Okay, 100% true story here.

My family and I had a nice trip up the Coronado Trail, played in Upper Eagle Creek, then stopped for dinner in Morenci on the way home to Safford. Amalie, our nine-year-old, started complaining that she had to go and that she wouldn't be able to hold it until we got home.

Finally I decided to pull over onto a little dirt pull out and pulled behind some trees to give her some privacy. I hopped out and kicked the gravel around to stir up/scare off any critters that might be lurking. Assuring myself that everything was okay I told Amalie to hop on out. She was barefoot so Kristen made her put her shoes on first. Amalie slid out of the driver's side door and on to the ground. I looked down at her feet right then to find her, NO KIDDING, standing right on top of a stinking RATTLESNAKE!

I mean literally standing on the thing. It's head was under her right foot and part of its body under her left. About two heart beats later I had pulled her up and off and turned to see what it would do. It just lay there and I leaned closer to see by the lights from the door that part of its head had been smashed, presumably by the front driver side tire. It was just stunned, though, because within a few seconds it started writhing around and occasionally striking blindly into the air. I didn't want Kristen to move the truck because the light from the door let me see the thing, but the snake was also blocking my way back into the truck. I put Amalie in the truck bed for the moment and Kristen handed me our heavy ball hitch which I used to finish the snake off while Amalie led everyone else in a family prayer.

My chest is still a little tight from that flood of adrenaline.

And to top it off, Amalie declared that she definitely could hold it in after all, and did for the rest of the twenty minutes back to the house. And when we did get home nobody would leave the truck until I had checked that the path to the front door of the house was creature-free.

Jeesh. The way I see it, had it not been for Divine providence, there were several variables that, had they been slightly different, could have led to a pretty horrific result.