Day 137: Florence, SC to North Carolina-Virginia State Line near Lambsburg, VA

Today we “zooed” at the North Carolina Zoo near Asheboro.

Before we got to the zoo, our morning started with a drive across the state line with a pit stop at Buc-ee’s to put air in our tires after the truck told us they were running low. The boys loved this huge gas station and convenience store with a dozen pumps, a jerky bar, a fudge shop and much more!

On the drive we continued past cotton fields. We had never seen raw cotton being grown before so we stopped to check it out. The raw cotton tufts feel like cotton balls but are packed with seeds inside the blossoms. They are soft though and very, very white.

We arrived at the zoo around 11am, just in time to have lunch before heading into the North America section. There were crowds initially but these thinned out as the rain came and the afternoon progressed.

Black bear.

Vulture drying out his wings.

Liam finally got to see a saguaro cactus.

Gorilla.

Baboon.

Lioness.

Chimpanzee.

Zebras during a downpour.

Red river hogs named Patience and Penelope.

We got to give them belly scratches with a wooden back scratcher. They loved it! We did too.

We met Tyra the ostrich in her enclosure.

This was the egg Tyra laid a few days ago. It is the equivalent of 30 chicken eggs!

This is Turbo. We got to feed him romaine lettuce leaves.

The boys had a great time.

Look at Turbo’s blue tongue!

The elephants came out after the rain.

After the zoo, we hopped back in the truck and headed North to Virginia. We are camped out on the North Carolina-Virginia state line for the night before heading into to West Virginia tomorrow.