It was time to head west to Langtry and start our final night cruising the Pandale Dirt Road.  Our Juno Road Diamondback would have to wait one more day to be photographed at its capture point.  Our first stop was at Chamberlain's, where we once more checked the debris in back, finding only a few Mediterranean Geckos.  The pretty little Texas Night Snake was put back where we found it, and we then stocked up on fluids while chatting with the folks in the store, once again swapping snake stories.

As the sun reached the hilltops we headed north, bumping over the first cattle gate as we started our first Pandale Dirt circuit.  What a fine evening it was - the humidity was quite lower than it had been over the past few days, and it was a few degrees cooler as well.

Rick and I hauled out of the passenger windows and sat on the doorframes, hanging onto the luggage rack.  What a fine place to be! We watched the road and enjoyed the sunset. One of the great advantages to cruising the Pandale Dirt is the absence of other vehicles.  It was just us on the road, with the occasional sheep or goat crossing in front of us.

The Patchnose and Great Plains Rat snakes were released at their respective capture sites, and we went back to road cruising.  Small puddles from the big rainstorm two days before hung on in several places. Before too long a snake appeared in the road - another Mountain Patchnose, which was quickly secured for examination - these little beauties were as fast as coachwhips.  I have decided that the "slap" technique works better on these quick herps than attempting to grab them; you simply run at the moving animal and fall on them, getting a hand or both hands on them to pin them to the ground, until you can get a better grip on them.  Of course, this leaves you open to a bite, but that's preferable to losing a snake or lizard.

A few minutes later we saw a Western Diamondback crawling off the road and onto the shoulder, heading for a large clump of palo verde. We detained the snake for a few minutes, for examination and a few pictures.  This two foot rattler was not as pretty as our Juno Road atrox, being a bit darker, although the "rhombs" or diamond-shaped marks on the dorsum were very distinct.

Nothing else turned up as we rode down the day into night, stars winking as we reached Pandale and our turnaround.  Heading back, we had just climbed out of a shallow canyon onto a stretch of straight, flat road, when the cry went up - "Snake!"  It was a yearling Diamondback, cute as a button.  Ken and Rick attempted some flash photography as we wrangled the little atrox in the glare of our headlights.  We couldn't take the snake with us to take daylight pictures and release later, since we weren't coming back this way.  We let the little snake crawl off into the darkness.

A few miles down the road we met up with a local fellow on an ATV, with his Aussie Blue Heeler perched on the back.  This was one of the folks we had chatted with back at the gas station, and he was waiting for us - did we want a Mexican Hognose?  He handed over a hatchling Heterodon nasicus kennerlyi he had spotted crawling across the road. Knowing we were working the Pandale tonight, he had waited for us. We thanked him, shared a beer, and he roared off into the darkness.

Our last night on the Pandale Dirt was over. Who knows when we might make it back this way, if ever?