I called the school and told the principal what we were doing and asked her to let the teachers know. Then I went online to find a place for us to go. It had to be somewhere close by–close enough we could get Ken back to Erlanger Hospital if anything unforeseen happened. We wanted it to be somewhere we hadn’t been before so that the memories for Jesse and Benjamin would be “brand-new”. I finally found the “Wild Animal Safari” in Pine Mountain, GA, just a couple of hours away from Ringgold. I called and got us a hotel reservation and we took off. (It’s a really good thing we had a van at the time. Packing a feeding pump and pole, cans of formula for two days and medical supplies takes up a LOT of room.)
I remember how Jesse and Benjamin chattered on the way to Pine Mountain. They were stoked about getting to miss school. I think Benjamin was more excited about getting to stay in a “HO-tel” than he was about the safari park. It was such a comfort for Ken and me to see the boys laughing and more relaxed than they had been since Ken was diagnosed. This had been a GOOD idea.
We got to Pine Mountain and decided to just go directly to the safari park and worry about finding our hotel after. It was one of those parks that you drive through because most of the animals were walking around loose. The predatory ones–lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) were, of course, in cages that you could see from the driving path. We could either drive through in our own vehicle or we could wait and go on one of the safari vans. We decided to drive through. We bought some animal food, which looked like huge chunks of dry dog-food and smelled way worse. They told us to be sure to hold the food out to the animals with a flat hand, so they wouldn’t think our fingers were food too (WHAT?!!!!). They also told us, “Whatever you do, do NOT feed the ostriches and emus”.
We decided that Ken should drive so I could work the video camera. I also didn’t want him to be feeding the animals and getting all germy since his immune system at the time was basically non-existent. Off down the path we went. Most of the animals walking around were domestic in nature. There were lots of different types of cattle, as well as sheep, goats and several different kinds of deer. There were also little prairie dogs running everywhere. If you stopped your car, the animals that were hungry would come to your windows for a treat. The ones who weren’t hungry would just sort of give you a disinterested stare. I remember this one HUGE long-horned steer (the span of his horns was as long as our van, no kidding) just stood in the path, looking at us like “What are YOU looking at?” We had to go around him because he wasn’t going to budge and we surely didn’t want him to get mad and ram our van.
We fed some of the deer and some of the cattle. The boys decided they didn’t like being slobbered on, so guess who ended up doing most of the animal feeding? One time, I dropped my bag of food in the floor of the van and bent down to retrieve it. When I sat back up, a BUFFALO was sticking his whole head in my window!!!!!! I grabbed some food and held it out to him on a flat hand like they had said. Well, he sticks his tongue out (it’s about three feet long) and proceeds to wrap his entire tongue around my arm trying to find the food that is in my hand (BTW, did you know that buffalos have scratchy tongues, like cats?). Picture this. . . the buffalo has his whole head in our van, his whole tongue is wrapped around my arm up to my elbow. I am SCREAMING. . . the boys are laughing hysterically and Ken just sits there smiling. I try pushing that critter’s head out the window, but of course, I can’t budge him–he’s a BUFFALO and he weighs probably more than our van. After what seems like a year, Ken slowly eases on down the path and Mr. Buffalo loses interest in us. I am covered from head to toe in nasty old buffalo slobber and Ken and the boys are still laughing. (Even I have to admit. . . it was pretty funny.)
Ken drives on down the road as I’m giving myself a bath with baby wipes and trying to compose myself after the buffalo incident. An ostrich (or emu, I don’t know how to tell them apart) strolls up to the van on Ken’s side. Remembering what they said at the office, we rolled up our windows and didn’t offer any food. That’s when we found out WHY we weren’t supposed to feed the ostriches/emus. This bird proceeds to start pecking Ken’s car window as hard as he could! I was afraid he was going to break the window. When we still don’t offer any food, he starts trying to eat the weather stripping around the window. We had to leave so he wouldn’t damage the van. He chased us down the road for a while. Ostriches/emus are MEAN!
The next morning, we decided to go to FDR's "Little White House" in Warm Springs, GA, which was one town over.
It was very interesting, but historical in nature, so of course, the boys quickly lost interest. I think they thought the neatest thing was that they still had the actual roll of toilet paper that had been in President Roosevelt's cabin the last time he had been there. It was still hanging on the wall, only now it is encased in plexiglass.
Anyway, Jesse and Benjamin had the most fun racing Ken on his scooter. Since the attaction involved a lot of walking, they offered scooters for people with disabilities. Ken was pretty weak and tired from the animal park, so we got him a scooter. After we had seen everything, Ken and the boys spent about an hour or so racing up and down the pathways. Ken let Jesse and Benjamin get on the scooter with him and "drive". They had such a good time and it did my heart a world of good to see them all smiling again.
The ride back to Ringgold was peaceful. All of my "men" were asleep in their seats and I felt a contentment I hadn't felt in a very long time. Thank you, Father God, for such sweet memories, even in the midst of such pain.
Would love to have seen the Buffalo incident!! Good times!!
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