Across the highway from Chamberlain's is the beginning of the Pandale Dirt Road, a twenty mile bone-jarring test of shocks, springs, tires, and snake hunters.  Scraped out of the landscape, it would be more aptly named the Pandale Rock Road, in most places having large and sometimes sharp rocks in the roadbed.  On steep grades it often has deep gullies carved into it, and in some places the bedrock of the land itself juts out of the ground.  Always there are rocks and potholes to negotiate.  The Pandale Dirt is an eater of tires, a fact we found out on our first visit here.

We loved this road!  The rough terrain dictated a slow driving speed, making it perfect for nighttime road cruising.  There was no traffic to speak of - we rarely saw another vehicle on the road.  No houses, no people, just us and the wide horizon.  It is a lonely, desolate place - in Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses, his cowboys pass this way heading for Mexico.  At the far end of the road was the small town of Pandale, on the banks of the Devil's River, once again playing a part in our west Texas adventure.  The road was blacktop north of Pandale, so the Devil's River bridge at Pandale served as the perfect turnaround spot.

There was time to make one drive in before sundown, allowing us to scope out the road and its rough places.  It was also a good time to encounter some diurnal species of herps.  Two years ago on this road we discovered a Western Coachwhip and a Mexican Hognose as the day waned.  Rolling down the side window in the passenger compartment, I hauled myself out through the window, sitting on the door and hanging on to the luggage rack with one hand.  It gave me a great view of the road and the roadsides, the only trick was getting out quickly, accomplished by pulling my legs out while hanging onto the rack.

A few miles in and there's a snake in the road!  I hoisted myself out thru the window and managed to slap hands on the serpent and hold it down before it could get it away.  It was a beautiful Mountain Patchnose Snake (Salvadora grahamiae grahamiae), and I was glad to have secured it quickly, as these snake can move fast when they want to.  This snake was another first for us, and we bagged it for the next day's photo session, making note of the location for subsequent release.

The road remained clear of reptile life the rest of the way to Pandale.  As we neared our turnaround spot, we stopped to watch two massive thunderheads build. Highlighted by the setting sun, they eventually collided with a fierce lightning display.  We turned around and headed back, realizing the storm was headed our way.  The wind picked up and soon a few large raindrops spattered the windshield. Within a few minutes, sheets of rain pounded the Blazer, reducing our already slow pace to a crawl. Lightning flashed nearly non-stop all around as the storm passed over us. At one point a panicked deer ran into the rear of the Blazer with a smack!  We continued our slow pace, and eventually the storm center passed, heading south into Mexico. The rain slacked off and eventually stopped, and we could see by our headlights torrents of water crossing the road in low spots. Rolling down our windows, we could hear toads off in the dark, the trill of Gulf Coast Toads (Bufo valliceps), and the sheep-like bleating of Great Plains Narrowmouth Toads (Gastrophyrne olivacea).

About five miles from Langtry, our headlights picked up a snake in the road, amidst the trickling water. It was a large Great Plains Rat Snake (Elaphe guttata guttata), another first for us. I was especially happy, having encountered several heart-breaking DOR emoryi in years past, back in Missouri and Illinois. It made no effort to escape or bite as we examined it by headlight. Tenant indicates that emoryi is often seen after heavy rains, being forced above ground by rising water, and this snake was proof positive of that fact. We bagged it for the morning's photo shoot.

Road cruising after a rainstorm can be very productive, but the "GPR" proved to be the last herp of the night. We headed towards camp with some trepidation, wondering if we would pay dearly for our lack of tent stakes. Fortunately, the storm passed a few miles west of our camp, and was now over the distant low hills in Mexico. Even so, the wind at camp was very strong, shaking the tents incessantly as we bedded down for the night.