[size=150]The best laid plans go to hell in a handbasket, or so the saying goes.  Those words crossed my mind when jeremy's toyota tacoma finally quit spinning and crashed into the side of an overpass in Wichita, Kansas last thursday night about 9:30 pm.  Hows that for starters?   

Dumb me...while discussing directions with my co-pilot and owner of said tacoma, I blew through a red light and got T-boned by a family in a volvo wagon.  Have to say, they are not kidding about those volvo's...very resilient. The tacoma was not so lucky.  After the dust settled...we found ourselves in a rental f-150 super crew and no reason to return home and hear our wives ***** and gripe, so we pointed 'big red' west and continued on what would be a great weekend of herping. [/size]

[size=150]Coming from super hot and dry Arkansas, it was nice to see some amphibs out in a rain storm we drove through.[/size]

[size=150]Ironic too, I mentioned to the guys, "it'd be cool to see a big tiger sally crossing the road..." And not soon thereafter, I saw the 'gila-like' lurch of a salamander crossing the road. [/size]

[size=150]Sure are more stunning than the drab ones we have in Arkansas...[/size]

[size=150]Some scenery/habitat shots from around Lake Scott State Park[/size]

[size=150]Lake Scott State Park[/size]

[size=150]Found several nice carpenter ant mounds, like this one in the foreground...scanned all around them for phrynos...but none were found. In fact, its been a long time since any were documented near hear, depsite the appropriate habitat and food items. [/size]

[size=150]After we got tired of hiking around the park, we decided the cool morning followed by the sun would be a great time to roadcruise...but the rain from the night before turned the normally solid roads into a sticky/slick mess.  We were doing fine until we hit this grade, then the truck just did its own thing. [/size]

[size=150]Stuck, real stuck.  2 hrs and a 3.6 mile hike later, we were rescued by a nice lady named Rita and some rancher's WIFE with a 4wd.  At this point, we decided to discuss a new strategy over some dairy queen blizzards[/size]

[size=150]Renewed from a good nap, we met at the park with some of the KHS folks, including Joe Collins and Dan Krull.  With the sun starting to make its way down, we decided to hit the dirt roads to see if anything was moving.

Just a couple miles from the park, we found this guy crossing the road.  First one found in this county since the mid 90's.[/size]

[size=150]Unlike most of them we find, this one was quite aggressive and never played dead.  It tried to bite Eric and Mike both right in the face![/size]

[size=150]Neat habitat to be cruising.[/size]

[size=150]Took some water and cleaned its shell... this is what an ornate looks like.[/size]

also note the pattern on the belly...you dont get that with 4 toeds...

[size=150]I'm like mike...I will stop for a spadefoot...but not many other toads...[/size]

[size=150]Saturday we found ourselves at the Haverfield ranch.  Here we are as Travis Taggart goes over the herping options for the 6000 acres this guy has.[/size]

[size=150]Huge, mutant grasshoppers where everywhere.[/size]

[size=150]Mr Haverfield and Travis Taggart.  Mr Haverfield is like 74 and gets around on that motorcycle with his dog following along.[/size]

[size=150]Now I'm the eternal pessimist...so when I looked around and all we saw was these yucca clumps out in the mid-day sun, I thought to myself, "well, this was a waste of time..."  Boy, was I wrong.[/size]

[size=150]Not long after we started searching, Someone yelled "here's one!".  I was blown away! Big adult viridis just hangin out in the yucca. BTW, nice drawers, Mike.[/size]

[size=150]Like I said...I sure wasnt very optimistic when I looked at the habitat.[/size]

[size=150]Eric visiting with Dan in the Krullmobile, with most of Kansas in the background.[/size]

[size=150]Peek-a-boo[/size]

[size=150]We found the most effective technique was to poke or tap the yucca with your snake tongs or hook[/size]

[size=150]Oddly enough though...most of these rattled very little if at all- which has NOT been my experience with this species.[/size]

[size=150]Here is a juvie that had a cool pattern on it's head. [/size]

[size=150]More habitat.  We're assuming that if/when the snakes got too hot, they shoot down into the to prairie dog burrows, which where everywhere.[/size]

[size=150]Note to self- cow $hit, a good background does not make...[/size]

[size=150]Dan was shooting some video of this chunky one Mike found...it was perfectly calm, then just went beserk, striking so hard it launched its entire body off the ground.  That "2/3 its length" rule did not apply to this gal! [/size]

[size=150]Saturday night, we headed south of Garden city to roadcruise for western hogs, longnose and glossy snakes.  [/size]

[size=150]Eric on the sagebrush prairie. [/size]

[size=150]This hoggie was the one from the night before, but I didnt get any decent pics...so we remedied that with a short photo session before roadcruising. I know Natalie would appreciate. [/size]

[size=150]Whatever mojo we had going the night before, we lost it Saturday night.  Lots of driving, but only a couple viridis to show for it.[/size]

[size=150]Not complainin, but Dan Krull and Eric Kessler's cars DOMINATED. This was the first sting to our pride![/size]

[size=150]Now, in our defence, we roadcruised a nice gentilis the night before...but I put it under a pillowcase to calm it down for photos for a minute, then lifted the pillowcase up to find NO SNAKE. Looked everywhere around, but it was GONE...luckily, Dan found this looker right after his hognose. Grrrrrr.....[/size]

[size=150]Then, the next time we met Dan, he showed us this!  Could NOT get this thing to stay still for a photo, and it was wasting valuable time for Dan to find more cool stuff.  [/size]

[size=150]We ran into Eric's car and they found a nice glossy, that was the final kick in the nuts for us.  At this point, we found one more good sized viridis, then deployed a big 'ol candy snake on the shoulder of the road for the big winners to find.  From what I hear, it got some hearts pumpin! [/size]

[size=150]Sunday morning found us cruising the dirt roads again for one of my favorites, a coachwhip![/size]

[size=150]Just like we knew what we were doing, about 2 passes on this road produced this nice adult. [/size]

[size=150]Last 2 pics were a nice radix we roadcruised the first night...[/size]

[size=150]Hope you enjoyed.  Despite starting out in a mess...we managed to have a great 3 day herping weekend.[/size]

[size=150]Good herping[/size]