. I wanted to head into Boulder City to get some food. I tried to return to my vehicle but as I get to the entry into the parking lot I noticed that there were orange cones crossing the parking entrance as if to not let any new cars to enter... thought it kinda’ funny since there were many empty spots... in fact, my truck camper was the only vehicle in the lot.
As I walked past the cones I abruptly met by a parking security official asking me what I was doing. I said I am going to my vehicle.
“Which one is yours” I was asked.
I said it is the truck camper towards the end of the lot as I pointed to it.
“YOU are the person we have been waiting for” barked the parking guard!
Immediately my suspicions went on high alert.
“We cannot let you leave!” WHAT I retorted!
“We cannot let you leave until we take care of the swarm of bees on your truck, now that you are here we can take the necessary steps.”
I was dumfounded.
They told me now that I am here I can give authorization for a Department of Agriculture bee keeper to come and harvest and relocate the queen after which the rest would leave my truck in search of the queen’s new locations.
How long will this take I inquired.
They said it might be a couple of hours before the beekeeper would arrive and then however long it took the bees to relocate… it could end up being many hours. I told them that I would just drive away and let the bees fall off as I was in motion.
“We cannot let you do that- we need to ethically relocate these bees.”
I was furious!
One of the rent-o-cops said I could hop in the passenger seat of his car and he drove me past my truck, which was mostly covered in bees on the hood, grill and right side of the front fender, side cab and along the side bed. There was a perfect circle about five feet diameter some 25 feet away. They surmised that someone who parked in the same lot after me poured out a large cup of soda. The dispersion pattern of the drink is where the bees were flying from that perfect circle on the ground several feet away. Somewhere on my truck was the queen bee. The windshield and driver’s door and side had no bees. We drove back to the parking lot entry where the cones blocked it off.
As we got back to the entrance, a dam maintenance man arrived. We told him the situation, as he is the one who would be calling the beekeeper. He drove to my truck to asses the situation. When he returned, he asked me what I wanted to do. I said that I was told that I need to have a beekeeper perform a queen extraction. Maintenance man said we could do that or I could just get in it and drive off. I was very pleased to hear that as I grin-smirked at the paring attendant.
“Yea, just drive off and stop by our maintenance garage and I get some soapy water and we will take care of them bees.”
Thank goodness for common sense employees. You can guess which option I took.
I crossed the dam, parked on the other side, walked back over the dam to the visitor’s center and took the tour. After several hours of tour, visitor’s center, walking around I was ready to leave... I was tired and hungry having been in the casinos rather late the night before. I walked over the dam again back to my truck. I wanted to head into Boulder City to get some food. I tried to return to my vehicle but as I get to the entry into the parking lot I noticed that there were orange cones crossing the parking entrance as if to not let any new cars to enter... thought it kinda’ funny since there were many empty spots... in fact, my truck camper was the only vehicle in the lot.
As I walked past the cones I abruptly met by a parking security official asking me what I was doing. I said I am going to my vehicle.
“Which one is yours” I was asked.
I said it is the truck camper towards the end of the lot as I pointed to it.
“YOU are the person we have been waiting for” barked the parking guard!
Immediately my suspicions went on high alert.
“We cannot let you leave!” WHAT I retorted!
“We cannot let you leave until we take care of the swarm of bees on your truck, now that you are here we can take the necessary steps.”
I was dumfounded.
They told me now that I am here I can give authorization for a Department of Agriculture bee keeper to come and harvest and relocate the queen after which the rest would leave my truck in search of the queen’s new locations.
How long will this take I inquired.
They said it might be a couple of hours before the beekeeper would arrive and then however long it took the bees to relocate… it could end up being many hours. I told them that I would just drive away and let the bees fall off as I was in motion.
“We cannot let you do that- we need to ethically relocate these bees.”
I was furious!
One of the rent-o-cops said I could hop in the passenger seat of his car and he drove me past my truck, which was mostly covered in bees on the hood, grill and right side of the front fender, side cab and along the side bed. There was a perfect circle about five feet diameter some 25 feet away. They surmised that someone who parked in the same lot after me poured out a large cup of soda. The dispersion pattern of the drink is where the bees were flying from that perfect circle on the ground several feet away. Somewhere on my truck was the queen bee. The windshield and driver’s door and side had no bees. We drove back to the parking lot entry where the cones blocked it off.
As we got back to the entrance, a dam maintenance man arrived. We told him the situation, as he is the one who would be calling the beekeeper. He drove to my truck to asses the situation. When he returned, he asked me what I wanted to do. I said that I was told that I need to have a beekeeper perform a queen extraction. Maintenance man said we could do that or I could just get in it and drive off. I was very pleased to hear that as I grin-smirked at the paring attendant.
“Yea, just drive off and stop by our maintenance garage and I get some soapy water and we will take care of them bees.”
Thank goodness for common sense employees. You can guess which option I took.
