Weekly Update Archive

June 8-16, 2008 -- West Texas!

It was time once again for West Texas. This was my second vacation planned for the year. Three days before I left, I decided I would take my son Caleb with me once again. The last time we went on a father/son trip was four years ago. He caught his first snake on a rock cut ever. That snake would be named Drawer. He is the bull snake, more frequently known as a gopher snake. He incidentally is close to five and ½ feet long now. Anyway, Caleb and I pulled out Sunday morning. I got a very late start though. We dropped by the San Antonio reptile show and picked up a female gopher to breed with Caleb's gopher. I purchased him from a good friend of mine who lives in San Antonio. I told him if he ever sells it, I want it. The time was now, so I jumped at the chance. It is one of the nicest and healthiest snakes I have ever seen. Unfortunately I had to drag her to West Texas and back. We arrived in Sanderson around 7:30 P.M. and checked into my usual room number 5. Caleb and I hunted until 1:00 a.m. I just cannot hunt all night after traveling for 7 hours. I have to acclimate! All we saw tonight was an injured and dying long nose snake compliments of our good buddy, pal and friend Harvey Hilderbran, who was gracious enough to stick his nose where it has no business. The good ol' roadside sanctuary!! You're doing a fine job Harvey. Making sure these animals stay safe by the roadside.

Monday June 9 would prove to be a bit more exciting. I took KK down into Deer Canyon but we saw nothing. That canyon has some good memories. I reflected on the three alterna I caught down there in 2 weeks years ago. I haven't gotten that lucky since. We went back out on highway 90 and as I turned to head east, there was a large male Suboc draped over the rock cut. Caleb got excited, as he loves Subocs. He went over to the cut and picked him up and as you can see, posed with him. This was a neat find for Caleb and it got him going! Could we be lucky enough to find that one alterna who may be crawling around in the desert that needed much rain? This would be the only snake we saw Monday night.

Tuesday was a total washout! We saw nothing.

On Wednesday night, I decided to change my regimen up and head up 285 North and hunt the cuts up that way. I even went to thirty mile cut. We saw 1 taro at 9 mile, then we headed toward Sheffield via FM 2400. I have never been a fan of this road and I think it stinks for Herps, but is the shorter way to go if you are heading to Sheffield. Around 1:10 in the morning, we were spotlighting the large cut coming into Sheffield. When I got to the end of the cut, I saw a dead snake lying in my lane. As I slowly drove by, I felt a massive rush of nausea come over me. I saw in the peripheral lighting, the most gorgeous Blairs phase alterna I think I have ever seen. It looked like I was about 1 hour too late. If I only had have just hunted the 9 mile cuts instead of going to thirty mile! Unfortunately for Caleb, and me, this would be the only alterna we would see this trip. What a heartbreaker this was. My friends and fellow Herpers from the North, Tom and Maureen, said "What a tragedy", and they were so right. I hate the fact that just that day when eating lunch with my fellow Herpers from the far West, Gerald and Cindy Merker, I said to them I had never come across a road kill Gray Band. I had to put it out there and there it was...my first road kill ever. I will never do that again! Thanks for pointing that out, Gerald! I feel even sicker now!

Thursday was ok. Caleb got his first ever Splendida on 385 South about 8 miles past the border patrol checkpoint. It had rained out there earlier and there was dampness on the ground. This is a rare sight for West Texas these days. This year is terrible in comparison to last year. It will be a long time in coming that we'll have such a year as last! We headed down to Black Gap and saw nothing. We saw N O T H I N G!!!! I have never been on Black Gap road and saw nothing!! The rock faces facing Southwest were 100 degrees at 11:30 P.M. This would be the only snake this night that we would see. It was a long drive back to Sanderson!

We headed totally the opposite direction Friday night. We headed out to Juno road, a move I rarely make! We hunted the road and the cuts hopping and skipping all the way. I was not only stopped by Border Patrol, but also Customs and DPS. All were cool and I had no trouble. Caleb sure makes it fun when I get stopped though. He asked the border patrol agent "What's the problem?" when he came up to the window. He repeated what I had said as the agent was pulling me over. You should have seen the shocked look on his face! It was worth a million laughs. Caleb was passing out my business cards and Wayne's World pens to all these people. In fact I was stopped twice for violations and did not once receive a citation. I think I will bring KK on more trips! I think he's a good luck charm in that respect. The only snake we would see this night was a 4-foot old timer Emory Rat Snake. He had been injured from an animal that had been after it or at least that's how it looked to me.

When I got back to Dryden, my cell service came back. I received a message from my good friend and snake hunting partner, Meridith, saying there were no Herpers or snakes, for that matter, out in Langtry. I had to listen to this message twice because it sure sounded like she was in the area to me, and who the hell was "WE" ? Come to find out she and my other good friend, Sammy Soto, had driven out West to surprise and snake hunt Saturday night with me! Sadly, we were two ships passing in the night. I had no idea she was out there, and she had only seen my rental car once so she didn't know what to look for me in. We hooked up Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. when I got in.  It was a very pleasant surprise to find out Meridith and Sammy made the trip out West to see me. I just wish they had seen my vehicle spotting a cut or something. By the way, this is the latest I have herped in one night, or at least for as long as I can remember. Maybe I did in my young buck days, but my memory is failing me!

After Caleb and I woke up 4 hours later, we all cruised to Marathon in Meridith's Honda Element. We hit the soda shop for lunch, and showed Sammy some sights. The poor boy has only been as far West as San Antonio. Marathon would now be his record! We drove around the area and went to the park in Marathon, and then headed up 385 North to the Longfellow dirt road, which cuts back over to Highway 90. That was a fun little jaunt! Sorry about the last little hill I flew over, Mare. I hope your head and neck are healed now. Sorry about that!

We headed back to Sanderson where we joined people from the Austin and West Texas Herp Societies for a cookout.   Many thanks go out to Ruth and Roy of the Outback Oasis Motel who always do such a great job making everyone feel comfortable.  They put on one heckuva spread complete with brisket, burgers, hot dogs, queso, guacamole and ice tea (the house wine of the South, you know).  The way you are treated when you are there is nothing short of royalty. Ruth and Roy...you guys always do a fantastic job.  Thank you so much for all of your hospitality!

After eating, Caleb ended up spending the night with Ruth's grandson, Austin. I am sure they played video games until the wee hours of the morning! Me, Sammy and Meridith hunted 9 mile cuts and 16 mile cuts then crossed over 2400 to 349 South. Before we got there, we found a large atrox laid out in the middle of the road. Sammy loved this as this was the only venomous snake he had ever seen in the wild. Your venomous list is now complete, buddy! Time to break it down to sub-species now. We continued on to see if I could find a live alterna at the Sheffield cut. No go, but was stopped by another DPS. All was cool there as well. We also went to the cuts over at Ft. Lancaster as but saw nothing the rest of the night. It was about 3:00 a.m. when we returned to the room. Fun was had by all.

Sunday came and Meridith and Sammy had to return to Houston. We all had breakfast -- compliments of Ruth who, once again, outdid herself! Thank you, again, for the great meals! This night would be me and Caleb's last night to Herp. I decided to head toward the rain, which was mostly in Northern Brewster County. I saw nothing but deer on the way.  We stopped by and saw Buzz Ross for 20 minutes and then headed to the Boy Scout Road. I hunted that for two hours then moved on due to unforeseen traffic that kept coming out of and going into the ranch. I headed down 17 to 290, around I-10 to 118 North. We then did loop 166 (a long time favorite of mine) and headed back in. We did get a baby bull snake, which Caleb always loves. This would be it for Herps on the trip.

I saw and chatted with my good friend and business associate if you will, Dr. Larry Nordyke, who was on the West side of Sanderson as I was returning from Ft. Davis. He also found nothing. I had not seen or spoken to Larry in three years. It was great to see you again, Larry!

Monday morning came and we were out by 11:00 a.m. I made only two stops on the way back to Houston, and I returned the rental vehicle at 5:45 in Houston, which by the way, did a spectacular job. We rented a Kia Optima and I got awesome mileage. I was highly advised not to take my Blazer which is now nearing 398,000 miles. The Optima did a great job in surviving the collision with the doe that decided it was cool to bolt right at me. I at least slowed down to 15 mph from 50 mph before I hit her. She walked away with a headache and we walked away with 2 dents in the car. Thank you, bit**! At least my liability took care of it.

In closing, Caleb had a great time and now has to get back to the real world and a normal schedule. Enjoy the pictures, Wayne's World fans!! Happy rock cut and roadside sanctuary herping!

Caleb and Suboc