Weekly Update Archive

Week Ending 06/21/04

This trip was the first daddy/son snake hunting trip for me and Caleb. At 4 ½ years of age, I felt he did very well. We left Saturday evening after I got off work. We ran into a big time storm coming into Brackettville. It was an incredible light show as all the Herpers who were out there will attest to. I could see the storm when I got into Castroville which is still many miles away from Del Rio. The winds were high and the rain was great. My truck all of a sudden started to run rough and gave me the symptoms of a bad fuel injector. I decided since it rained, I would find no Alterna, and especially since I was having vehicle problems, I would sit this night out so Caleb and I went to Tom and Maureens room at the Ramada and they showed us their three awesome Alterna they had caught since being here. We hung out with them a couple of hours, then crashed in our room at Motel 6.

Sunday rolled around and I was fortunate enough to get Shannon Brown, a fellow Herper from California, to install my new fuel injector for me. The guy didn't even charge me. Is that a cool dude or what? My truck was running fine afterwards and all was well in Herp land. We all went to a Chinese buffet in Del Rio and we ate with Shannon's friend Aaron, also form California, Jeff and Sharon Adams (AKA TANKS for all you forum readers), and TANKS picked up the tab for everyone. What a clan to hang out with! Night fall came and Caleb and I hunted 277. We saw absolutely nothing. In fact the only thing anyone saw was a Devils River Black-headed snake that Gerald Merker saw. We headed in around 3:00 A.M.

Monday, we all met in Acuna at Crosby's and John Fraser, two of his kids, and their friend joined the rest of us. I reciprocated for some of the people at the table and picked up the tab. Fun was had by all, sharing snake stories and plain ol' bullshi*****. Sharon Adams seemed to fall in love with caleb and ended up buying him a Mexican sombrero and a little wooden guitar, (which he played all the way home incidentally). Thank you Sharon for being so nice to Caleb. He loved your painted toe nails. He has a fetish about those you know!

We took a short nap, then headed out again. I decided to increase my chances for Alterna so we went to Langtry dirt and we found a Regal Ring-Necked snake which is thinner than a number 2 pencil, and about 9 inches or so long. If one can see that in the road, one can see anything! I think they are extraordinarily beautiful and interesting snakes. We then went back to highway 90 and collected East and West of Langtry, going all the way to Palma Canyon.

On the way back, as we hunted East of Langtry, Caleb spotted his first ever snake on a rock cut. It was this 3 ½ foot Gopher snake. I took him out of the car seat and held him up where he could actually catch the snake. Don't worry, daddy determined the snakes temperament before he did so. Caleb was excited to actually do this! He has named the snake DRAWER. Please don't ask me why. He's a 4 year old O.K.? Maybe it means something to him. Moving on, he picked up the spotlighting technique extremely well. Into the night though, the kid came out in him and then it was watching how many animal shadows he could make and dance them on the rock cuts. No telling how many Alterna we passed up! Hopefully none!!! These two snakes are all we would see all night long. The only walking we did was on the three layer rock cut across 277 from the Loma Alta store. Caleb found this to be an adventure.

Tuesday, it was time to return home. At least we did not leave empty handed. No Alterna like we had hoped for but Caleb got to see how exciting it was to see a good size snake on a cut. I would say he was a natural born Herper like his daddy.

While driving home, I ran into a large and very violent storm Between Sequin and Hallettsville. Around mile marker 600, it was raining so hard and the wind was so great that I had to slow down considerably. I was driving along and all of a sudden, I started to hydroplane. The back end of my Blazer swung off to the left. I of course did what I was not supposed to do which is panic. I over compensated for the steering and ended up doing two 360's on I-10. I came to a complete standstill and ended up pointing the right direction. I started my car again which had stalled out, and thank GOD no one was directly behind me or even close. I think the only people who saw the spin out was the West bound side of traffic. My heart was racing and Caleb wondered what had happened, but mailnly seemed unconcerned. After I calmed down, and after driving about 15 more miles, and going much slower, it happened yet again, but this time, my back end swung off to the right. I got off the gas but ended up spinning out again, but this time , more violently. I ended up doing what I remember to be at least 2, maybe three 360's, but slid off into the ditch on the side of the road. I was able to avoid hitting an embankment or anything else before coming to a stop. I almost was able to drive out of the wet grass and mud, but ended up getting stuck. Great consolation considering it could have been much much worse. I have said it many many times, and I will say it again. Whoever my guardian angel is I am keeping him or her. I am so thankful that my son Caleb was not hurt in this incident. The tow truck that showed up to help me also got stuck and his other truck had to pull us both out. $85.00 is little price to pay considering what had taken place and I was glad to pay for it. There always has to be a little humor in anything that happens during my adventures. After we had come to a stop after this second spin out, Caleb said "daddy? I gotta pee". I replied, "son, daddy already has"! So, we, as well as the old Blazer lives to see another day. My poor Blazer now has 339,000 plus miles on her. The goal is 500,000 and a free trip to the Smithsonian! The next trip is scheduled for July 9. Until then, good luck to all the Gray Band fanatics out there and as always, happy herping.

Wayne Howell
June 21, 2004

First Daddy/Son Snakehunting Trip

Caleb's first wild catch ever.

Caleb with his gopher snake.

Regal Ring-Neck Snake in defensive posture.

Caleb playing the Mexican guitar.

"What song do you wanna hear?"

Wayne being pulled out after spin out on I-10.

Deep in the ditch!

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