After a bite of lunch we headed further south to some spots along the Ohio River, driving slowly through a patch of freezing rain.  An old abandoned railway tunnel yielded more Twolines and Duskies, along with a few Pickerel Frogs.  The low tunnel ceiling was home to a large number of Big Brown Bats, and we enjoyed getting a close-up look at them.  Some of the bats were awake, and bared vicious-looking little fangs at us.

Fried dinners and more beer and more conversation at the little place up the road from the motel, the place with the neon palm tree out front, absurdly glowing in the falling snow.  The next day was our getaway day, but we planned to check out a certain creek before heading for home.  Several more inches of snow had fallen overnight, and we slip-slided our way onto the main road and out of town.

The creek we were visiting was a good spot for Ambystoma barbouri, the Streamside Salamander.  It would be more accurate to say it was a good spot for A. barbouri under the right conditions.  Under these wrong conditions, it was a good spot for sliding around on the ice and throwing snowballs at each other.  We did give it a good try at first, but many of the rocks were frozen in place; Greg managed to find a larva of some sort, but couldn't hang on to it. Having bragged for two days about his surefootedness,  Don finally slipped and went down with a thud of yeti-like proportions.  Most of us, already sporting bruised ends, thought this both right and just.

And then we went home.  It was not the most successful herp outing, but it ranks among one of the most fun trips I've been on, and I think the other guys agree with me.