After a week of going a little faster and longer than I wanted to, today was a nice leisurely day. I didn’t try to keep up with any of the “Bike the US for MS” riders, and just took my time.
At one point, I stopped at an intersection to rest and have a snack. A farmer, Vern Klingenberg, drove up and we talked for a few minutes. When he told me he raised cattle, I told him I “moo” at them. That’s when I found out his son has a hilarious, and very popular, youtube channel. You have to check it out.
This is my favorite one so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuKF7uNr29I
But you HAVE to click his name and watch more! I love Kansas farmers!
For days, I have been hoping to stay at Hedrick’s Exotic Animal Farm (http://www.hedricks.com/). They don’t answer their phones on weekends, so I wasn’t sure they were open, or, if they were open, whether they had room for me. But they did!
All of my real-life friends know I love animals. No, I mean I REALLY love them! Especially camels! So, as soon as I learned about Hedrick’s, I knew I had to go there.
They have lots of really friendly and interesting animals, but I think the dromedary camels are the stars. They’re hand-raised, and they love people. They’re like puppies! When you walk up to the fence, they run over (in that wonderfully awkward way camels run) to have their noses rubbed. One of them gently gnawed on my arm for a few seconds. I was later warned that they can hurt you, but I am certain this one was just being friendly.
The ostriches are scary little dinosaurs, but really fascinating. They follow you around, but I don’t trust them, and I was warned not to get too close – they will steal and EAT things like eyeglasses, and they peck REALLY hard.
They even have a baby giraffe. It moos like a cow!
I took lots of video, but don’t have the bandwidth to upload them, so that will have to wait.
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