Camp-out gives Marion Boy Scout unexpected link to family past
With an ice storm bearing down on central Kansas the weekend of Jan. 12-14, scores of Boy Scouts and their sponsors chose to forego attending Quivira Council's annual Trappers' Rendezvous winter camp-out at Harvey County Park.
But one Marion Scout, 11-year-old Justin Barr, decided to brave the elements and attend the camp out.
While Barr's decision ensured a chilly weekend for himself, his mother, Caroline Kelly, and friend Garry Klose, it opened the door for an unexpected and heartwarming connection with his father and grandfather.
Barr has few memories of his grandfather, John Barr, who died when the youngster was four years old.
"I remember him going up into the attic to get toys," Barr said, "and building little knee-high forts with blankets."
Four years later, when Barr was eight, tragedy struck again. His father, John Barr, Jr., was providing medical services on native American reservations in the Dakotas, when he lost his life in a plane crash in South Dakota.
Those things were far from the minds of Kelly and Klose as they drove through Harvey County Park days before the camp-out, looking for an ideal campsite.
"We stopped at one site that was going to give a good windbreak, was close to facilities, but there was already a group set up there," Kelly said.
When the pair approached the group to see if they could pitch a tent alongside them, they made an initial casual connection.
"The were from Haysville," said Kelly, "which is where Justin's dad was from."
As Kelly spoke with the group's leader, Larry McCray, it didn't take long to make three more startling personal connections.
"She asked me if I knew John Barr, and I asked which one," McCray recalled.
When Kelly mentioned Barr, Sr., McCray was amazed.
"He coached my dad's baseball team," said McCray, referring to the Haysville youth baseball squad sponsored by McCray's Garage.
"I knew John — he was an excellent baseball coach," McCray continued.
As the conversation continued, Kelly discovered McCray's group, Troop 893, is the same troop John Jr. was in as a boy, Kelly said.
Finally, Troop 893 is sponsored by Haysville United Methodist, the same church where Kelly and Barr were married.
So where a young boy experiencing his first Trappers' Rendezvous might have felt lost and alone among the 1,750 participants, Justin Barr instead felt right at home.
"Justin could hardly contain himself," Kelly said. "He was the only Scout from our troop who went, and he immediately fell in with these guys as if he belonged."
"It was cool," said Barr. "I met my dad's old troop, and their Scout leader's dad sponsored my grandpa's baseball team."
Trappers' Rendezvous, an interactive experience that follows the traditions of the trappers and mountain men of the early 1800s, proved to be a fun and exciting experience for Barr, in spite of the inclement weather.
"We had a 10-x-10 gazebo attached to the truck, and we wrapped tarps around it, and we had a Mr. Heater (flameless propane heater)," said Barr, describing their weekend accommodations.
Trading among Scouts was a major activity of the weekend, and Barr came well prepared with items to barter.
"I brought some rocks, and an antique Power Rangers toothbrush," Barr mentioned, in addition to coral from the Gulf of Mexico and fruit roll-ups.
Bundled up to ward off the cold, Barr set up his wares on a blanket by the roadside, and traded his way up to two Xbox games.
During the weekend, Scouts had to be on the lookout for 11 individuals who were playing the roles of historical trappers and mountain men, such as Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, and Kit Carson. They could only be identified by asking people if they were one of the characters.
Barr found all 11, collecting wooden tokens from each. One in particular was a favorite.
"Sacagawea — she was a real mountain man — literally, a man," Barr exclaimed, explaining that the person who was supposed to be Sacagawea wasn't there, so a male leader filled in for her.
One of Barr's favorite demonstrations was a branding exhibition, where he helped crank the apparatus that fanned the flames for the branding tools.
Barr came away from the activity with a board branded with special markings, to which he glued his 11 wooden tokens and collected corresponding signatures.
"It has three X's on it, because this was the 30th year of the Trappers' Rendezvous," Barr said. "BSA," "102," and two crossed arrows also were burned into the memento.
Barr, Kelly, and Klose all felt the experience was wonderful, and were glad they decided to go.
"If not for Justin, we'd have never gone to a winter campout — it's crazy," said Kelly.
"Being first timers, we did real well," she concluded.
