Frogger-caterpillar style

The surest sign that it is autumn is all the fuzzy wuzzy caterpillars outside. I fondly remember finding and collecting these as a kid. I would build "houses" for them out of twigs and fallen leaves.
These last few days have been so nice with the sunny weather, it has brought these guys out in droves! The easiest place to spot these neat critters is on the roads. Driving to pick up Colten from school, I see so many of them making the dangerous trek across the highway. I am amazed at the number of them crossing the road, and many of them survive! I can't imagine trying to be as small as these and trying to inch my way across a major highway like the Frogger video game I played as a kid. I do make a point when driving to avoid hitting any of them (unlike slugs that I will try to tag!) Walking today there were lots of casualties seen though.
I know they are just dumb insect that curl up in your hand and pee in it if left there and I shouldn't feel bad for the ones that cars squish, but I do. Maybe it is the persistence they show following instinct and crossing the big road, maybe it is remembering them when I was a kid. I have to wonder if the caterpillars would still cross the road if they knew the fatality rate. Trying to cross the road and having a huge vehicle coming straight at you, instinctively curling up in a ball and then being blown off the road by the wind. It could be a great thing-being blown to the other side, or a bad thing- going back to start. The march of the caterpillars is Nature's frogger game to the death.