First Snake Sighting

Our string of near perfect weather continued today and the forecast looks great for the next seven days. We will be paying a lot closer attention to the weather since Phase 2 of our trip starts tomorrow at 4:00 PM. That is the time we meet up with the group of Scouts from our troop back home and start our Scout Touring Week. There will be about thirty of us travelling during the day and camping in tents at night. The week after that we start our Scout Camp Week when we will be staying in tents at Bear Lake Aquatics Base in Utah. At teh conclusion of our week at Bear Lake, the troop flies home and we start our southern swing on our drive home. I may not have access to the internet for the next two weeks, but I am going to try to post as much as possible. Some pictures will be available on the Troop website at http://www.troop746.com/ so you can check that out if you'd like.

Anyway, today was another great day with a highlight right at the beginning. As we were driving into Ayres Natural Bridge Park we saw a sign which lived up to its name. Within 100 feet of the sign we saw a snake slithering across the street. Christopher was driving, and he stopped just in the nick of time. He backed up a bit, and I extricated myself from the back of the minivan with my camera in hand and started clicking away. I got about ten feet away and that was close enough for me. The snake never reacted to my presence which I took as a good sign. From a distance I was thinking it was a rattlesnake but up close I noticed that it didn't have a rattle. I showed my pictures to a family in the park and the father identified the snake as a bull snake which he decribed as a constrictor with a non-venomous bite. He said it was too early in the day for rattlesnakes, but if we waited around we could see some. I assured him that my wife would not be in favor of that. It was a nice park with picnic benches and a playground. The park makes the lofty claim of having the only natural stone arch with water flowing under it.

After that we visited Fort Caspar and I learned that I share the same birthday with Caspar Collins for whom the fort and the city of Casper are named. There was a great museum inside and many period buildings that we got to tour. Right now Sherrill and the boys are at the movies. I dropped them off and came back to relax and
blog at the hotel. We are enjoying our time together as a family, but we also look forward to all of the activities that await us in the next week.

Trip Statistics:

Total Distance Travelled: 2514 miles

Radar Traps: 10

Tickets: 0

Wildlife seen today: The bull snake and a bunny