Springfield MO – Bass Pro Shop Outdoor Festival

We returned to Springfield, MO again this year with the Off Road Camping Club (ORCC) for the 2nd Annual Bass Pro Shop Outdoor Festival.

This year, the Festival included additional participants and displays.  ORCC’s founding couple set up their Tentrax tent trailer and camp for display.  Two additional types of expanding tents on wheels were set up next to them.

Members of the local Mountainmen group displayed various tents & tee pees, clothing, hunting & cooking methods, and other necessary activities required for surviving alone or in small groups in the wilderness a century or two ago.  This tent was displayed by a Native American [in authentic dress]:

I had never been inside an authentic tee pee before either.  The size and number of the poles used to create the structure surprised me.  There was an inner wall allowing air flow from under the outer wall. The whole structure was much sturdier than I’d ever realized. The ‘engineering’ of the structure’s design not only exhausts the smoke through the top flap (see below), but maintains interior warmth even while bringing fresh air in under that outer edge.  Fascinatingly simple.

The Missouri Department of Conservation also had a display — with a couple of live owls. This is a barn owl. . .

but I don’t remember what kind of owl this little guy is [possible an Eastern screech owl]:

Another interesting display was a large orange-fenced area where herding dogs could exhibit their skill/instinct/talent by following their handler’s commands to herd these ducks to various places.

I discovered this perfect, beautiful Monarch butterfly Saturday evening sitting on the grass beside our travel trailer. The nighttime temps were getting close to freezing and this guy should be much farther south at this time of year.

So considering the amount of frost on the grass Sunday morning. . .

I was really surprised to find this butterfly not only survived the night, but when I attempted to place him in a sunny spot to warm up, he just flew off to a nearby high tree limb.  I suspect he’ll be making tracks [oops, flaps] all day toward Mexico.

This was the frosty but hazy Sunday morning view [into the sun] toward the lake at the bottom of the huge hill where we camped. Thankfully the sun was warming up the area quickly.

The entire park has lots of relatively tame deer, so I spent some time Saturday evening watching these two young bucks through the trailer window while they grazed along the edge of the mowed area.  Suddenly they noticed another young buck heading toward them from the other side of the clearing.  Eventually they all met up and finally wandered off into the woods together.

Unfortunately, we were about a week too early to view the peak Fall foliage in Springfield, but about halfway to Kansas City, I saw this perfect, golden-orange tree. Too bad the gorgeous Fall colors are only around for such a short period of time!