Took my wife and kids ( along with another family) up to Jackson Meadows Reservoir last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to get out of the triple digit temps in northern Nevada. About a 2 hour drive from our growing little town (Fernley NV) is one of the most beautiful spots in the Sierra’s. Its north of Truckee CA at 6200 feet elevation. There is a paved road stretching 17 miles through awesome Rubber Boa habitat to the reservoir. My son Jakeub LOVES Rubber Boas. Before going to our camp site I had told him that we might find a Rubber Boa. He had one before, and got all excited that he might be able to find another one. He told me that we wouldn’t find one, but that we would find four of them, holding up three fingers. He is only three, so he has been practicing holding up three fingers when somebody ask him how old he is. The other interesting fact (in case you are interested) is that out of the blue he called his first Rubber Boa the “Old One”. I’m not exactly sure as to why he calls Rubber Boas “Old Ones”, but it seems to fit. Anyway, the first night we just hung out around the camp fire, toasting marshmallows and telling stories. The second night was all Jake could think and talk about all day long, he was ready to go first thing that morning. After BBQing up some steaks and taters every body (all 8 of us) loaded up in to our Yukon for the nights cruise. We didn’t leave camp till 9:30 pm. Not more than 10 minutes into our cruise, there was the first Rubber Boa on the right side of the road. Jake was so excited when I was trying to get him out of his car seat, he was vibrating saying hurry daddy, hurry. It was so cool. We made one full pass (down and back the 17 mile stretch) and found 3 more. Two more as we were going, and one on the way back. Each of the kids got to move one off the road. The weird part is that Jake was right, we found four. The largest of the bunch was 24 inches exactly. What a great night. The kids couldn’t stop talking about it the next day. Attached is a pic of the kids.
Jerry Hartley
