In 1992 I was ensconce in the Desert Hills motel In Del Rio for the summer. On a visit to Abilene I stopped by the library and met an attractive woman who was working there. I later called her and asked her if she would like to come to Del Rio for the weekend and do some herping with me (a great first date, always.) Even though she seemed sane she agreed to come down for the 4th of July weekend.
The first night we headed up Hwy. 277. Starting around Carruthers I spotlighted my way north, seeing nothing. This was before the construction and much of the road was narrow, winding 2 lane.
About three miles N. of Buffalo Creek I finally saw an alterna on a cut. I locked up the brakes, whammed into the grass, jumped out and grabbed the snake. By this time it had about 1/4 of its body into a hole. after 3-4 minutes I was not able to get it out. There was a small rock, perhaps 3" square, behind which the snake was lodged. I figured if I could pop out that little stone that the snake would then come out. I asked Gloria to go get the tire iron out of the car so I could move the stone. After several minutes she came back with hooks, tongs, assorted other stuff and the tire iron.
I moved the stone a bit but the snake wouldn't come out. I moved it another fraction of an inch and that is the last thing I remember until I came to on the ground, flat on my belly with a pile of rocks on me. It seems that little stone was holding up half the rock cut.
My right arm was pinned by a rock which was about 3' long and weighed aroudn 275 lbs. There were numerous other rocks on me, but that was the largest. HOWEVER, I had the snake in my left hand.
Glora asked me if my arm was broken. I said, "EFF THE ARM, HOW IS THE SNAKE??????" She walked over to my left hand and said the snake looked OK. I then asked her to please lift the boulder off my right arm. She tried, but couldn't budge it. She tried lifting it from the other end, still no release. I then held the snake in my mouth while she lifted and I was able to add some force with my left hand and the rock raised just enough so I could slide out my arm from under it.
I'd estimate that there was at least a ton of rocks which had cascaded down. I was lucky that only my right arm was damaged and that the snake was intact and uninjured. Needless to say my right forearm and hand were a mess but nothing was broken. to keep from grossing people out I wore long sleeves for a few days. Most of the scarring has faded, but I still have a few of them
The snake was a 32" male dark blairs, 10:30 PM, 80F. The snake later went to Gerrold Merker.
As a followup, while Gloria and I remained friends, she never again went on a date with me. No sense of humor, I guess.
