Look Ma, no helmet!!
Posted on 11/19/2008 6:17:43 AM PST by Daffynition
ST. PETERSBURG - This has been a hellish vacation for Larry and Diana Moyer of Beaver Dam, Wis.
Today they were just about ready to pack up their pampered kangaroo and crippled goat and head home.
The couple, who run Ricky's White Tails and Exotics farm in the cold climes of Wisconsin, brought two of their favorite living things along for the Sunshine State road trip, but the fun times have been few and really hard to find.
As Diana let a leashed Jack, the kangaroo, munch on some dried grass at Fort De Soto Park this afternoon, she told her woeful story.
First, the aging recreational vehicle broke down three times on the way south.
"We should have brought the other one," she said. "It's a little older, but it runs pretty good."
A new alternator fixed the problem, and the Moyers arrived in Pinellas County, where Larry, 57, had a minor stroke and wound up in the hospital for three days.
"He has them all the time," Diana said. Larry, wearing jeans, suspenders and a "Wanted: John Dillinger -- Public Enemy No. 1" T-shirt, just nodded his head in agreement.
On Sunday, out of the hospital and looking for some relaxation, the couple pulled off on a spit of shoreline just south of the South Pinellas Bayway toll plaza to do a little fishing and watch the sunset. That's when a short circuit in a fuse box ignited the motor home. Within an hour, all that was left was a charred hulk.
Diana was hospitalized for smoke inhalation but released a few hours later. All their wallets, identification and money went up in flames, and the Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross got them a hotel room.
As the Moyers' luck would have it, the motel allowed goats but not kangaroos.
So they got Jack and Edward into the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation center in Seminole.
Today they strolled around the burned-out wreck of their RV, waiting for an insurance agent to arrive, waist deep in misery and anxious to get back on the road home, where, even though it's cold, their luck has got to change. They bought an old Volvo for $1,500 and hope it will get them there.
Unfazed by all this are Jack the kangaroo and Edward the goat. As their owners pulled the Volvo up next to the RV, Edward, who was injured in a car accident 13 years ago and needs a cart to get around because his front legs are useless, blinked at the sun out of the back window of the car, taking in the blue sky and sparkling Gulf of Mexico. Jack was nestled in Diana's lap as she drove, like a 60-pound Yorkshire terrier.
"They are like family," Larry said. "They stay in the house with us at night."
Traveling from Wisconsin to Florida is an undertaking in itself, and when you bring along your favorite marsupial, it gets even more involved. The Moyers had to check with every state they drove through to see whether they had to register their exotic animal.
"Every state where his feet touch the ground," said Diane Moyer, 47, "we had to get a permit," including Florida.
"Kentucky," she said. "We couldn't even go through Kentucky. It's a no-exotics state."
Two-year-old Jack, who is a registered service animal for Diana, helping her get through some recent troubled, emotional times, even "goes to the movies with us," Larry said. He sits there and eats popcorn and everything."
D’OH!
Look Ma, no helmet!!
That's one bad @ass 'roo!
@ass = @ss
Don’t look now, but could this be FR’s own Diana In Wisconsin.
LOL ... I truly doubt it. She would have had a liger and an orangutan.
But seriously, maybe she has some info on what the local news up there said about this unfortunate couple.
“Diana Moyer of Beaver Dam, WI...”
This person is NOT me. I repeat, THIS PERSON IS NOT ME, LOL!
However, I, too, have a hard time finding someone to babysit my two dogs, two cats and 50 chickens when I want to run away from home for a week to ten days. :(
:)
LOL....ROAD TRIP!
LOL, a good laugh is always welcome, thanks for the ping.
Ping..Good read.
The kangaroo thing is too funny!
Wonder if my jade plant would survive 36 degree temps? LOL
I’ve always loved dandelions! I’m one of those people who are always blowing dandelion seeds while my neighbors are trying to kill them!
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