All good things are wild and free. -Henry David Thoreau
This weekend we took the short trip to Seymour, Missouri to visit the Southern Missouri Off-Road Ranch (SMORR). After weathering storms in a tent on our Arkansas trip a few weeks ago, we decided to bring our camper (the Recon Rig) on this getaway.
SMORR completely exceeded our expectations for an off-road park. It was extremely well maintained with the map and trails easy to navigate. The trails were wide open for any sized vehicle which leads to such a great mix of different riders and machines. I also appreciated the accommodations like a shower house for tent campers, a cafe with a friendly staff, and a beautiful wooden playground that Clara loved.
We had a great group of riders that just kept getting bigger somehow. Our first day out, David, one of the riders in our group, flipped his jeep "Kermit" on Double Whammy. I thought this would be the end of our trip, but the strong community SMORR promotes jumped in eager to help. People we had never met stepped in to help us get Kermit flipped over and back on the road.
Later in the day we were riding and met a few RZR riders who asked us to help a member of their group with a broken axle. When we followed them down the where this rider was marooned, we realized this was the same group that had helped us only a few hours before with Kermit.
We covered a lot of ground the first day and had a great time, but my favorite part of the trip was the riding on day two. We were able to get down into the creek and to see some of the more scenic parts of SMORR. The best part of a day riding is stopping to let the kids play in the creek. I love that our children will grow up with so many memories like these appreciating the beauty of the natural world and getting away from all the noise.