4-29-08

Trip Details

Kansas Whirlwind Trip - Day 4

Start Time: 8:45 a.m.

Location: Wabanunsee County, KS

Weather: Cool by the start if herping at about 54 degrees. Sunny with mild wind.

Herpers: Jim Scharosch & Matt Ricklefs

Account by: Matt Ricklefs

Thought of the Day: End of the line and back to reality.

We had a good start to the night on Monday night for camping, but by morning it was quite cold. We decided it was time to pack it in. We had discussed with Chad on Monday how the cold weather plays in to herps on hillsides. Monday had been quite warm and as we saw late on Monday as we herped to just past 8:00 p.m. the snakes were settling in under rocks. The hypothesis was that the snakes would still be there the next day even if it was cold. We had a little time, even thought we had a long drive home. We stopped at a few of our "old" sites. The first site payed out the hypothesis. We found three Milk Snakes (Lampropeltis t. syspila/gentilis).

First milk, photos by Matt Ricklefs

Second milk, photos by Jim Scharosch

Third milk, photos by Jim Scharosch

In this area they would be syspila/gentilis intergrades. This was at 9:18 a.m. All three were about nineteen inches. We took some time to take pictures of these as they were more than likely the last of the trip and they were. We did visit one tin site, but it had been cleaned up and they were constructing a building of some kind. Not a great way to end the trip, but the trip was a success overall. After 1,513.8 miles we had completed our whirlwind trip of Kansas. We also had gone by Russell Kansas, the birthplace of Bob Dole. I mention this because Jim and I had some fun with his manner of speech on the way back home (note below).

Bob Dole says there is still more spring to come and more herps to be found.

Bob Dole says until next time- Happy Herpin'

BOB DOLE!!!!