Matt was over bright and early in the morning, and the four of us headed out, driving a couple hours north and east. The morning was clear and sunny, and the temperature was already in the low seventies. Our target was a set of bluffs along the Mississippi, on private land belonging to some folks Matt knew.

As we closed in on our destination, the clouds rolled in, and a stiff breeze here was coming in from the northeast - the temperature had dropped and stood around 60F. We arrived just as the family was finishing breakfast, and arrangements were made. We drove to a nearby fish market to meet our guide. Joe was a commercial fisherman, and could only shake his head at our unusual hobby, but he was up for taking us up to the bluffs. "I ain't walking up there - we'll take the four-wheelers," he said, and pulled three ATVs our of a shed behind the market. Cool!

Jim and Matt climbed on one, and Jeff and I got on another. It was nice of Jeff to let me drive, me being the ATV rookie. We followed Joe down the road and up a rough, rutted track up the hill and into the woods. Now this was an awesome way to go up a steep grade! I had to pull out my camera and snap off a few shaky shots of the experience.

We reached a place to park the ATVs and walked uphill a short distance. The trail opened up into an old abandoned quarry, right on the edge of the hill. To the north the bluff-like promontory of the hill loomed, and to the east, empty space and the Mississippi floodplain below us.

Here was a lovely, rocky, ledgy location, a place where Timber Rattlers have been encountered before. Our problem was evident standing on the narrow hogback along the bluff's edge - cold winds, and the sun mostly tucked behind the clouds. We poked around a bit, looked under some rocks, but it didn't take us long to agree that we were not going to have any success under these conditions.

Joe led us back down the trail. I gave our buggy a little too much gas and nearly dumped Jeff off the back - whups. He was a good sport about it, but I had to swallow my heart and regain my composure - I wasn't expecting the front end to come up like that!

With the four-wheelers tucked back in the shed, we thanked Joe for his help and for the fun ride. Now it was time for us to come up with an alternative plan for the day. We knew the weather was better to the south - Jim called home and got a confirmation from Austin. It was nearly fifteen degrees warmer, and sunny, at the location we were planning work the next day. Enough said - we piled into Jim's truck and Jeff's van and headed south...