North Carolina Zoo Visit

While in North Carolina we visited the North Carolina Zoo located near Asheboro which is about 78 miles from Durham.  We went with our wonderful friends the Gloade family, who were also great tour guides.

Misty and I were at the zoo about ten years earlier when we visited her aunt and uncle who used to live in the area, but did not remember everything about it and also much has changed since the last time we were here.

Upon entering the zoo we decided to get on the tram bus and start at the far end of the zoo and work our way back as suggested by our friends.

The Gloade and Lively families preparing to tour the zoo.

Avery was prepared with his hat and map of the zoo.

Avery is ready to go!

Miss Chloe looking cute as ever riding on the tram to the far side of the zoo.

Chloe looking cute!

Ian can hardly wait to start our adventure in the zoo today.

Ian waiting to start the tour.

Good golly Miss Molly, you are as cute as ever!

Miss Molly, cute as a button.

Here is a map of the zoo in case you are interested.  You can also click here for pdf version of the map.

Map of the zoo.

The Gloades usually like to ride to one side of the zoo and then walk back to where they started rather than walking all the way to  the other side and then riding back.  I guess it is six of one and a half dozen of another.

Riding to the other side of the zoo.

Misty looking like she is thoroughly enjoying our zoo adventure today.

Misty anticipating our zoo adventure.

Avery looking like he has a mission to accomplish on the trip with his big blue eyes.  Well they may not look blue now, but they are.

Avery with his big blue, not looking blue eyes.

Our first stop on the tour is the Cypress Swamp.  If you like amphibians and reptiles, then you are in the right place.

Entering Cypress Swamp.

Throughout the zoo there are great sculptures like this one of a cougar.  According to the zoo's webpage, there are only about 50 cougars left in North America with most of them living in swamps of Florida.  That seems like a very small number to me.

If you go to the Mountain Lion Foundation FAQ page, they say that there are 24,000 to 36,000 adults in the United States, so I'm not sure about the zoo's statistics.

Cougars are also known as the puma in South America and a mountain lion in North America, but are actually the same species in both places.

Sculpture of a cougar, mountain lion, or puma depending on where you are.

One of the reptiles we enjoyed was of course the turtles.  This one was ready to pose for the camera.

Turtle.

Of course you can not go to a swamp exhibit and not see any alligators.  Below are two American Alligators that were just soaking in the sun.  I took this picture with my new iPhone 5 which I thought did a good job, especially when using the full zoom feature, such as with this picture.

American Alligators getting a tan.

Here is a cougar, that we talked about earlier in this blog, enjoying the shade.  The temperature was in the lower 90's today.

Cougar enjoying the shade.   The temperature was in the low 90's today.

And of course, what would be a swamp tour without a snake or two.  I was close enough to this one to take a picture with just a little bit of zoom.  You may think this is a cottonmouth, but it is actually a northern water snake.

Northern water snake that is commonly mistaken for a cottonmouth.

Below is how close I was to it with only a chain link fence between it and me.  Luckily I'm not scared of snakes, but I did not let Misty know where it was until she was well past the spot.  No need to make her have an accident in her pants.

Northern water snake right next to the chain link fence that separates it from the trail.

Throughout the zoo there were hands on exhibits for the kids, such as this bubble one.  Here Kelsey tries her hand at making one.

Kelsey making a bubble.

During our tour we went to the puffin exhibit.  Not only were the puffins neat to watch, but the temperature in the exhibit was down in the forties, which cooled us off.  So, we lingered at this exhibit for a bit longer than the others!

Puffins are found in the northern Pacific Ocean and Bearing Sea and spend six to eight months living in the water and come back to land usually only to bread.

Puffin exhibit.

The zoo also has a great playground that the kids really loved.  They did not get to play on it too long though, because we still had a lot of the zoo to see and little time to do it.  We especially wanted to make sure we saw the dinosaur exhibit in the zoo, which was going to close shortly.

Ethan in the playground.

Every statue or sculpture had to be climbed on by the kids and there were plenty of them at the zoo.  Allison posed on this one for her photo opp.

Allison and the rest of the kids playing on one of the many statues at the zoo.

Ethan, Christian, Ian, Courtney, and Molly at the bear.

Now these next pictures may be too much for someone with a weak stomach.  We are entering the dinosaur section of the zoo and a couple of them broke out of their enclosures.

Some of the kids and parents did not make it, but don't worry, we got a full refund for their tickets, so it was not a total loss.

Poor, poor Ian was the first victim to be eaten by a dinosaur.  Tia jumped on the T-Rex's back to try and stop it, but it was just too big and strong.  Last thing we heard Ian say was, "Ouch!"

Ian getting eaten by a dinosaur!

After Ian was attacked we ran into a Parasaurolophus which was guarding its eggs and freshly hatched babies.  She was in no mood for us to be in the area, so we made haste and split.

Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus eggs and babies.

The next dinosaur we ran into was a Amargasaurus which did not really care whether or not we were there, so after a quick photo, we marched onward.

Amargasaurus.

Before we knew what was happening, a Quetzalcoatlus swooped down next to us with its impressive wing span.  Even though it is not really a dinosaur, it is supposedly the largest ancient flying animal ever found.

Quetzalcoatlus with it massive wing span.

After barley escaping our last peril, we spied a Citipati through the weeds.  We could not afford to lose anyone else, so had to sneak our way around it.

Citipati.

Just when we thought we were safe, we ran right smack into a Deltadromeus who looked like it was very hungry.   We knew that we could not outrun it, since it is thought to be one of the fastest dinosaurs to ever live.  So we just had to be faster than our slowest person in the group.  

Sometimes you just have to take one for the team and that is exactly what Tia did.  Actually she tripped and fell, but her sacrifice will not be forgotten.

Deltadromeus who had Tia as a snack.

Just when you thought that it could not get any worse!  We were stopped dead in our tracks by a pack of Coelophysus that were roaming around on the hunt for food.

Luckily for us, they heard all of the commotion by the Deltadromeus with Tia and went to investigate, which gave us a window of opportunity to escape.

Pack of Coelophysus on the hunt.

A Coelophysus up close and personal.

As we moved through the forest, we ran into an Acrocanthosaurus, another carnivore that would have surly eaten us, but once again, luck was on our side since there was a dying Triceratops in its path.  It was more focused on it than us and so let us pass without incident.

Acrocanthosaurus ready to eat!

Dieing Triceratops that saved us from the hungry Acrocanthosaurus.

Once again we barley escaped, but our luck was soon to run out.  Just around the corner we ran right smack into a Giganotosaurus who was not distracted like our previous diners.

Un-distracted Giganotosaurus.

Poor Misty and Chloe were the unfortunate ones who gave this dinosaur its meal today.  Courtney was able to distract it with her umbrella and escaped.

Misty and Chloe becoming a meal for the Giganotosaurus.  Courtney escapes by using her umbrella as a distraction.

After getting past a few more dinosaurs we finally made it out and had time to do some digging for fossils.  Ethan found some bones and a small dinosaur tooth.  Well it may be a shark tooth but I'm not really sure.

Ethan digging for fossils.

Some bones and a tooth was found.

After our near death experience in the land of the dinosaurs, the Gloade family and Ethan sat down to take a needed rest.  As you can see, poor Ethan was overcome by exhaustion and collapsed.

Jenny, Kelsey, and Christian Gloade taking a break while Ethan takes a nap.

Even though we were out of danger from the dinosaurs, there were still other animals you had to watch out for while in the zoo.

While taking a break, Courtney had an unexpected visit by a snake.

Courtney and her snake.

Even though the snake did not bite her, she was severely traumatized by the entire event and will probably never be the same.

Courtney traumatized by a snake.

We did get to see some lions though and even Courtney enjoyed them after her snake episode.

A male and female lion.

Here is another shot from my new iPhone5 of a giraffe and zebra without any zoom.

Picture of a zebra and giraffe without zoom from an iPhone 5.

Now here is the same picture with full zoom from the iPhone 5.  I think it does a very nice job and is not grainy at all.

Zebra and giraffe picture from an iPhone 5 zoomed in.

Well those were some of the adventures we had at the zoo today, but not all of them.  It is a very nice zoo to visit and we would gladly go back to see anything we missed or already saw.

Also, there were no real injuries or fatalities while we visited the zoo either. I made it all up just for the fun of it.  You know I should not have to put such a disclaimer, but probably should, just in case.

We had a wonderful time with the Gloade family at the zoo and can not wait until we get together again on some other adventure.

We are truly blessed and know that God had a hand in us meeting the Gloade family during our time in North Carolina. 

God also has a hand in your life too, so just listen and let Him guide you.  God bless!

Thanks!
Don, Misty, and Kids...

Eno River State Park

Another state park that we visited while staying in Durham, NC was the Eno River State Park.  Located just minutes from where we were staying, it was a nice place to get away to and walk its trails.

Below is a trail map for the park.

Trail map for Eno River State Park

The kids had fun looking at the trail map and deciding which trail we wanted to walk on.  

Ethan, Ian, Chloe, Courtney, and Tia looking over the trail map.

Tia conducted the risk assessment for the hike and determined that ticks were an issue and we had to be on the watch for them.  The caution sign that read, "Please, don't feed the ticks" may of had something to do with her decision too.  Luckily we did not pick any of them up during the hike.

Tia performing a risk assessment.

The trails were well marked and guided us through some wonderful views of the woods while we took our evening hike.  We chose to take the Cox Mountain trail or at least a portion of the trail today.

Part of the Cox Mountain trail.

During our hike we had to take some pictures of the kids for memory sake, so here is one on the trail with the Eno River in the background through the trees.

Tia, Ian, Courtney, Ethan, Chloe, and Avery posing for a picture.

A neat feature that is available while at the park is audio tours of the different parts of the park.  The audio tour for the suspension bridge tells of its construction and some history.  It is well worth the 4 minutes it takes to listen.

Suspension Bridge Audio Tour sign.

The bridge was true to its style and bounced so much with us crossing it, that it alarmed the kids to a certain point.  They recovered quickly from their fears and drove on though.

Crossing the suspension bridge over the Eno River.

The warning sign was warranted due to the bouncing nature of the bridge.  Even an adult could loose their balance while crossing if they were not careful.  For some reason it bounced even more when I crossed.  I still have not figured that one out yet.

The rules of the bridge.

After our treacherous river crossing, it was time to let the kids get closer to the river and maybe even play in the water some.

Tia, Courtney, Chloe, Ethan, Avery, and Ian on the Eno River.

[Playing in the water] was defined as letting the kids get their feet wet.  The rocks were pretty slippery and I really did not want to have to do any life saving while we were there.

I can hear the news story now:

"A forty eight year old man was pulled out of the Eno River by local authorities after trying to save his children who fell in while playing.  The children easily swam to the bank and saved themselves and were in no real danger, unlike the dad who gave in to exhaustion and had to be rescued by the local fire department."

Officials on site commented that maybe the kids should have jumped back in to save their dad.   The Fire Chief asked the question, "In his shape, what was he thinking?"

That would be my luck.

Ian, Tia, Ethan, Courtney, and Avery getting their feet wet in the Eno River.

Of course we had to have a picture of the kids while they were on the bridge.  I wanted a closer picture but, with it starting to get dark out and using my iPhone, my zoomed in shots were too grainy. 

Avery, Ian, Tia, Ethan, Courtney, and Chloe on the Eno River suspension bridge.

During our hike we also went to the group campground site, which had some nice level gravel pads to pitch your tents on and I thought were well arranged.  It would have been a great place for a big family, church group, or any type of group to camp in.

The group camp site in Eno River State Park.

There were also primitive toilet facilities near the group camp sites.  It is funny to me how it is just an outhouse that I would use, if I had to, but to the kids it is a stinky scary black hole, that they do not want to use, even if it means having an accident in their pants.

If nature is persistent enough, they will use an outhouse, but it is under duress and constant protest.  This is usually when I call them a bunch of wimps and retell the stories of how I walked over a mile to the bus stop through three feet of snow, uphill, each way, when I was a kid.  

That is actually true about waking uphill both ways through three feet of snow to the bus stop.  Ask me sometime and I will explain.

What walking to the bus stop through snow has to do with them using an out house is, I'm not sure, but anytime I can tell them that story, I take the opportunity to do so.

Posing in front of the out house getting ready to be lectured about walking to school in the snow.

A little tip that I have also discovered while walking through the woods with kids is to have them walk in front of you with their hand held as high in the sky as possible.  This way they catch most of the cobwebs and keep them from getting on you.

No, I really do not make the kids do that, or at least that is what they will say if you ask them.  They had no clue why we asked them to walk ahead holding their hands up!

The cobweb clearers.

So if you are in the Durham, NC area and want some trails to walk that are nestled near a river, then this is the place.  We did not get to explore the park as well as we would have liked and did not even get a Geocache that was in the park, due to running out of daylight, but did get to see some of the park and got some needed exercise.

God bless and may everything be done to serve his glory.

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Thanks!
Don, Misty, and Kids...

Always Something To Fix

It seems like there is something always breaking and needs to be fixed on the RV.  Nothing major, but items that just break under normal wear and tear.

One common item that falls into this category is the Cabinet Drawer Catch with Keeper or drawer latch which is used to latch the drawer and keep them closed during travel.  

It is made out of plastic or something that looks like plastic and the hook portion always breaks after a while.  Last time we had it in the shop, four of them were replaced and now it seems one breaks every month or so.

Original drawer latch installed on the RV.

Hook latch on drawer that came with the RV.

Drawer latch hook catch that is attached to cabinet face.

I guess that the drawer latch hook is the weakest part of the entire system because that is always what breaks.  Sometimes it may be due to shutting the drawer with some type of obstruction in the latch that breaks it, but also just plain old wear and tear weakens it to the point of breaking.

Broken drawer latch hook.

Last time we had the RV in for service they gave me a couple extra drawer latches to replace any more that may break, but I used them up in just a couple of months.

So after looking for a while, I found some at Lowe's that were a good replacement and for only $0.99 each rather than the $5.57 each for the original plastic ones I could order from the manufacture.

Slightly different from the hook type latch, this Double Roller Catch holds just as well as the original latches and hopefully last much longer since the hook or catch on the drawer is made out of metal and not plastic.

Replacement drawer latch I found at Lowe's.

After taking the drawer out of the cabinet and off of its slide arms, I had to remove the screws to get the busted latch hook off the drawer. 

Latch hook removed from drawer.

Then I had to do the same for the latch hook catch attached to the face of the cabinet.  The old screw holes made nice alignment guides for the new latch hardware. I could not use the existing screw holes, so had to drill or punch new ones, but the old holes helped me line up the replacement drawer latch.

Removed latch hook catch from cabinet frame.

I then attached the new latch so that the catch rollers were flush with the front of the cabinet face.  This is the trickiest part since the drawer catch and rollers need to meet perfectly to get a good grip.

Latch rollers installed flush with cabinet face.

Below is how the latch roller should look after being installed flush and centered on the drawer.  This is where the original latch screw holes helped me align everything on the face of the cabinet and drawer.

New latch rollers installed centered and flush by using original screw holes as a guide.

I then centered the roller catch between the old screw holes from the original latch hook and made sure it was the same height as the rollers.

Drawer catch installed to align with rollers.

So that is how I'm replacing any of the original drawer latches that have broken or will break in the future.  It is a lot cheaper than buying original parts and I'm sure they will last longer.  They do just as good of a job holding the drawers shut while driving down the road also.

Another item that seems to break easily from normal wear and tear is our sleeper sofa.  It has a coil spring mattress with an air bladder and pillow top,  The air mattress had a built in fan that made inflating and deflating very quick.  We have been through two of the air bladders within the past two years.  They always seem to develop a hole right in a seam, where it can not be patched.

The first time it busted, we happened to be at the sofa manufacture in Elkhart, IN and they gave us a new bladder for free.  The second time, was while we were here in Durham, NC and so rather than messing with the sofa manufacture about buying a replacement, I bought a Coleman air mattress to replace it for $40.00.  So far it is working fine and is just as easy to inflate and deflate with the battery powered pump that came with it.

 Our sleeper sofa with blow up mattress.

Luckily, the Coleman replacement mattress' air nozzle is at the bottom middle of the mattress where the mattress cover zips up, so is in a convenient location to use the air pump to blow it up.

 Coleman air mattress nozzle at the foot of the bed.

Another issue we had with the sleeper sofa is that one of the screws that holds the expanding frame together broke off.  This caused the left side of the  bed to not fold up properly and also let that side of the couch sit lower than the right side, which was starting to wear out the cushion.

 Busted side of sleeper sofa.

So I drilled two holes through the frame and put 1/4 inch bolts there to hold it in place.  I had to have my nine year old daughter, Courtney, to feed the bolts through from the left because my hands were way too big.  I probably did not have to use two bolts, but did anyway.  There is more than enough frame to support the two holes without weakening it.

The screw sticking out on the left between the two bolt heads is the one that broke off in the first place.  There were already holes in the inner frame, so I just had to drill through the outer frame to insert the bolts into.  I'm sure I will be doing this again to the right side of the sofa someday too.

Repair job with two bolts through the sleeper sofa fold out frame.

 It seems there is always something to be done to the RV to maintain or fix.  I'm just happy that I can fix the simple things without having to always take it to the shop.

The next major maintenance item for the RV is having the transmission serviced, which I will leave to the professionals.  I was told it will be around $1200.00 to have done, but is a requirement to ensure that we have no major issues with the transmission later on.

I'm also happy that God has given me the knowledge to be mechanical and handy around the RV.  It is a mental battle at times, but usually once I put my mind to it and do some research, I can fix it myself and save a bunch of money.

There are plenty of times I would have loved to pay someone else to do the work and have at times taken that route, but usually I will do the research and then attempt it by myself or seek the help of an expert, who can help guide me.

So next time a drawer latch breaks on you, or you need to fix your sofa sleeper, you may be able to do what I have done and save yourself some money.  I will not vouch for saving your sanity though.

Until next time, God bless you and your loved ones!

If you like to follow our blog, please register with Google+ and become a follower so we can see how many of you there are.  Also we would love for you to like our LivelyRV Facebook page and check in with us from time to time.  We would also love to hear from you, so do not be shy and give us some comments.  

Thanks!

Don, Misty, and Kids...