Jim and I drove number of back roads without finding much in the way of likely herping spots, but in late afternoon we drove by a couple of abandoned trailers that looked promising. We saw a young guy out mowing a stretch of yard along the shoulder and stopped to ask him if it was OK to poke around for snakes back around the trailers. "Sure," he said. "You can come look on my property if you want, I've got a patch of woods out back." His name was Jay, and he shut off the lawnmower and led us down the lane leading to his house. Jay was familiar with the snakes and lizards on his acreage. We poked around a little behind his house, finding a couple ringnecks under an old john boat, and then Jim and I trekked down into the woods. A trail led down to a small creek, and as it turns out there were loads of flat rocks about. Close to the creek we turned up a number of salamanders, including a Zigzag Salamander, some Longtails, and a pretty little 'leadback' version of a Zigzag, grey speckled with little or no pattern on the dorsum. We also found several Cave Salamanders, one of which was a large female, swollen with eggs.

We found a few more Ringnecks and one Worm Snake, and then ran out of good rocks to lift, so we headed back towards the house. Jay brought us out some cold water, and this is where the odd dreamlike sequence kicked in... Jim had spotted a martial arts kicking bag behind the house, and asked Jay what he studied. "Wing Chun," said Jay, giving Jim a jolt. Jim is a serious, long-term practitioner of this martial art form. Jim proposed a little exercise - you travel across four states, and at random run into another Wing Chun student, why, what other choice is there? So I got to stand by and watch Jim and Jay engage in a little chi sao, or hand drills. Nothing serious, nobody got punched or thrown or anything like that, and it was great fun to watch.  Jim was pumped up - "all this way and the first guy we talk to does Wing Chun!" Synchronicity is an awesome thing; sometimes the universe throws you a curveball and you just swing away and connect.

After thanking Jay for his hospitality, we took our leave, and went back and checked out the trailers and a couple other nearby tin piles, but we came up emptyhanded. The day was growing thin as we headed back to our campground, and I rustled us up some supper over the camp stove. It doesn't get much better than a camp supper and a couple of cold beers. We didn't stay up too late, since we had a big day tomorrow with the KHS, and Jeff would be joining us.