For the Festival

 Last weekend while I was cleaning up the flood debris I saw a small blue SUV drive by several times. It was going slowly and would abruptly slow even more and stop. A woman got out of the passenger seat and walked a few steps then bent over and picked something up from the road. They did it four or five times. Every time stopping, getting out and picking something up. It was something small and I couldn't really see anything from where I was. They eventually drove off and that was it. 

Then on Sunday Lisa said she saw a silver pickup truck behaving the same way. It would stop in the road, the driver got out to pick something up and then slowly drive away. The truck came back by a few times and did the same thing. So, I had to go down to investigate. I walked down the road to Eddie's driveway searching the roadway and the small area that passes for a shoulder in the country. Nothing. I thought maybe they were looking for lost coins or jewelry. Or maybe a new Pokémon Go like game  had come out. I walked back on the opposite side of the road and still nothing. I saw a few pieces of trash and some bugs but nothing that would make someone stop. 

Then the Silver truck approached. The driver was a woman in her 50s or 60s. She came from behind me and slowed as she got near. She stopped when she was along side me and got out. She said " Hi, you're right next to what I'm looking for!" She went a few steps and reached down to pick up a woolly worm. 

I said, "Is that a woolly worm you just picked up?" "Yep, it's for the festival".

The Woolly Worm festival. I talked to her for a couple of minutes and Heather spoke to her later. The people are collecting woolly worms to use in the festival events. They have races and judging. The woolly worms can predict the weather based on their coloring. They collect them on country roads because they are easy to spot and there isn't any traffic. 

It's true, I'm not kidding. Here's the link. woolly-worm-festival-2021 The mystery was solved. Here's a video of one that walked by the other day.