Our RV Adventures

Since Nat Geo Wild has been rerunning ‘My Life Is A Zoo’ and we visited there in 2011, AND we didn’t get home from our concert until midnight, I thought I’d rerun the blog of our visit, especially we have a lot of new readers who weren’t with us 7 years ago.

The DeYoung Family Zoo . . .

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.

Thought for the Day: 

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at the Right Time!

Yesterday, on I-70 in Indianapolis, IN, the back doors of a Brinks truck flew open and what seems to have been hundreds of thousand of dollars scattered across the highway.

Just our luck not to be in Indiana.

Several people have asked about the LED’s that I spec’d for my 50 amp tester design, and why 3 of them.

Well, I couldn’t buy just one, and besides they were only $5.48 for the trio. But more importantly, they fit perfectly in the existing hole in the box. And 220VAC LED’s aren’t all that available either. And you’ve got your pick of colors.

I updated my truck’s Garmin GPS a couple of days ago, somewhere around 2.6 GB is size. But I’m always disappointed that I have no idea what the updates are for. I mean, did I just spend 2 hours and 2.6 GB of date to update back alleys in Saskatchewan and dirt roads in Tijuana? At least give us a list of cities or states that are updated.

I made a few more reservations this morning for our upcoming June/July trip to Illinois and Alabama. The only one left is one for the Jackson MS area for our trip on the way to IL.

The only one I’ve found in the vicinity is about 10 miles south of Jackson, the Swinging Bridge RV Park in Byram. But I’m still looking before I make a final decision.

I’m also still looking at my possible battery upgrade using heavy-duty model made for farm equipment, this Deka 12V 1005 Amp Farm Equipment battery.

Someone asked me if the cables would match up since the Deka has its connections at one end. And the answer is probably not. But that’s not really a problem

Several years ago I had a battery cable break off at the connector due to vibration and was pointed to a nearby West Marine location. There you can cut your own lengths of the 00 gauge cable needed. They also have the solid copper connectors and the heavy-duty crimping equipment necessary to install the connectors.

Our mailman told us this afternoon that they have no idea where my missing keyboard is, so I ordered a new one. Now to figure out how to get reimbursed for the missing one.

Headline of the Day:  Police Use Stun Gun On Man Attempting To Have Sex With Car

Thought for the Day:

Baby Octopus Parts.

And you thought I was kidding.

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