Part I of our orangutan adventure

My cousin, Mandy, who resides in South Carolina has two daughters who enjoy animals. The youngest, Evie, read about orangutans in a Ranger Rick magazine over a year ago and was hooked. She asked if she could adopt one and so her mother set about to find a reputable rescue center that wouldn't just take their money and run. She found one in The Center for Great Apes Sanctuary in Wachula, Florida. Evie chose an orangutan named Pebbles via the website of photographs and descriptions and began sending money every month from her mother's purse allowance and such.

Macie: "Pebbles was picking her nose in the picture and that's why we liked her."
Evie: "Orangutans are endangered. Pebbles is the youngest female at the sanctuary and she likes to wrap her blankets around her like a scarf."

During the week of the girl's spring break, Mandy received a card in the mail from the center inviting them to a "Donor's Day" where all the sponsors could come into the sanctuary and see the animals and see what the center does and where their money goes. Since Mandy had a few days off, and since she knew I lived in Florida, because she was tired of hearing Evie ask to visit Pebbles, she thought a trip to Florida for "Donor Day" sounded like an adventure.

Mandy: "So I went into the room and discussed this with my husband, but all I got from him was a bunch of, "What? Where? Why? Apes? Why? What?" So I told him he was out and my mother was in and so Joyce and the girls and I are coming to Florida."

When Mandy called me to tell me they were coming I got online to see where the sanctuary was located in Florida. Hearing her description, and her girls' excitement, and reading about the place online I knew this was an adventure that I had to be a part of and so I jumped on the orangutan bandwagon.

We set off early Saturday morning from The Condo in Mandy's van. Joyce and Mandy were in the front, Darcy and I were in the middle, and Evie and Macie were in the back. Tom had wanted to tag along as he loves my relatives, but the thought of driving two hours south in a car full of women had him rethinking that and he opted to stay at home with his dog. We didn't miss him.

We played a car riding game that Darcy taught us which was along the lines of Concentration. We had to say we were going on a picnic and we were bringing something starting with A in the alphabet and we had to work our way to Z always remembering what the people had said prior to our turn. I learned two new vocabulary words by playing this game. Marcie brought a Narwhal to the picnic. I had no idea what a narwhal was and had to look it up. It is a toothed porpoise that has a protruding tusk that grows from the upper lip and gives it its name, "Unicorn of the Sea". You can read about narwhals here if, like me, you have no idea what the hell they are.

The other vocabulary word came from Mandy who brought "quince" to her picnic. Again, I had no idea what the hell this was and looked it up. It is the pear like shaped fruit from a tree in central Asia that is used for making jams and jellies.

Me: "I feel like this is such an educational trip. Connie would be proud."

Then to show that I could offer up my own educational information, I pointed out all of the cows that we were seeing as we drove into the middle of nowhere. There were black cows, and brown cows, and spotted cows. Some were standing. Some were lying down. The day was an overcast Florida day where sometimes it spit rain and sometimes it just looked like it would.

Me: "Do you see those cows over there? Did you know that when cows are standing up it means that the day will be a nice and sunny day? And that when they are lying down on the grass or sitting that it means the day will be overcast and raining?"
Macie: "What does it mean when some of them are standing and some of them are sitting like those cows we just passed?"
Me: "It means that some of them are tired."
Mandy: "Did you learn that from cousin Russ?"
Me: "That I did!"

As we drove we realized that there was nothing on either side of us but fields, orange trees, and cows. Darcy said it reminded her of the time we got lost in Ireland with Tom freaking out. Mandy kept mentioning that at some point she was going to need gas and so I got out my phone to check my "Around Me" app. Unlike my daughter, I had two bars on my phone and my app told me that the Duette Country Store was our one and only place within miles to get gas. Sure enough we happened upon it not three minutes later.

Mandy pulled in right next to the pumps and we all stared at them through the window. 

Mandy: "Darn it, there isn't a credit card place to swipe."

Joyce: "Somehow that doesn't surprise me."

Me: "Do we even believe that there is gas in those things?"

Darcy: "This doesn't look like a place where we should get out of the car."

Joyce had to go to the bathroom and so she hopped out first and went into the Duette Country Store which looked very nice from our positions safely in the car. She wasn't in there two seconds before she came striding out. (picture below, behind Mandy in the blue shirt)

Mandy got out after assuring us her judo skills were top notch to also go into the store to pay for the gas we hoped would be pumpable from those ancient pumps. She asked Joyce where she was going and Joyce replied that the bathrooms were behind us and not inside the store.

The rest of us immediately decided we could hold it until we reached Wachula. Mandy came back out and assured us the locals were friendly and so the rest of us got out and went inside. We bought some drinks and looked around some and then headed back to the car that was now full of gas. Mandy said she was braving the toilets and she headed toward them as Joyce came out.

Joyce: "I would use the one on the right. It has the least amount of flies"

Mandy decided she too could hold it after examining the restrooms and we headed back on the road. After many more miles of greenery and cows we came to the town of Wachula. The population of Wachula is a little over 4,000 people and it reminded us all of some southern Indiana towns with its square and one mile of "town".

Mandy pulled over at a gas station because she had to pee because she thought we needed some substance in our bellies before we hit the sanctuary.

All of us stumbled out of the car and went into the gas station store. We used the bathroom, chatted up the female cashier, and searched high and low for "items of substance".

Mandy - Peanut butter crackers, banana

Cara - Loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter, tea, cheetos

Joyce - Cheetos

Darcy - Peanuts "Because Mandy said peanuts and bananas and I listened".

Macie/Evie - Cheetos

I made sandwiches for most of us and we consumed them in record time while Mandy followed the GPS to the sanctuary. The invitation she had received stated that 600 people would be in attendance, but we weren't too worried that would be the case as we drove through the middle of nowhere. Boy, were we wrong. Who knew so many people loved orangutans?