Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Day 4--May 1, 2018

     During the many years we have been lucky enough to travel, we enjoy finding out-of-the-way places to visit.  Usually, we get into a campground, eat, then go for a ride in whatever direction looks the most interesting.

     Everyone around the Lewis Family Home Place and Elijah Clark State Park is very busy preparing for two big events two weekends in a row. So, while we are in the true working stage of the events, I thought I'd tell you about a few places we have visited.

     Did you know that the Smithsonian Institued has a Tick Museum in Statesboro, Georgia? Most people don't, but stick with me, I'll show you the whole United States.

     The World's largest tick collection is only open for one hour every Wednesday or by appointment. You will see the largest and smallest they have in bottles.  They have a machine that freeze dries the ticks and coats them with gold for better viewing under the high powered microscopes.

     The museum workers have put together +one of the largest curated tick collections in the World.  There is over 125,000 accessioned lots, over one million specimens, their associated data, and an extensive library (reprints, monographs, and books). The collection contains specimens from all continents, most of the approximately 860 known species of ticks, and a quarter of the primary tick types. It belongs to the U.S. National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) and has been open since 1990.

Tick Tock Tick Tock
     Let me know if you've ever visited the tick museum.  I'd love to hear your comments.

Later,
Dolores

2 comments: