My friend and fellow naturalist, Larry, often visited and we traveled together in the summer months. Larry was the spider guy mentioned in the October issue of “Naturalists View.” Larry had become particularly interested In the Trapdoor spider. So in the summer of ’73, we headed off to the Mojave Desert of Southern California in my 1964 VW Camper looking for the trapdoor spider as well as any other “critters.” Larry brought along an assortment of test tubes in which he would place his spiders so that he could take them back to his home in Washington for study. Of course he handled them carefully, because many, like the Black Widow, had nasty venom. Once in the test tube, he would close it with tight fitting corks and place them upright in a test tube holder.
We had had a lot of fun for several days collecting specimens and exploring some of the old Ghost Towns. However it was summer and the desert was hot, so we decided it was time to head back to the cool California coast. We heard some strange noises coming from the back of the camper, almost like soft popping sounds. At first we didn’t think much of it, because if you ever rode in a VW van, you know that you are going to hear strange sounds.
Let me think… it sounds like corks popping of a bottle…Holy Cow!
We pulled off to the side of the road and looked into the back of the camper. The test tubes were sitting in the holder but many were without corks. Scattered over the camper were corks, bugs, beetles and spiders.
Ok, we are naturalists not physicists, but basic science should have told us that having spiders in sealed test tubes and then driving up a mountain pass from 2,000 ft. to an altitude of 3,800 ft. was not a good idea. We spent the next couple of hours recapturing all we could find. A California Highway Patrol officer pulled over to see what our problem was. We explained our situation, he shook his head in disbelieve and drove off. He didn’t even offer to help!
As you can imagine, we both imagined we kept feeling things crawling on our necks, legs and arms. However we didn’t actually find or see anything. We made it home without incident, soon after that I sold the VW.
Spiders like every other Creepy Crawlers are always of interest to me. Did you find something of interest and want to know more? Meet with me and other nature people at the Road Runner Grill for coffee 8-9 a.m. Tuesdays.
Contact me at jcloer4243@gmail.com, 520-818-3545.
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