We all slept in a bit the next morning, making up for a couple of short nights. I got out the big skillets and fired up another round of hash browns and eggs and sausage patties...everything tastes better outdoors. Our campsite came with an electrical hookup, and we charged some drained camera batteries and cleaned up a bit in the showers before getting back to it.

A short stint along the boardwalk near the Reelfoot Visitor's center gained us a few Painted Turtles and a wonky-eyed Bronze Frog. Then we headed off to an area managed for duck hunting. Along the gravel road we stopped to examine a small Western Ribbon Snake, and then parked to walk along the raised banks bisecting a wetland. As we walked, water snakes would boil off the banks and into the water, seeing us well before we saw them. After one such escape, Jim looked down and spotted a Kingsnake lying out in the grass close to his feet!

Whether these are Speckled Kings, Black Kings, or an intergrade between the two found here, they are beautiful. This one was just under a yard in length.

Just a few minutes later Jim found another King, again, out in the open, basking in the grass along the edge of the bank. This one was larger, well over a yard in length. Now all three of us were diligently scanning the ground. It was Jeff's turn next - another robust adult. Holy cow!  We were at the right place at the right time, apparently.

On the way back towards the car, Jim turned up another adult. While I was a little peeved at not having found one myself, it was difficult to be disappointed  with our results - four big Kings in about thirty minutes! Upon their release, three of the kingsnakes went straight into the water and swam away, a behavior we were not expecting. A couple stood offshore with just their heads out of the water, watching us like water snakes sometimes do.

Now we were into the afternoon, and we had to make a decision soon on staying another day or leaving. We decided to break up camp and head up to the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois that evening. Before we left, Jeff wanted to take a shot at netting and photographing an adult Southern Painted Turtle. Lacking any spare, dry clothing, we stopped in at a Dollar General store, where Jeff picked up some really cheap sneakers and a fly pair of satin basketball shorts. They were perfect for wading into the muck and mire, and then tossing into a garbage can after all was said and done. While Jeff waded in a roadside ditch, Jim and I poked around in the woods nearby but could only work up a racer that jetted away from us. Jeff, on the other hand, met with success - a nice adult Paint ended up in his net. His go-in-after-'em technique, combined with the right equipment and the right outfit, had proved successful.

We stopped at a lakeside park and I cooked up some hotdogs, baked beans and tater salad, before hitting the long road north to Illinois...