Evils of the desert

Last night I encountered my first snake sighting. Up until this point I've just been running past millions of snake holes and hearing their warning rattle. I've gotta say that it was a bit unnerving seeing a real one. It was nearly dark out and I was running behind schedule so I still had about a half mile left to run. Thankfully I was looking down at the ground. If I hadn't been, I would have stepped right on a 3 foot snake. Snake expert I am not; therefore, I couldn't tell if it was a rattle snake or a side winder; either way, I'm almost 100% certain that it would hurt to get to close to it. My pace increased significantly after that and I started thinking about how ill prepared I am for snake encounters. In Minnesota we had garden snakes; not exactly dangerous although you would think they had the bite of death the way the northerners react to them. Anyway, I've never been taught what to do if you are struck. Do I try and suck the poison out? Then the poison would be in my mouth anyway right? Would I be able to make it out of the desert or would I croak right there? These are scary thoughts. You can bet your boots that I'll be learning something about this subject. Every time I set foot out in that desert I'm playing with fire.