EEEEEEEEK!!

I can now add "rattlesnake" to the growing list of dangerous critters I've encountered here in Arizona. I passed it on my bike riding up the mesa from camp yesterday. I was looking down just trying to keep moving up a steep section of road, and there he was. I didn't have a lot of choice where to go with a cliff on one side and a sheer rock wall on the other, so I just edged over as far as I could and kept going. He seemed more interested in soaking up some rays than a large, hairy, sweaty, blob on a bike; he didn't even rattle as I went by.

The tally so far: one brown recluse spider, four black widow spiders, three scorpions, one tarantula, and now a rattlesnake. Ain't Arizona wonderful?!?!?!?