Down The Road A Piece ... in a 5th wheel: Feb 16, 2011 Gulf State Park

Today was zoo day. After enjoying a lazy start to the day we rode into town on our bikes to visit the Little Zoo That Could.

This is Jack now,

On our ride to the Zoo I thought I would listen to my ipod. Not a good idea. If you watched the Grammy awards on TV you may have seen a song performed by Cee Lo Green and Gwenth Paltrow sp. Cee Lo was dressed like a big colorful over sized parrot. The song they sang was called Forget You but that's not the real name of the song. I really like Cee Lo Green because he was one half of the group called Gnarls Barkley. The other half was a guy called Danger Mouse. They produced one of my favorite songs called "Crazy". Nothing like the Patsy Cline version. To hear the "real" new song sang by Cee Lo Green that was performed on the Grammys you need to down load it from Itunes and get the explicit version. I was singing the real song on the trail out loud, and I can't sing, but apparently Janet heard me and thought I was singing to her and she got pissed. Some of you reading this will be surprised at the music I like. All I can say is my music preferences are very different. At the present time every night I listen to music by a big Hawaiian Israel Kamakawiwo 'Ole, who died at a much too young of an age, and who is best known for singing the theme song to the movie "50 First Dates". After these songs I listen to my new favorite recording artist Amos Lee starting with "Windows Rolled Down" and several otthers and then I have to listen to Fxxx Yxx by Cee Lo Green. Once you listen to it you have to admit the guy can sing. He also doesn't seem to be too worried about being commercial since I doubt you will ever hear this song on the radio. I listen to these songs on German wireless head phones that are Janet's but I use most of the time. After some splaining Janet got over my singing and realized I wasn't directing my singing to her (at least this time).

For a little zoo they did have quite a few exhibits. Jack took a ton a pictures so they will follow. I did, though, become a little saddened towards the end of our visit. The tigers, bears and a few of the monkey exhibits were enclosed in areas that obviously were too small for them. Their continual pacing back and forth screamed out, "Hey, I'm bored as heck in here." I felt kind of sorry for them. Some of the animals were rescued from abusive and neglectful owners so I am thankful that at least they are well fed and safe from harm. They had a huge 1,000 lb. alligator, named Chuck, that once was a resident of the state park where we are staying. Some folks there told me that gator, while here, would sun himself on the road causing havoc and sparking fear with the park visitors. Finally, the state asked the zoo if they'd take the gator. During Hurricane Ivan, though, the gator decided to return to his original home site. It took the zoo several weeks to find him but they finally found him hiding in the wetlands somewhere here in the park.

We returned to the RV made dinner and settled down to watch American Idol. Swore I wasn't going to watch it this year; I just knew the show would tank after Simon left but actually we like it this year. Steven Tyler is a hoot and Jennifer Lopez is quite good as well. So, again I am hooked on American Idol.

I don't think Jack told you about the snake yesterday....we were taking the dogs for their morning walk. We decided to take them on a trail that runs through a lot of brush, sand and fallen timber from Katrina. Tanner has been so beaten up here with those darn sand burrs that I decided to let him lead hoping it might help his mood. Jack and Ms.Sydney always seem to lead but yesterday, Tanner leading us just felt right. The problem is I have to walk really, really fast to stay ahead of Jack's long strides. So, here we go, Tanner and I, trotting as fast as our legs would take us. I'm in the zone not really seeing anything around me just booking it and all for the sake of trying to cheer up Tanner. Suddenly Jack yells out to me, "Hu, hey Hu. Did you see this snake?" I'm like, "Yell, right." "Really, you and Tanner just walked right over him." I looked, I ran. Faster. Tanner is just going to have to be depressed from now on.

We are so loving this park and area. We are staying until next Wednesday, possibly longer if the park will allow us. After this park we will be hard pressed to find another park like it.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.