Our RV Adventures

When I went to bed last night I still didn’t know if we were going to make the trip this morning up to Wallace, MI about 100 miles away, to visit the DeYoung Family Zoo.

The weather was showing a 60% chance of thunderstorms last night, but it was supposed to be clear on Monday. So we could wait til then if necessary.

But when I checked it about 5 am, it was down to 50% chance, and by 8 it was 40%. So we decided to give it go since it looked like things were improving. And it turned out to be a beautiful day, lucky for us.

We headed out a little after 9, stopping in Shawano for Egg Muffins and coffee, and then gas. We got to the park about 11:30, and it was all we hoped it would be.

The DeYoung Family Zoo is owned by Bud and Carrie DeYoung, and has been featured for several years on the Nat Geo Wild channel as “My Life is a Zoo”.

Since we love small zoos and animal parks, it has been on our bucket list for a couple of years.

Just this year along we’ve visited places like Bearizona in Williams, AZ, Out of Africa in Camp Verde, AZ, Cat Tales Zoological Park north of Spokane, WA, and the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch between Tucson and Phoenix, AZ.

One of the first things we encountered was the petting zoo area where Jan tried her hand at feeding the goats.

They had a real mix of animals in this area, including alpacas,

and a zhorse, or zorse, a zebra/horse cross.

First off, you have no idea how hard I resisted saying something about “Lions, and Tigers, and Bears.”

Oh, wait. I just did. Sorry.

They have a little bit of everything here. I’m really just hitting some of the highlights.

One thing we both liked at this zoo was the fact that it wasn’t just all sterile concrete and moats. The animal’s habitats were large and natural-looking, like this grizzly cage.

They have over 400 animals here, and most of them are rescues of one sort or another, including these two beautiful cats.

A little while after we got there it was feeding time for the meat eaters. Here’s Bud flinging a chunk of cow over the fence to the waiting White Tiger below.

Although I could never get a picture of it, when the meat is thrown over the fence, the tigers leap up about 10 feet and catch it in mid-air.

Carrie said they go through three cows a DAY to feed the animals.

They have a new baby hippo who’s in a temporary facility,

until her new pool is ready. Very nice.

Here’s Carrie in the cage and talking about the different breeds of wolves they have.

These are Dingos, the Australian wild dogs, of “The Dingo Ate My Baby” fame, although these are like pets, and kids were hand-feeding them dog biscuits from the box.

This mother hyena is taking her cub back to the den after it got too close to the fence and the crowd of people around.

Besides the baby hippo, there were a lot of other, smaller babies that we could pet, hold, or feed.

This is a baby Wallaby, a type of kangaroo.

And here’s a very young monkey being feed by a little girl.

And here’s a Stripped Hyena, one of Carrie’s favorites, who really likes to be held and cuddled.

Bud came out with these two somewhat older baby monkeys that really entertained the crowd with their antics.

The last area we visited was the reptile exhibit with this Monitor Lizard just hanging out.

Bud and Carrie have really put a lot of work into this place and it shows.

As I said, I just skimmed the surface of what there is to see here. Check it out if you’re in the area.

We left the park about 2:30 and headed home, stopping for dinner at the Cottage Diner in Cecil, WI, about 25 miles from the rig.

We got back about 5:45 and settled in for the night. Tomorrow we’ll head south about 200 miles to Janesville, WI for one night, then Normal, IL for one night, before ending up in Vandalia, IL at Jan’s sister’s house on Wednesday for our family reunion. Brandi, Lowell, and Landon will be in on Thursday.

We can’t wait.

Unfortunately it looks like Chis, Linda, and Piper won’t be able to come. They will be missed.

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Thought for the Day:

Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don’t have to do it for you.

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Sorry about the late post. WordPress wouldn’t let me upload before I went to bed last night.

Yep! Master Landon has started standing up on his own and walking. Brandi
called us just a few minutes after we hit the road this morning.

She said he first stood up with a toy in each hand and took a couple of
steps, then it was 4-5 steps. No pictures yet.

Watch out, World. He’s on the move!

We pulled out of the St. Paul East RV Park about 9:15, heading for the Pine Grove Campground just outside Shawano, WI, about 210 miles away.

Ten minutes later we were in Wisconsin for the first time. For the first 60
miles or so we were on I-94 but then turn off onto SR29. Seeing as this was a
State Road I didn’t really know what to expect, but it turns out that SR29 is an
Interstate in everything but name.

The next 150 miles were all four-lane, limited access, and no traffic lights,
so we made good time.

I was thinking to myself that for some reason the countryside reminded me of
Pennsylvania, the gently-rolling hills, the neat and tidy farmhouses, and then I
saw this and the image was complete.

Didn’t realize there were a lot of Amish in Wisconsin, but I guess so.

I saw yesterday that we passed 6200 miles for the year so far. I figure we’ll
be between 10 and 11 thousand by the time we get back to Houston right before
Thanksgiving. Since we hit the road in February 2008, we’ve put almost 43,000
miles on our coach.

And loved every mile of it.

We arrived at the Pine Grove Campground about 1:30 and got set up in a really
beautiful site right on a lake. 50 amp full hookups too.

Jan immediately started doing laundry.

The only downside is no satellite reception. I put the Winegard about 60 feet
away in the most open area I could find, but no luck. I’ll try again
tomorrow.

About 4:30 we headed to Shawano to have dinner. On the way we passed this
neat local institution.

The Indoor-Outdoor movie theater.

It has 4 screens inside and two outside, back to back. For some reason
drive-ins seemed to have survived up here. We’ve seen several still in business
between here and North Dakota.

I know I certainly had a lot of fun at drive-ins growing up.

We ended up at Flamingo’s Family Restaurant for dinner, with Jan having the
Roast Turkey and Dressing and I had the BBQ Pork Short Ribs. Both very good. It
was easy to see why the place was so busy.

Still not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow. Our real reason for coming up
this way is because we wanted to visit the DeYoung Family Zoo in
Wallace, MI, right across the state line from Wisconsin. They’ve had a TV show
on Nat Geo Wild for a couple of years, and we wanted to check the place out.

We had originally planned to go tomorrow, but there’s a 50% chance of
thunderstorms, while it’s supposed to be clear on Monday. So we may extend a day
here and go then, but then that will mean longer driving days getting to
southern Illinois by Wednesday.

So we’ll see tomorrow. BTW it’s pouring down rain right now.

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Thought for the Day:

If the government was in charge of the desert , we’d soon have a shortage of
sand.

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