Travels

My Wolf Park family
7/2/2007 6:17:16 PM by: Elsi

I pulled into the Crawfordsville KOA (Indiana), and was given an inaccessible site. Don't ask me to make two, tight, right-angle turns in a 30-foot rig, okay? So they moved me. No internet access (bother), but plenty of trees and grass, and--to my delight--fireflies! I just lazed around Saturday morning, showering and scrapbooking and writing postcards and suchlike. Then I headed out for Wolf Park, which has been one of my favorite spots since I discovered it, totally by accident (if there is such a thing in God's providence), several years ago. I knew I wouldn't be able to visit with Wotan, my adopted wolf, but the plan was to sell and sign books in the gift shop all afternoon, then participate in Howl Night and sign more books till they close at 11 p.m. I set up my table and was ready for business. "Business"was my normal routine of not selling anything but having a lovely time talking with people. Gale (my original trainer) bought a book, "because I know you!"Ashleigh, a staff member, also bought a book, due I think to our ongoing interaction throughout the afternoon. I chatted with visitors and with staff and had a wonderful time. And, I answered a lot of questionsâ€”apparently I looked like an employee, sitting facing the entrance and wearing my "Wotan for Alpha" shirt. I got to talking with one woman who told me, "Well, I donâ€™t travel like you, but Godâ€”He lives right here!"(pointing to her heart). They closed at 5, and everyone left, except for me, of course. I had permission to eat supper in the parking lot. I walked Lady and had supper in the fairly stuffy RV. The gates opened at 7, and cars came pouring in for Howl Night. I was a tourist myself for the Howl Night activityâ€”which primarily involved sitting on bleachers and being lectured. Gale talked about wolf legendsâ€”Little Red Riding Hood, Mowgli, Romulus and Remusâ€”and what they say about cultural attitudes toward wolves. Herders and farmer-type pioneers are afraid of them; warlike cultures revere them. I was glad she was the main speaker; for one thing, her information is fascinating and well-presented; in addition, I enjoy watching her work with the crowd, interacting with different people. Another woman answered questions while we watched the wolves interacting with each other and with several of the staff members. We were able to howl and start the wolves howling with us, which was fun! A pair of interesting anecdotes was toldâ€”a man was walking in the woods in the 1950s and was attacked by a group of wolves, which came up to him barking and growling; he had to shoot them to save his life, he explained. Another man was walking in the woods more recently and was also attacked by a group of wolves. He said to his companion, "Letâ€™s see how close they get before they figure out weâ€™re not their parents."And sure enough, the wolves stopped, startled, when they got close, then turned tail and ran off. Parallel situations, differentiated by the human response. When the "Wolf Park after Hours"tours started, I went back to my table. I spent a lot of time chatting with visitors. I handed out a lot of bookmarks and an enormous number of pensâ€”one woman said to me, as she got pens for her daughters, "Weâ€™re traveling all the way to Virginia, so pens are good!"Lots of Christians in the group (apparently Ken Hamm of "Answers in Genesis"has a museum of some sort in the area): a man with an elaborately carved, antler-handled cane, who told me, "Those are Ojibway designs, and a cross, of course"; a woman who patted my shoulder and said, "You keep on having fun at what you do!"; a Christian couple with a 93-year-old dad, from Wisconsin; another Christian couple whose dad RVsâ€”the man saw my picture on the cover, said, "Thatâ€™s you?! WOW!"and clapped me on the shoulder. I sold more books than I usually did and had my usual wonderful time. By the time everything closed at 11, I was about a zombie. Gale let me

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