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 our legs.  

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

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

While I was scratching and scratching the itching didn’t get better but kept getting worse and worse.  I put my feet up on the dashboard to take a look at whatever it was that was causing all that itching.  When I looked I saw all these tiny little bugs crawling all over my legs . . . hundreds and thousands . . . 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 those nasty little buggers.  The airborne liquid 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’m screaming and spraying bug spray all over the place and filling the car with fumes and ruining the dashboard.

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

He came around the car to find out what in the blazes was going on.  He didn’t easily get an answer.  I was still flipping out.  All I know is that tiny little bugs are craswling 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 and weeds. Their bite causes severe itching and red pimple-like bumps.

After crawling onto their host, they inject digestive enzymes 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 of the 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 for weeks after  . . . and beyond.  Those creepy crawlers left behind extremely itchy bumps that bled when I scratched them.  And of course there were the foot prints melted into the dashboard leftover from the bug spray.

It was fairly horrible.