Cec allowed an old fellow from Marble Falls to establish a wrecking yard on a little patch of ground on our property. Old Man Hugh Hampton was as nice of a fellow as I ever met, and a very hard worker. He was honest as the day was long. (Whatever that saying is suppose to mean)

Hugh had a fellow working for him up in the junk yard pulling usable parts off of cars. It was in the summertime, because Kenny and I were both at the house. I’m betting we had stopped by to grab a bite to eat. We weren’t there making a leisurely day of it I bet.

All of a sudden the worker and a boy (11 or 12) pulled up to the house in a panic. The man had been bitten by a rattlesnake. Could we get him to the hospital?

Of course we could. We all four piled in the front seat of a 58 Ford Pickup, the vehicle Kenny was currently driving. Away we went, headed to the Emergency Room in Burnet, some 25 miles away.

Kenny, driving more normal for him than the junk yard worker would have thought. He had the old Ford wound up. The worker wasn’t enjoying the trip at all, between the bite and being scared half to death.

The Hamilton Creek Bridge, a couple of miles east of Marble Falls, was narrow. Two cars could meet on the bridge but it was intimidating. On each side of the bridge was a 3′ tall concrete wall along the edge, forming a barrier to keep cars from running off of the side.

Sightseeing being popular on that road, had caused a car meeting us to stop right at the end of the bridge. Another vehicle approached the stopped car from behind and decided to pass in our lane, not realizing how fast we were traveling. Through something between great driving skills and dumb luck, Kenny avoided colliding with the vehicle that was in our lane. It did cause our old Ford pickup to fly up onto the concrete barrier wall and traveled the length of the bridge with our front bumper gliding on top of that wall. All of this happened in the span of less than five seconds.

That left the rattlesnake bite victim in the floor of the pickup, even more scared than ever. I just remember him saying “please slow down, I’d rather die of a snake bite than be killed in a car wreck”.

I’m not sure Kenny slowed down that much. For some reason we decide to go by Dr. Sheppard’s office in Marble Falls to seek help. Upon arriving there they told us to instead go on to Burnet. I’m sure that was to the horror of the snake bite victim.

We got the man and boy delivered and then went on about our day.