Cavaliers take a ride on the wild side!

Herds of tiny deer came running over the grassy hillside toward us. Furry camels stuck their enormous heads in our laps. A zebra mare guarded her young foal. Llamas nibbled at our fingers with their soft lips. Bison opened their cavernous maws and stuck out their obscenely long, pointy tongues. Emus strutted along like oversized hens. A baby giraffe hid cautiously in a stand of pine trees. Eland tiptoed along displaying their intricately beautiful spirally twisted horns.

The Cavaliers took a ride on the wild side with an amazing safari adventure tour of the Global Wildlife Center in Folsom on Sunday, September 14.

-Doug led the ride on his 1998 Honda Shadow 750
-Michael D. rode his 1999 Honda Shadow 750
-Poncho rode his 1996 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Classic
-Jeff from Baton Rouge rode with the Cavaliers for the first time on his 1993 BMW R100GS
-David and Michael W. rode David's 1996 Honda Gold Wing SE

With the heat of summer beginning to mellow, the riders met at the Phoenix on a sunny, mild morning. Introductions went around as we welcomed Jeff on his first ride with the Cavaliers.

We soon mounted up and Doug led us to the Interstate, where we headed west toward La Place. A thick layer of fog hovered just above the spillway, obscuring the sun and making for a surprisingly chilly September ride. Fortunately the moisture did not obscure the roadway and we made our way safely to our exit at Hwy 51.

We headed up the old highway as the sun returned to warm us up again, and after a short ride through the swamps between Lake Ponchartrain and Lake Maurepas, we stopped for lunch at Middendorf's seafood restaurant on Pass Manchac. The restaurant was as busy as always, with a crowd of Mississippi football fans returning home after a game against Tulane. Middendorf's is known for their incredible catfish, sliced extremely thin, coated with a light batter, and deep fried to a moist and crispy texture. Heavenly.

Conversation during lunch covered the spectrum, from bikes, to rides, to plans for our club's upcoming anniversary weekend. We learned that Jeff works as a librarian and has lived in Baton Rouge all his life. He's been an avid motorcyclist for decades, and still owns a beautiful, classic 1974 BMW R90/6 that he bought new nearly 30 years ago! Jeff said the 1993 BMW R100GS that he recently bought used in New Mexico was his leap into the future.

Bellies full with seafood delights, we mounted up again and headed toward Ponchatoula, where we turned east on LA 22 toward the Global Wildlife Center near Folsom. As we rode onto the grounds, we began to see clusters of deer and other wildlife scattered around the grounds. We made our way to the visitors' center, where we bought our tickets at the gift shop for the safari wagon tour. We also chipped in together and bought a $20 bucket of food for the animals.

Before we knew it we were standing in line to board one of the four custom-built covered wagons the center uses to transport visitors through the park. We held back and chose a wagon that had a minimum of small children. Our guide made the rounds and set us up with our bucket of animal feed and a stack of big plastic cups. All settled in, the tractor started up and the wagons lurched forward as our guide began to tell us about the 900-acre center and the more than 3,000 exotic, threatened, and endangered animals that call it home.

Almost immediately as our safari wagons set out, the animals began racing over the grassy hills to meet us. We began sprinkling feed on the ground as dozens and dozens of small deer and other animals picked it up off the ground. As the wagons slowly rolled past, the creatures followed along nibbling the feed. Looking back down the trail, the safari wagons left a wake of scores of animals grazing on the scattered feed.

We soon made our first stop of the 90-minute tour, where we were greeted by several enormous, friendly camels, who delighted in sticking their enormous heads into the wagons in search of feed. The kids on the tour squealed in delight at the sight of these enormous creatures. It was really incredible to be able to pet these beasts and feel their soft fur. No wonder camel hair is such a prized fabric.

After the camels made the rounds of the wagons, we lurched forward again and passed a stand of trees, where we saw the center's baby giraffe hiding cautiously in a stand of pine trees. Our guide said he was leading a tour with 150 kindergarten children when the giraffe was born at the center in April. The baby popped out of mama and made a six-foot drop to the ground, before getting up almost immediately and beginning to learn to walk on his not-yet-graceful legs. The kindergarteners were screaming with excitement at the birth of the baby giraffe, shouting, "Make it do it again!"

We slowly toured the grounds, stopping now and then for clusters of some of the larger animals. Michael W. particularly liked feeding the zebras, because he loves horses so much. There were also herds of tiny donkeys. Another favorite were the gentle llamas, because it was so much fun to have them nibble the feed with their soft lips directly out of your hand.

But the biggest reaction was the last cluster of animals we stopped for. Several enormous horned bison surrounded our wagon and opened their giant mouths for feed, exposing their obscenely long, pointy tongues, giving those of us with dirty minds a good laugh. We emptied out the last of our feed down their insatiable throats, before our wagons lurched forward again and headed back to the visitors' center.

We had a few skeptics in our bunch before the ride who weren't sure they really wanted to spend part of the day at the center. But everyone had a really great time! It was an absolute hoot! Thanks to Doug for hitting a home run on his suggestion to visit the center.

We said our goodbyes to Jeff, who rode off home toward Baton Rouge, then made our own way through the piney woods of the northshore along Hwy 40 and Hwy 25 back to Covington. We stopped for a break in Mandeville before heading back over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway to the city in time for Sunday evening's Trash Disco at Lafitte's.