The closest encounter I've had with a rattlesnake, was when I was innocently paddling my canoe down the American River in Sacramento. A dog on the shore scared up a rattlesnake, and it went into the water and headed straight toward me. I paddled out of the way as quick as I could. But you know, that snake gets longer every time I think of it. It's up to 22 feet now.
And now that I live in rattlesnake country, I think of that pesky sarpent every time I mow the lawn. But I've never seen one here.