After an hour or two, road cruising becomes excruciatingly tedious to me. but the black clouds rolling in promised to change all that. On the storm's edge as the light failed, I picked up a small snake in the headlights. I knew what it was as I jumped out of the car to secure it - a young Kansas Glossy Snake, my first. I took a few pictures as the wind kicked up and large rain drops began spattering down. I tucked the snake away in an empty plastic drink cup - I wanted more pictures later.

The rain came down heavy and the stiff wind slewed it sideways. It was pitch black out now and hard to see, but I continued my slow cruise. Thunder rumbled, lightning cracked and the rain drummed on the car. The dirt road reached a two-lane paved road, and I decided to try my luck on it, and maybe avoid a flash flood washout back in the grasslands somewhere.

Coming around a long curve I saw a thick-bodied snake in the middle of the road. I knew what it was right away - a Prairie Rattler, and I wasn't about to pass this snake up. I pulled over to find there wasn't enough shoulder to get the vehicle completely off the road. I put on the hazard lights  and left the car sticking about a foot in the road. With any luck the only fools out in this weather were snake hunters.

I wasn't going to get any pictures in this weather, so my plan was to secure the snake for later in the night or the next morning. I ran back with my small collapsible hook and a pillowcase, and the snake was just reaching the side of the road. I got the hook under it and gently flipped it back into the road a few feet. I wanted to get in front of the snake and make it coil up or just stop. The snake had plans of its own and kept crawling.  The wind was blowing hard enough to turn my pillowcase into a flag, and my eyeglasses spattered with raindrops. My clothes were soaked through in a matter of seconds. What the hell was I thinking, I could bag this snake alone on the road in the howling night? I really wanted to see and experience this reptile, but not if I had to put myself or the snake or another motorist in harm's way. I needed a better idea or it was time to escort the snake off the road.

I looked both ways for headlights, and then flipped the snake back to the center line, sprinted back to the car and upended my knapsack, shaking out my camera gear onto the back seat. I left my useless glasses on the dash and ran back to the snake, once again on the verge of slipping into the brush. I hooked it back into the middle of the road, and opened the large zippered compartment of my knapsack, which thankfully stayed open and upright in the wind. I hooked the snake about mid-body, lifting it up and into the open compartment. Fortunately for me this was a small serpent, just a couple feet in length - I don't think I could have gotten a big beast of a rattler in the bag. I closed the zipper and ran back to the car, putting the knapsack into the passenger seat.

Soaked to my skin and feeling both foolish and triumphant at the same time, I pulled back out in the highway. The little viridis rattled from deep in the knapsack. I made note of the next mile marker, since I would have to return the snake to this spot the next morning. The storm continued for another hour or so. I saw another Glossy Snake during that time, and I watched it slither off the road.  The rain slacked off and the wind died down around midnight, and I decided to head back to my hotel. I had a big day and a long walk ahead of me in the morning and I needed as much sleep as I could get.

I spotted a small snake on the blacktop, and stopped - it was a Plains Blackhead Snake, another first for me. The snake was drinking from the thin wash of rain water coating the asphalt. I tucked it into an empty tea bottle - now I had three new species to photograph and release in the morning. Continuing back to town I saw several more of the little snakes in the road, presumably drinking as well.

The little Prairie Rattler's cascabel was noticeable even a few feet away from my knapsack, so I waited for a couple of smokers to finish their cigarettes before slipping in the back door of the hotel.  Safely in my room, I emptied the snake into the bathtub, where it coiled and rattled at me while I took a few pictures. I maneuvered it into the bathroom waste can with my hook, placed a pillowcase over the top of the can and upended it - the snake was now in the bag. I knotted the bag and put it back in my knapsack and zipped it shut. Bringing a rattlesnake into a hotel was not the smartest thing I've ever done, but I was confident that I had things under control. I put my knapsack into my suitcase and closed it securely.  A lot would have to happen for the snake to cause a problem while I slept.