A bad night snake hunting is better than a good day at work, right?

Well, Jeff and I can combine snake hunting and work and rationalize heading to Sanderson, Tex., to join the Snake Day celebration. I got off the plane right around noon and hopped into the "Herpin' Death Truck," and we began the long trek from Austin to Sanderson. Jeff gave me some tips and explained a bit of the natural history and how to search the cuts. I am an amateur and I readily admit that, but I think Jeff was quite pleased that I didn't think each tire strip on the highway was a snake.

We rolled into Sanderson around 8:30 pm with some very impressive storms surrounding us. We managed to completely miss all of it on the drive so we unloaded our gear, put on the new fashion trend hitting the herp world (orange reflective vests with 144 square inches of reflective tape) and hit the road.

Despite our best efforts, we turned up a ton of inverts, but only one snake. A night snake popped out about 5 minutes before the rain hit Sanderson. We also found a few of Wayne Howell's "surprise snakes," but since they were planted animals, they really do not count. I think the rain skunked us all. Jeff and I headed back to the Desert Air at 2:00 am and collapsed.

We are preparing to head to the convention center shortly for registration and then I suspect we will take a nap so we are raring to go tonight. Here's to finding something that buzzes!

Are you in Sanderson with us? We have a photo gallery set up for the event! Please post all of your finds here.