The 2019 American Rally Association New England Forest Rally would be one for the record books. Record heat swept across Maine and on Saturday, the all-time hottest temperature for that day was set at 3 AM. It got hotter from there and the longest day of the rally, felt even longer. Rally teams took measures to combat the heat, buying up all the dryer venting they could, in an attempt to route more air into the cabin of the cars and cool down the driver and co-driver. The insects sure didn’t mind the heat, in fact they seemed to thrive in it. Even after multiple applications of bug spray containing high doses of DEET, they swarmed all around me. I have to say, Maine has one of the largest varieties of insects I have ever seen. Mosquitos, many types of flies, bees, ticks, beetles (including a strange white and black water beetle), a fuzzy spider that was at least 4 inches wide hanging out half on a rock and half in the river and many others, too numerous to count were all spotted. It was so hot that I didn’t mind when I slipped on a rock and splashed into a river and, I may have even contemplated wading out into the river just to cool down.