October 28, 2025 • 49 mins
Get ready to embrace the great outdoors like never before at the Gateway Outdoor Expo + Summit, happening November 14th through 16th at the St. Charles Convention Center! This event is the ultimate playground for outdoor enthusiasts, and I had the chance to catch up with Brad Kovach, the founder and deputy director at River City Outdoors, who’s practically a legend in the local outdoor community.
Brad filled us in on all the exciting happenings this year. With over 150 vendors showcasing gear, activities, and clubs, there’s something for everyone. Whether you’re into hiking, biking, or just looking for some new gear for your next adventure, you’ll find it here. Plus, the expo is completely free to enter, and parking is a piece of cake! Before the main event even starts, join the St. Charles Runners Club for a group run, followed by a breakfast treat. And if biking is more your jam, there’s a guided ride on the Katy Trail planned for Sunday.
But wait, there’s more! The expo is not just a shopping spree; it’s a full-on experience. Throughout the weekend, there will be presentations by experts on various outdoor topics, all happening right on the expo floor. Whether you want to learn about sustainable camping or get tips on cycling, there’s a session for you every half hour. Families will love the interactive scavenger hunt designed to keep kids engaged while parents explore all the booths. It’s a fantastic opportunity to foster a love for the outdoors in the whole family. So dust off those hiking boots, pack your bike, and get ready for an unforgettable weekend at the Gateway Outdoor Expo Plus Summit!
[00:00] Welcome to the Gateway Outdoor Expo Plus Summit
[00:35] Meet the Hosts and Special Guest Brad Kovach
[01:52] Event Details and Exciting Activities
[03:52] New Features and Activities for 2023
[05:54] Gear, Vendors, and Planning Insights
[14:52] Fun for Families and Special Attractions
[17:33] Professional Summit and VIP Mixer
[20:17] Gear Library and River City Outdoors
[23:22] Mountain Biking Adventures
[23:35] Exploring Bentonville's Trails
[24:15] Favorite Outdoor Activities
[26:12] The Benefits of Outdoor Activities
[29:25] Gateway Outdoor Expo Details
[35:42] The Importance of Keeping Nature Clean
[42:28] Fun with Words and National Days
[47:54] Closing Remarks and Thank You
Takeaways:
- The Gateway Outdoor Expo is back and it's a free entry event, folks!
- This year, expect exciting activities like a non-competitive run and bike ride before the Expo opens.
- With over 150 booths, there’s gear galore and plenty of outdoor activities to explore at the Expo!
- Brad Kovach, founder of the Expo, emphasizes the importance of community and getting outside for mental well-being.
- New this year: presentations every half hour on topics from paddle sports to grassroots conservation efforts.
- Families can enjoy a fun scavenger hunt during the Expo, keeping kids engaged while exploring!
This is Season 8! For more episodes, go to stlintune.com
#gatewayoutdoorexpo #outdooractivities #outdoorrecreation #RiverCityOutdoors #Terrainmagazine...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Missouri's premier gatheringfor outdoor recreation is back. The
Gateway Outdoor Expo PlusSummit returns to the St. Charles
Convention Center November14th, 15th and 16th. We're going
to talk to the founder on St.Louis in June.
(00:20):
Close enough.
Do we have to do disclaimers already?
Saint Church Carl, welcome toSt. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold
Stricker. Thank you forjoining us for fresh perspectives
on issues and events withexperts, community leaders and everyday
(00:40):
people who make a differencein shaping our society and world.
We're here with co host Mark Langston.
Howdy.
Were we on while we were.Yeah, we were. Oh, so you folks,
you got to hear some of theoutside banter there and conversation.
Go to the YouTube channel andsee that.
We might be on the newstonight where the. We had a hot mic.
Hot mic event. Did you hearwhat he said? Oh, folks, we're glad
(01:09):
that you joined us today. Wantto thank our sponsor, Better Rate
Mortgage for their support ofthe show. You can listen to previous
shows@stlintune.com pleasehelp us continue to grow by leaving
a review on our website, ApplePodcast or your preferred podcast
platform. Our positive thoughtfor the day. Our positive thought
for the day. You must bepositive, folks.
All right.
(01:29):
You must be able to turn thepages that are on the table because
if you don't, you're going tobe in trouble.
This is the longest introwe've ever had.
Remember, it'll go along withthis one. Remember, you'll never
get new results from repeatingold habits. You'll never get new
results from repeating oldhabits. Now that goes exactly with
(01:52):
what we're going to talk abouttoday because prior to the show,
we were talking with ourguest, Brad Kovach, and he is the
founder. Because I was like,you are the founder, right? And he
goes, yeah, he's the founderand he's the deputy director at River
City Outdoors. He's also thepublisher at Terrain magazine.
(02:13):
Holy smokes.
And the founder of GatewayOutdoor Expo Plus Summit, which is
going to take place November14th, 15th and 16th. Welcome back,
Brad.
When does he.
Thank you.
When do you sleep?
It's crazy this time of year.Yeah, yeah. Thanks for having me.
Third time, I was thinking onthe drive in, do I get a jacket Five
times? Like some.
Oh, is this the third time?
The Saturday Night Live. Ihave two more years for. But I'm
(02:33):
already thinking ahead to.
We can just give you one ofthose reflective stars.
We have a pen. We didn't givethem a pen. I've got one of those
official pens.
I can give you a Pen fromanother place here that we got.
Here we go. Our official pens.It's a fidget pen.
Thank you.
At the top, you can spin thetop. There you go.
(02:54):
Yeah. If you're bored, ifyou're trying to think about what
outdoor activity you're goingto do for Right. You can spin that
thing, your very own.
Like a little roulette wheel.
Yeah, we like the. We're atroulette. Are we going to get to
this show?
We're there. We're there.Okay, so Brad, this is going to take
place November 14th, 15th and16th. And I want to mention that
(03:16):
last year folks there wereover 6,000 people.
Wow.
And they expect more thisyear. So do you have to get a ticket
to come?
You don't. And that's one ofthe better things about the show
I think is it's not ticketed.So it's free public entry. Also free
parking. We want to removeevery barrier possible to coming
down.
And this is at the St. CharlesConvention Center.
It's easy to get to.
(03:37):
It is easy to get to. It's onout in Saint. Some people say Chuck
out there. It's on the southside of I70 and you want to get it
on the south service road. Ibelieve that's how they install that
there. But check that out. Sowhat are some things that people
can expect new this year thatif they've been in the past. Yeah,
we have going to be new.
(03:58):
A couple of fun new thingsthis year. We always tried to build
activity into the Expo. Soit's not just a booth event where
you walk from space to space.We try to get people, give people
things to do. This year wehave a run before the Expo starts.
So the Expo is on Saturday,starts at 10, so if you show up at
9, we're partnering with St.Charles Runners Club and they're
(04:19):
going to have a group run, noncompetitive, no tickets or no fee
for that either to just showup, run with some friends and you
can run up to 10k but youcertainly don't have to. You can
run any distance you want inbetween there. And then afterward
the group is going to havesome guides there and help shepherd
everybody through. And thenafterward you'll come back to the
convention center and there'sa free light breakfast that we're
(04:41):
offering. And then at 10 o'clock the doors to the expo open
and everyone can go inside andwalk around. And then we're doing
the same thing on Sunday butwith bicycles. So if you're not a
runner, but you're a bikerider. We're coordinating with Big
Shark Bicycles and SouthsideCyclery and they are going to host
the bike ride again, free,open to the public, starts at 9.
(05:02):
Ride your bike on the Katy forabout an hour or so. Come back, come
to the expo, have a littlefree light breakfast and then go
on and walk around.
And Brad is doing both. He's running.
And are us going to run for 48hours consecutively?
Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
Inside the expo? Yes. Run,walk. You don't have to run. Certainly
you can walk. But yeah, wewant to make it again as easy as
(05:24):
everybody or as easy as we canon everybody.
That's cool because Katy Trailis not too far away.
No, it's right there.
Yeah, that's the idea I thinkis to get people down to the Katy
and then let them go up anddown and take it at their own pace.
That's great. And if you'venever been there, folks, there are
a variety of activities.There's gear galore, base camp presentations,
hands on activities. Get intosome of these things for people that
(05:46):
may have wanted to go in thepast, but maybe the timing didn't
work for them or their familyor they're like, wow, I'm new to
the area, I never knew aboutthis, what do I do?
So the Expo itself is a biggathering of outdoor recreation businesses,
organizations, clubs, allthose sorts of things. Predominantly
the backbone of the show isthe booths. You have vendors there
who are. Some are sellinggear, some are talking about their
(06:06):
event or organization or clubthat might be a running club, a biking
club or a rock climbing club.But it's just a way for people who
maybe are new to the area orwho just want to get more involved
with the outdoors to comedown. Yeah, meet new people, sign
up for an event, sign up for aclub that then you can meet with
throughout the year or maybebuy some gear that you've needed
to get outside. One of theother things I might mention that's
(06:27):
new this year is we havepresentations. You had mentioned
that we call the area on theshow floor base camp, but it's really
just a stage on the expofloor. And we'll be having presentations
this year every half hour orso. Experts there to talk about whatever
their particular topic is thatmight be long range paddling or it
might be grassrootsconservation. Just different half
(06:49):
hour sessions that you canstop in at when you're walking around
the expo. If you need a breakfrom walking and want to sit, learn
about a new topic thatinterests you and then Pursue that
the rest of the year if you choose.
Is there a rock climbing wall there?
We will have the rock wallagain this year. Yes. Yeah, that's
a big one. Upper Limits alwaysbrings that. Families love it. Safe
way to try rock climbing andit's fun.
(07:11):
Now I'm wondering if there'sgoing to be like a kayak kind of
or will there be somebody withkayaks out there? Do they have a.
One of those swimming thingsthat you can bid in there and then
the water will rise?
I've seen those north at theboat show. They used to have a kayak
area with an inflatable pooland water. You could actually kayak
on site. Unfortunately, we'renot doing that. But hey, ideas for,
(07:33):
for next year?
Okay. All right. So how manyvendors will be there roughly?
We have 150 booths.
Wow.
So you know, it's about 100,125 vendors. Some have multiple size
booths, but yeah, so you'relooking at about 100 different organizations
that are going to be there.
So when you're talking aboutgear, you're talking about, okay,
tents, sleeping bags, bikes,canoes, kayaks, every kind of thing
(07:55):
that you would imagine foroutdoors. There's a vendor for all
of the above.
So yeah, we try to keep. Cut awide path there, if that makes sense.
A lot of different, differentgear from a lot of different places.
When did you start planningfor this particular year? Oh gosh,
the day after last year.
Yeah, that's the real answer.Things really heat up about three
(08:15):
months out. Six months is thelight break in. But yeah, once we're
three months out, it's really,it's all on fire because.
You have to make plans withthe convention center probably maybe
a couple years in advance.
That happens a year out. Yeah,so we're already talking about next
year. We're talking about 2026now at least with a convention center.
And then we start some lightreach outreach to vendors and stuff
(08:38):
about six months out and thenit goes from there.
And these aren't all localvendors. Do you have some vendors
in outstate Missouri or maybeout of the state of Missouri coming?
No, we do. That's a goodquestion. I haven't. Last year we
did a little heat map to kindof show where they were from. Haven't
done that yet this year, but Ido know we have a Colorado. I think
we have a couple from Georgiaarea, Louisiana, Tennessee perhaps.
(09:00):
They spread out a bit.Predominantly it's regional and local,
but we do get a few that comefrom the outlying area.
So you get not only vendors,but people to come from nationally
to this.
Those are more vendors. Yeah.And people. It's hard to say since
it's a non ticketed event. Wecan't. It's hard to track people.
I think most of the folks arelocal, regional, drawing from the
metro and maybe southernIllinois a little bit, but yeah,
(09:22):
predominantly.
Do you have a map? Like theycould put a pin and say where they're
from.
That would be fun.
Track.
I haven't done that.
That would be neat because I'msure there's people from Iowa and
Kansas and Nebraska and matterof fact, Missouri is one of the fewest
states that has the mostborder states around it. And you
get all these people comingin. And it's pretty centrally located
too.
I think so too.
(09:42):
Yeah.
November 14th, 15th and 16thand they can get some information@gatewayoutdoorexpo.com
Gatewayoutdoor Expo.com and inthe issue of Terrain magazine. Which
issue?
Yeah. So we just released ourNovember December issue of the magazine.
And one of the fun items inthere we do every year this. Every.
(10:05):
This time of year, every yearis a photo contest. So these are
the winners. These are allamateur regional photos. So submitted
by our readers. And then wehave a panel of judges and we go
through and we choose. I wantto say there's maybe 15, there's
five categories, three winnersin each category. So about 15, 16
winners overall. And it's justa fun issue to page through people,
I think to see what otherpeople are doing outdoors. Yeah,
(10:28):
I would encourage you to gopick it up.
Is there going to be like abooth with these photos up in display
and things like that?
We do do that. We did it forthe first time last year. We're doing
it again this year. So we'retake all the winners, we blow up
their photos poster size andthen we have a photo gallery at the
expo where you can come andjust check out what other people
have caught.
(10:48):
Can you purchase those ifpeople like them or.
We have not done that.
See, I'm giving him ideas.
These are good ideas. I do.The gallery is great. I do like the
idea of maybe having some prints.
Yeah, yeah, that would be great.
Yeah, there's probably somethere I'd like.
Because look at the. Thepicture here on the front. This is.
Was this taken out at.
That's Hidden Valley.
Hidden Valley, yeah. Look at that.
(11:09):
That's a great shot.
It is a great. These areamateurs. These aren't correct. It's
probably taken with an iPhoneor something like that.
Yeah. Who knows?
Yeah. So of course they wereshameless Plug.
We had a lot of good responseto that cover, especially a lot of
folks who were excited sayingthat that's just a photo you don't
anticipate seeing necessarilyin St. Louis, but sure enough, that's
right here in Wildwood.
(11:30):
I think it's great you'redoing it for free. I don't know how
you do it for free. Vendors are.
How do you do it? How do youdo it?
Well, guys, how much money doyou have to spe.
Yeah, let's go to the next question.
Brad's selling stuff out ofthe back end of his car. Old shoes
(11:51):
and stuff.
It's all those photo printsthat they submit for free that we
turn on and sell them.
Yeah.
How can people get on amailing list for Terrain magazine?
Oh, thank you for asking that.That's a good question. So we do
have on the website a freesign up for the newsletter, which
also, when you sign up for thenewsletter, you're also signing up
(12:13):
for the digital edition of the magazine.
Okay.
So we would send that to youremail address every other month.
It comes out every two months.And you get basically what you call
like the ezine format ordigital magazine form, the same as
you would get in print. Andthen if you do want it in print,
we're at most local cyclingshops, running stores, outfitters,
and then also in a lot ofcoffee shops, rec centers, that kind
(12:34):
of. Those kind of places. Soyou can find that list online at
terrain-mag.com if you want topick it up in print.
And would these be free orwould these be too? Wow.
Yeah, in print we're free. The.
Is the free guy.
Yeah. The only cost.
He's got deep pockets.
The only cost for the magazineis if you want to get a home subscription,
you can purchase that and thenyou're really just paying for the.
(12:56):
The postage. So it's. I thinkit's 24 for. For six issues.
Okay, now I refrained fromwhat I was going to say.
Next question. How manyissues? What?
Oh, no, you know, how manyissues? Six. Six issues. Yes, I was
refraining because when it wasmailed, depending upon what area
you live in St. Louis, you mayor may not receive it.
Oh.
(13:16):
Shots fired.
USPS will not like me. Iprobably won't get any mail now the
rest of my life. Yeah,exactly. A lot of great advertising
in here of stores andobviously they're underwriting the
magazine and the expo. Butthings that you might not even think
about. What's the Most unusualsponsor that's going to be here at
(13:40):
the expo that has a booth thatyou're like, wow, this is really
out of the mind, out of thebox kind of outdoors.
You're putting me on the spot.
And we're not saying that anyof them are not. But our new ones.
Yeah, our new ones. Yeah, newones. That would be a good one, Mark.
Coming in this year again.
Man, I'm biased.
Good. I love these curve balls.
You keep thinking for asecond. This is Arnold Stricker.
(14:01):
With Mark Langston of St.Louis in Tune, we're talking to Brad
Kovach, deputy director atRiver City Outdoors and founder.
And founder.
Right.
A founder of Gateway OutdoorExpo plus Summit, and he's also the
publisher at Terrain magazine.And Terrain magazine can be received
six times a year. This is theNovember December issue. It's got
(14:24):
a picture of winning shotsfrom the 2025 photo contest. And
great. Frozen in time.
Terrain-mag.com Correct.Terrain-mag. I'm going there.
So what's that? What's theanswer to that?
You know, I don't know why I'mtrying to think of, like, someone
that's really gonna be new andexciting. They're all exciting. We're
(14:46):
fortunate that we have a lotof repeat, repeat customers.
Let's talk about scavenger hunt.
Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. So,yeah, for families who maybe have
little ones who aren't asexcited to just walk around and look
at gear, we have a scavengerhunt that you will get when you walk
in the door. There's anopportunity to pick up a kind of
a printed directory. And thenat the same time, I'll have a printout
of a scavenger hunt, kind of abingo card. And you go around to
(15:08):
the listed vendors on thereand get a check mark or a stamp,
and then you bring that backto the scavenger hunt booth when
you're completed and you get afree prize. So the prizes are more
directed toward the littlecoloring book or a sticker or T shirt
or something like that, butjust keeps the kids engaged, builds
a little excitement in for them.
And I'm sure. Go ahead, Mark.
Are the big retailers in St.Louis there, too?
(15:29):
We have. Bass Pro is coming.I. Cabela's has not signed on yet,
but I know that we've beentalking with them. So Alpine Shop
is always there. They're oneof the big local outdoor outfitters.
So. Yeah.
Rei do they.
REI usually does not, but younever know. We still have some time.
Yeah. Never know.
Maybe in the future.
They should. They don't knowwhat they're missing.
(15:49):
There's another big storecoming into town I just found out
about called Sierra.
Yes. It's going to be in Kirkwood.
Yes, I just heard that.
I read that this morning.
A day or two ago.
Yeah.
Located where the. Across fromthe. No. Walmart and the Lowe's on
South Lindbergh or SouthKirkwood Brook.
Is Alpine still in Kirkwood?
(16:11):
Yeah.
Yes.
Okay. Wow. Okay. Kirkwood isthe outdoor capital of.
It's getting that way.
They all live in tents.
Okay, sorry, folks inKirkwood. I know.
I was going to ask you thisone. When people go around to the
booths, one of the big thingswhen I go to a convention or something,
(16:32):
there's always people that Igot my bag, what's the free thing
you're gonna give me? And theywalk out like grocery bags full of
stuff.
Right. Yeah, that. Thatdefinitely happens. That's the thing.
And yeah, I'm sure a lot ofthe booths will have little tchotchkes
or spin the wheel for a prizeor something like that. Again, it
just keeps things interestingand fun.
Keeps people coming in.
Exactly.
I know you've done this in thepast. Canoe with claws.
(16:55):
Oh, yeah. We are doing thatagain this year. So that's a fun
opportunity for.
Again, Dayton with Santa.
See, I'm helping them out, butyeah, another family activity. Obviously
this is a show geared towardall ages, but people come with their
families and so we try to keepit fun. So, yeah, you can bring your
kids or young at heart if youwant to get your photo taken. With
(17:17):
Santa, we set up a canoe and afull scene. This is backdrop. There's
snow, there's all kinds ofstuff, but Santa is seated in the
canoe. You come, you sit inthe canoe. Get your photo taken for
free and take that home. Showit off at Thanksgiving.
Yeah.
Hand it out with yourChristmas list. Yeah.
Now you have Expo plus Summit.
Right. So where's the summitcome in? Yeah, so the summit is on
(17:39):
Friday the 14th.
Okay.
So it's an afternoonconference style event mainly geared
toward the outdoorprofessional, so not so much the
public, although it is open tothe public. If you want to come,
you can.
Okay.
But it's more geared towardfolks who work in perhaps Parks and
Rec, or maybe you're with anonprofit or. Or you're just an outdoor
advocate. And so it's anafternoon of sessions to talk about
(18:00):
things that are driven towardthe industry professional. So it
might be talking about equityon the trail or talking about how
race events can help Driveeconomy or things along those lines.
It's from 3 to 6 on Friday.And then that dovetails into a little
VIP after party that we havefor the folks who attend the summit
and the vendors of the expowho will be setting up on Friday.
(18:24):
So Friday night we have alittle mixer for everybody. And then
Saturday really kicks off theExpo itself at 10:00 clock that morning.
Okay, now question about, arethere like breakout sessions or little
mini conference things wheresomebody says, hey, if you want to
go off camping by yourself,this is the best way to put up a
tent, or this is the best wayto start a fire, or this is the kind
(18:45):
of gear you need. Do they havethat going on?
Yeah, so that's thepresentations I mentioned that are
going on on Saturday andSunday during the expo that will
be taking place right on theshow floor there, so you don't have
to go to a different room. Orthey're actively taking place on
the main exhibit hall or inthe main exhibit hall while you're
walking around. And so, yeah,those will run a whole range of topics
(19:06):
from. I don't know that wehave anyone necessarily specifically
teaching how to build a fire,but along those lines, more educational
information type presentationsthat are geared toward the public.
Yeah, I hope people will stopand check those out.
So are these like ongoingkinds of things? Does somebody like,
wait, I gotta wait till I have15 people, or gee, I have five people
here and somebody's wonderingwhat's going on.
(19:27):
They're going on every halfhour, essentially.
So I didn't get that schedule.
Yeah, no, and that's obviouslythey're keeping things from you.
Yeah, I have to have somesurprises to talk about, but yeah,
so we have one on Tales fromthe Big Rivers. So people who have
done some endurance paddling,we have a talk about gear libraries,
what those are and how toaccess those. We have two of those
(19:48):
in Missouri. We have aconversation with our organization,
River City Outdoors. So whoare we? What are we about? So, yeah,
those are just an example of afew. We have one about stories from
Missouri student cyclists,kids who are on local cycling teams
and what they get out of it,how to be part of that. If you have
a child or if you're a youthwho wants to be part of a youth cycling
(20:08):
team.
I didn't even know there werelocal youth cycling team.
Yes. Yeah. So just those are afew examples of the presentation.
What's a gear library?
We have one here with ourfoundation, River City Outdoors.
We have about a thousandpieces of gear. And think of it,
much like you would with abook library. You want to, you want
to read this book. You don'twant to buy it. Maybe you don't have
access to it, but you can comeborrow it from the library, read
(20:30):
it, bring it back, I'll bethere. So if, if you don't have a
tent or a sleeping bag, butyou have a camping trip this coming
weekend and friends are like,hey, come with us. But you say, I
don't have the gear and Ican't go out and buy $300 worth of
gear. We will lend it to youand check out process like you would
at a library. You take it withyou for the weekend, bring it back,
and there you go. We'reallowing you or trying to help you
(20:51):
get outside and experience the outdoors.
This is great.
So how do people get in touchwith you about the gear Library?
If you go to our foundationwebsite, which is rivercityoutdoors.org
we have a page on the librarythat I believe says Gear Library
or I'm sorry, a page on thewebsite that says Gear Library. Click
on that and it just walks youthrough the process.
(21:11):
That's great.
Yeah. You do have to registerlike you would get a library card.
You have to register to get aGear Library quote unquote card.
But once you're a member, youcan reserve gear. You know as much
as you would like and as longas you bring it back in decent working
order and don't steal it oranything nasty, you can keep coming
back.
Did I say that?
Yeah.
I think that's great.
Are you guys the ones that dothe canoe trips by the arch and stuff?
(21:35):
As part of our foundation,River City Outdoors, we publish Terrain
magazine, we host the expo,and we also run Big Muddy Adventures,
which is. Which are the boatsthat go by the arch and canoe on
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Seems dangerous to me.
Do that confluence. Is thatthe part of the confluence?
We have done trips to theconfluence in the past. It's not
(21:57):
on our schedule right now.Things swap in and out year on year.
But we've certainly doneconfluence trips in the past.
Wow. Yeah.
This is crazy.
Like, I'm on River CityOutdoors right now. Mark rivercityoutdoors.org
They've got a get outdoorsdrop down and you can discover, Explore
the Gear Lending Library, PlayEvents, blog. Then there's Learn
(22:17):
More. Then there's Connect,which there's volunteering or some
careers or donation or mediarelations. And then there's the outdoor
brands, which Brad justmentioned. Big Money Adventures,
Gateway Outdoor Expo, AndTerrain magazine, the other one that
we. The reason Brad's here isto talk about the gateway outdoor
expo. Gatewayoutdoor expo.com.you can catch that. There's some
(22:40):
video on there, an expo layoutwith the base camp out there and
the. What's the MTB zone?
Oh, that's the mountain bikezone. So another activity zone that
you can take part in basicallywill put you on a mountain bike and
let you ride around. There'ssome small, like, entry level obstacles,
so rumble strips and. Andthere's a teeter totter you can roll
(23:01):
over and stuff like that. Sogive you a chance to feel what it's
like to be on a mountain bike,maybe approach some obstacles. And
then it's run by one of ourvendors, which is called Wheels up,
and they are certifiedmountain bike instructors. So they
will be on hand, one, to makesure you're safe, but two, also to
give you some little pointershere and there on how to negotiate
some of these obstacles.
This is just unbelievable.
I have a friend that doesmountain biking. He loves it. He's
(23:24):
addicted to it, actually.
It's very exciting.
He goes everywhere. He takeshis bike and goes all over the place,
always looking for a new adventure.
Well, we're fortunate thatwe're just north of Bentonville,
which is an amazing mountainbike town down in northwest Arkansas.
You can go down there. Seemslike every weekend you go down there,
there's a new trail openingup. It's just remarkable.
(23:45):
They have regular, very good,regular biking trails down there.
They do, too.
That really connect almost.Yeah. Almost all the way down to
Fayetteville.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Who knew? I never knew.
It's a great area down there.It's very beautiful.
It's lovely.
Yeah. You can see some greatartwork down there too, at the museum
down there.
And if they made those trails,that's great. So they don't have
ruts and everything and. Yeah,but it's more fun that way.
(24:07):
Yep. It's a great area.
Oh, yeah.
Highly recommend.
Had no idea. This is yourwealth of information.
What's your favorite outdooractivity and what's your. The one
that you wish you loved alittle bit more.
Okay.
Wow.
So we did talk a little bitabout this beforehand, but I have
certainly a mountain bikerthat's never going to go away. But
(24:28):
more recently I've been trailrunning and really enjoying that.
There's a lot of trails aroundhere that you can bike, hike and
run on. So that's beenexciting for me just to experience
a new activity. And you meetas you do that, you meet new friends,
new folks. So that's been funto meet a lot of different people.
Something that I would like todo or haven't done a lot of. I get
pitched a lot by friends whoare also rock climbers, outdoor rock
(24:51):
climbers, and I haven't reallydone much of that. They keep inviting
me. I keep not being able togo. One of these days I'm gonna go.
I've done it a couple times,very casually. It's fun. Again, just
a different aspect of theoutdoors. Completely different obviously
than running or biking, butit's exciting and new and so I think
eventually I will probably trythat out a little more.
(25:13):
Trail running is fascinatingto me. I've never heard of trail
running.
Pick your feet up. That's thenumber one tip.
But say, I know, is it likethe you're out of high school cross
country kind of deal?
Yeah, cross country, I guess.Would that kind of bridge does the
gap between like track andtrail running? Trail running that
I do is more on single tracktrails. So hiking trails that you
(25:34):
might. Trails you might hikeor bike on. Usually just one person
abreast. That's why it'scalled single track. But rocky, rooty,
hilly, up and down.
You wear gear?
No, not beyond just yourrunning shoes.
You're just like out there.
Yeah. If you're going to runlong distances, you might have a
water bladder.
Right. But if you.
More often than not, you'rejust out.
There, you trip and fall,you're going, yeah, it happens. Not
(25:59):
suggesting that will happen,but oh no, it'll happen.
It happens to me. Anyway.
Pick your feet up.
You may or may not be able toanswer this and it's okay if you
don't, but the, the abilityand the effort to get outside and
what it does for you mentallyand emotionally and spiritually and
(26:20):
physically in connectingpeople. Because we grew up, my dad
was a PE teacher, alwaysactively doing stuff and it seems
now with the phones, peopleare just. Or the computers, they're
just by themselves andisolated themselves. Getting out
into the outdoors really doesa lot for people's psyches. Can you
talk a little about or haveyou talked about that in the magazine
(26:41):
or at the expo?
Yeah, an ever presentundercurrent to the magazine and
the expo. Yeah, you'reabsolutely right. There are numerous
studies and I don't have anyhere to cite, but I don't think it
would surprise anyone to knowthat getting outside, even for 15,
20 minutes a day is going tohelp you mentally, physically and
emotionally and it can beanything. It can be a walk in your
(27:02):
neighborhood, it can be bikingat a park. It can be doing something
more air quotes. Extreme, ifyou want to call it that. But just
getting away from home, awayfrom the screen and outdoors in the
fresh air, no question isgoing to be a benefit to you in the
long run. The hardest part,honestly, and this is certainly applies
to me, but I think applies toeveryone. The hardest part is just
(27:24):
getting your. The motivationto take that first step to get outside.
Right.
Once you're there for meanyway, everything else just goes
right off my back. All thestress and everything just flows
right off. It's just gettingyourself into the habit of spending
20 minutes a day putting iton. Book it on your calendar. I'm
(27:44):
gonna take that walk afterwork every day, or I'm gonna join
this club that meets everyTuesday for an hour. And that's stuff
that you can find at the Expo,honestly, is. We have a lot of clubs
there, and that's why they'rethere. They're trying to get membership.
Many of these clubs are free.When I say membership, it's not that
you have to pay them 20 bucksa month or something. It's no, they
just want you to sign up, bein on their weekly or bi weekly or
(28:06):
monthly activity, their groupmeeting, which might be a run or
a bike or a walk. But once youmeet those folks, make friends, then
suddenly you're interestedand, and looking forward to being
there. And there's someaccountability as well. Honestly,
they're saying to you, hey,where were you last Friday? Why didn't
you come out to our run? Wemiss you. Come back out. So that's
(28:26):
one of the best things I thinkpeople can do, is find their group,
whatever it is, whateveractivity in those. And they exist.
There's tons of groups outthere. We try to feature those in
the magazine on a regularbasis. Once you find your group,
engage with them and try tomake it a regular part of your life.
Find your group and find your groove.
Ooh, yeah. Oh, my goodness.Somebody write that down, will you
(28:52):
please? Okay, yeah.
And this is not to say theclub memberships in these big box
places, exercise places, that,that's not bad. But getting outside
is just so healthy. Just tosee green or to smell fresh air or
to see the sun shine.Obviously not today, but.
Put the phone down.
Yeah, put the phone down.Getting out. Some people, they'll
(29:14):
exercise with the earbuds indisconnect, right? And connect with
nature and connect with what'sgoing on outside.
It's an amazing thing.
It is.
Really is. Always loved it.
So November 14th, 15th and16th, it's the Gateway Outdoor Expo
Plus Summit. It will be heldat the St. Charles Convention center
in St. Charles, Missouri. Theparking is free. It's free to get
(29:38):
in.
Free. Free.
Yeah, that's right.
You won't tell us how it'sfree, but it's free.
Saturday is 10:10am to 5:00pmSunday is 10:00am to 4:00pm and prior
to the Saturday event is a runand prior to the Sunday event is
a bike ride.
That's correct.
And if you want moreinformation, go to GatewayOutdoor
(29:59):
Expo.comGatewayOutdoorExpo.com and also you
can go toRiverCityOutdoors.org Brad, thanks
for coming in again, man.
Thank you.
It's great.
So much fun. I know. It reallyis. Be careful on that trail. Running
trail. It just doesn't, I justcan't get my head around.
I'm gonna keep picking thosefeet up.
Yeah.
It's not like the black ski one.
(30:19):
Which is, you know, this way,I can't imagine. And it's the same
trail usually that the bike,the rider. The bikes go. No.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Most. More often than not. Okay.
Just don't get a bike riderbehind you when you're on the trail.
Okay.
Wow. We're gonna take a break,folks. We'll be right back for our
next segment. You're listeningto St. Louis in tune with Arnold
(30:40):
Stricker and Mark Langston onthe US Radio Network. As strange
as it may sound, at BetterRate Mortgage, we love talking to
people about mortgages.Everyone in St. Louis promises a
better mortgage rate. But whatyou really need to turn that perfect
(31:00):
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you ready to learn more?Contact the International Institute
of St. Louis us@infoistl.orgor call 314-773-9090. That's infoiistl.org
(32:12):
or call 314 203-9090. Welcomeback to St. Louis in Tune. I was
(32:34):
going to go welcome back.Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune.
This is Arnold Stricker withMark langston. Again the 2025 Expo
Summit going to take place theGateway Outdoor Expo Plus Summit
is going to take place at theSt. Charles Convention Center November
15th, 16th there's the 14th,but this is actually for those folks
(32:57):
who are doing the exhibiting.And so folks, if you want to go and
check it out, the exhibit hallopens at 10am to 5pm if you want
to participate in the runprior to that, that starts at 9 o'.
Clock. You would need to go toGateway Expo Gatewayoutdoor Expo.com
and find out a little bit moreinformation. Also Sunday, November
(33:17):
16 from 10 to 4 and prior tothat there is a bike ride on the
Katy Trail and it's free. It'sfree parking.
Yep. And thatmagazine@terrain-mag.com if you want
to subscribe to that. Andthat's free unless you want it mailed
to your house or you can.
Go to River City. Gosh, Imessed up. Rivercityoutdoors.org
(33:39):
and as Mark said, terrain,that's two Rs mag.com there's a lot
of.
Websites there to remember,but we'll post.
That on the podcast page.
If you like outdoors orconsidering doing outdoor stuff,
what a great place to start.
It is a wonderful thing. It'sreally premier in our area. I would
say that this particular expo.
So really, really fortunate tohave something.
(34:02):
Right here and somebody likeBrad who's really organizing all
of this and keeps keeps thingsfocused. You're taking in a whole
lot of new things. There'sthings that I'm sure like when rock
climbing first came on thescene. There's a lot to learn and
then there's things thatprobably people aren't doing as much.
Fly fishing. I know there'sgoing to be probably fly fishing
people there, but it's uniquekind of thing. It is even fly fishing
(34:25):
Making. That's even.
Oh, that is tough. Yeah. Areusing one of those fly rods.
Fly rods? Yeah.
There's a trick to those.
Yeah. I'm sure they probablyteach you how to do that.
Whip it out a couple of timesbefore you finally make it.
But, man, you go back to. Downto Montauk and Merrimack park down
there when they let all thestuff out and everybody there for
the first day. I guess it's inApril or late March or something.
(34:47):
And I used to go to Montaukwith my dad. We always had fun.
Were you lined up shoulder toshoulder, waiting for the horn to
go off?
Yeah, the horn. And then it's.Then all the. And how we didn't get
tangled. Tangled is amazing tome. I go. Everybody throwing their
lure in at the same time.
Yeah.
And. Yeah, you get tangledonce in a while, but not as much
(35:08):
as you think.
I could see a great cartoonwhere all the fish are out there
and all these things come inat the same time. We all just ought
to just let them hang there.
Now, I know it's probablydifferent now, but when we stayed
at the Montauk Lodge, therewas no TV. They couldn't get a TV
signal in there, so there wasno TVs then. Now, that's got to change
now, I'm sure. But. But whenwe went, there was no tv.
(35:31):
I think it's good todisconnect from that.
And instead of a gun rack,they had a fishing rod rack in the
room. I remember that, too.
People have that in the backof their pickup truck.
Yeah. Can I complain aboutsomething real quick?
Absolutely.
Because we're talking about outdoors.
Yes.
I have noticed lately anincrease in trash along the highways
(35:53):
in the country going, what arepeople thinking? We had a. When I
was in scouting, we have asaying, leave no trace. So if we
see trash, we try to pick itup. But I'm telling you what, there's
so much trash, I don't know ifwe could pick it all up. And I'll
go back to. I think that theyshould have a program, and I think
they did it one time. Forthose that are incarcerated, you
(36:15):
bring them out and have thempick up the trash. Maybe give them
time off their sentence orsomething. I guess it's dangerous
to be out there doing it. Idon't know. But, boy, it's tough.
You go down Highway 44?
Yep.
It's just. Just look, just payattention next time. I don't get
one last thing.
Keep going.
I get how people have. Justroll the window down. They get done
(36:37):
with something, just throw itout the window. What is that? What
are you thinking? Who doesthat? Why? I just don't get that.
Now, the only way I wouldaccept that is if there was so much
trash in the car and there wasno more room to put anything. But
that's not the case.
Or maybe it's on fire orsomething, or there's some reason
(36:57):
it needs to go out of the car,but other than just, oh, I just finished
my. My Big Gulp drink, and I'mjust gonna throw it out the window.
Really? You can't wait tillyou get to a gas station and use
the trash can there, take ithome, stick it behind, whatever.
I just don't. I just. Latelyit's because I remember there used
to be all those campaignsabout being a litter bug and all
(37:20):
that stuff, and it seemed towork well. See any campaign now that
don't litter? But it's gotten.And we talk about outdoors. Gosh,
nothing worse than being outon a trail somewhere and finding
trash. Trash.
Yeah.
What in the world? So that'smy. That's my rant.
No, that's fine. It used to bethat when you got to an intersection,
(37:41):
especially off a highway, youwould see cigarette butts. That would
be the big thing. It reallywasn't a lot of trash when we were
kids. But nowadays, like, whenwe go to another city, that's one
of the first things we lookat. Is there litter? Where is it?
Is the grass mowed? Or theweeds mode? Like, you come off the
Stamusil Bridge, StamusMemorial Bridge, coming from Illinois,
(38:04):
and you drive into St. Louis,one of the predominant entrances
into St. Louis. It is embarrassing.
It is.
It is embarrassing. And wealways used to have a saying at work
that if I'm driving up to aschool and I see weeds and I see
shades broken or junk all overthe place. That psychologically tells
(38:27):
me learning's not importanthere. You don't keep your money in
a bank that looks like it wasbombed out. Because, man, why would
I want to keep my money there?They can't even keep up the lawn.
So it's a psychological kindof thing, and it really makes you
feel good when things looknice. And it's not a strong effort
to keep it in your car andthen deposit it in a trash can when
(38:52):
you get home. In Japan, youdon't see any litter. Matter of fact,
people can't even. They'resupposed to just hang on to it.
Ah, take it home, recycle.Yeah, just throw away concept yeah.
Amazing. Be personal responsibility.
I used to put it on the floorin the back seat. I just. And then
I'd get somewhere and I'd takeit out and throw it away.
(39:12):
We go to so many places thathave trash cans.
I know. They're everywhere.They are.
I know.
And where you go to get thatBig Gulp, they've got trash cans
right there at the door. And Istill. I mean we shouldn't be talking
about who's going to clean upafter you in the first place. But
again, I think convicts wouldnot. I don't think it'd be a bad
(39:34):
community service to have themdo that, but I think they did for
a while. And then there wassomebody that complained. Yeah. That
said, no, you can't. This isdangerous. You can't use them for
that. I don't know what it wasall about, but I would give them
time off. If you want to bepart of the detail that goes out
and cleans.
It all up or it's pain. Let'stalk about this for a second. Because
our illustrious government inthe state of Missouri. And I shouldn't
(39:57):
say the government, it was oneindividual. And I don't want to mention
a name or a.
Yes, you do. You want to sayit so bad it's on the tip of your
throat.
Yeah. When you know inmates,they do receive funds for the work
that they do in a jail or thepenitentiary and it would go to an
account that they would have.And the nice thing about that would
(40:19):
be that when they got out ofjail they had what I would call seed
money to help them reinvestand re. Acclimate to society. In
their illustrious wisdom, thisparticular individual said, we're
going to take that and you'rereimbursing the state for your room
and board at the jail. I'mthinking like that's one of the dumbest
things I've ever heard.
(40:40):
No. Why would you. Insult to injury.
It really does.
It is. It's. Why would you.What. Who comes up with that stuff?
People who are.
I'll say it if that's a dumb idea.
It is a dumb idea. If they hada family member or a close friend
(41:00):
who was in that situation andwould understand what it takes to
re acclimate in society andyou get out of prison and if you
don't have a network ofconnection other than a criminal
network of connection, if youdon't have a halfway house or a faith
based organization that'shelping you re acclimate, in other
words, find housing, find ajob. Get a driver's license, get
(41:23):
all of this stuff. You're onyour own.
Right.
What's the chances of youheaded back to prison? Pretty high.
Yeah. Pretty good, I wouldsay. Yeah.
So the recidivism rate wouldbe really high for people to. That's
why people commit. Hey, I gotroom and board. I got my three squares.
I can watch tv. I can workout. I got a job here. It's pretty
(41:44):
comfortable. So I think I'mgonna go rob this convenience store.
Yes. I go back in the bighouse. That's just wrong. I don't
know why. Yeah, that's justwrong. Help people. When do we start
helping people?
When we got selfish.
There you go. That's the wordof the day. Selfish, I'm afraid.
But. So that's. That was mybig. It's been festering for a long
(42:04):
time to talk about that on the show.
Good one. Good one.
But, yeah, the litter. I'llget off at just 44. And J. Jefferson.
Just amazing. Just if you'regoing east. Eastbound. Yeah. Just.
I just. It's. Wow.
Notice when you go todifferent places, folks. When you
go to different cities.
Uhhuh.
Is it a priority or is it nota priority?
Don't letter, please.
(42:27):
So let's do some mental flosshere, folks.
Oh, no.
Okay, these words that I'mgoing to mention are legitimate.
They're certified dictionaryterms. They've survived for centuries.
Okay, so again, they are.There's bumfuzzle. Bum fuzzle. It
means to confuse, perplex orfluster. Kind of variation on dumbfound.
(42:52):
This year's corn maze was socomplex, it bumfuzzled visitors.
Then there's snickersnee.
All right.
It means a large knife.
A snickersnee. That's a large.
But can also refer to a knife fight.
Whoa.
Yeah. Then there's wabbit.It's not the Elmer Fudd one. It means
(43:14):
wary or exhausted. Huntingrabbits all day without a catch left
the predator feeling wabbit.
You think that's where it camefrom? For the.
It could be Wesley Webbit.Yes. Collywobbles. Stomach pain or
anxiety. Speaking in front ofa crowd. Gave Jane Collywobbles.
Then there's snallygoster.It's a shrewd, unprincipled person.
(43:40):
In 1952, Harry S. Trumanreferred to his political opponents
as snallygosters. He reallydid that, folks. This next one I
can't even pronounce, so I'mnot going to try. And there's terradiddle.
Terradiddle it means a pettylie. You can't blame the exhausted
mom for telling her toddlerthe park was closed today. A forgivable
(44:02):
pterodiddle. Yeah. Some ofthese I can't even pronounce. I don't
want to try to. Slubber degolen. What? Yeah. Can't pronounce
it. Slobber de gullion.Slobber de gulian. A delightful insult
for a slovenly, dirty,slobber, worthless person. After
living with three roommateswho never washed a dish, Michael
(44:24):
declared he would never againshare an apartment with such slobber
gullions.
There you go. That's it.
There you go.
Okay, Good for him.
Yeah. Slumber gullions.
Forget the slobber gullions.
Wow.
Okay. There you go.
Yeah.
Do you know today's NationalChocolate Day?
Oh, every day should be chocolate.
Do you like chocolate like that?
I like dark chocolate.
(44:45):
Let's see. InternationalAnimation Day. The art of animation.
Yeah.
It's a big Disney thing.
Walt Disney.
Yeah. Yeah. One of myfavorites. The National Immigrants
Day is today.
Huh? We're all immigrants atone point or another. You all have
some kind of link.
Don't forget that. PlushAnimal Lovers Day. Like your teddy
(45:10):
bear.
I don't have one.
Plush Animal Lovers Day. Younever had one?
No.
That explains a lot.
I think I really did. I justdon't remember.
I don't remember. I knowsomeday we'll have a big talk about
that first National FirstResponders Day.
Okay.
Thank goodness for first responders.
Yes.
(45:30):
Who wants to run into thatfire? That building that's on fire?
Really don't get paid enoughto do that either.
No. Who wants to stop thatcrime? That's. Those are just a few
of the many days of the daysof the day. Days of the day. Those
are some of the top highlightsfor us.
Yeah.
Okay.
I was going to buy a new carand the salesman said that the car
(45:53):
will seat six problem. Sixpeople without any problems. I said,
I don't know. Six people.People without any problems. The
first drone was invented bymothers that never missed the target.
(46:14):
Certainly not by a guy.
Yeah.
Never mind.
Let's see here.
He's thinking. He'll come upwith it.
I am thinking. I'm just. Myfriend told me me she wouldn't eat
beef tongue because it cameout of a cow's mouth. So I gave her
an egg. I think I've done someof these before. Let's go back to
(46:38):
some really old ones. Icouldn't log on to the site to get
the ones that I wanted. Herewe go. Ready? English lesson, folks.
Tsunami. T is silent. Honest.H is silent. Psychology. P is silent.
Knife. K is silent. Wife.Husband is silent.
(47:04):
Happy wife, happy life.
The only person coming to saveyou is the version of yourself that's
tired of your current situation.
Boy, isn't that the truth? Hello.
And maybe folks will closewith this. That maybe you have had
trouble with a password. Andyou know how it says you haven't
included this, you haven'tincluded that. You haven't included
(47:25):
this. Sorry. This was theversion that came up on the computer
the other day. Your passwordmust contain at least eight characters,
upper and lowercase letter, asymbol or number, a hieroglyphic,
a haiku, a musical note, thefeather of a hawk and the drop of
a unicorn blood. Isn't that true?
It is so true. I know. Thatway you gotta change the password
(47:48):
every time.
That's great.
I forgot it. I'm always.
Folks, that's all for thishour. We don't forget you and we
don't want you to forget us.Thank you for listening. If you've
enjoyed this episode, you canlisten to additional shows@stlintune.com.
consider leaving a review onour website, Apple Podcast, Podchaser,
or your preferred podcastplatform. Your feedback helps helps
(48:11):
us reach more listeners andcontinue to grow. Thanks to Bob Berthicel
for our theme music, oursponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our
guest, Brad Kovach and co hostMark Langston. We thank you folks
for being part of ourcommunity of curious minds. St. Louis
in tune is a production ofMotif Media Group and the US Radio
Network. Remember to keepseeking, keep learning, walk worthy,
and let your light shine. ForSt. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.
(48:37):
Sam.
Missouri's premier gatheringfor outdoor recreation is back. The
Gateway Outdoor Expo PlusSummit returns to the St. Charles
Convention Center November14th, 15th and 16th. We're going
to talk to the founder on St.Louis in June.
(00:20):
Close enough.
Do we have to do disclaimers already?
Saint Church Carl, welcome toSt. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold
Stricker. Thank you forjoining us for fresh perspectives
on issues and events withexperts, community leaders and everyday
(00:40):
people who make a differencein shaping our society and world.
We're here with co host Mark Langston.
Howdy.
Were we on while we were.Yeah, we were. Oh, so you folks,
you got to hear some of theoutside banter there and conversation.
Go to the YouTube channel andsee that.
We might be on the newstonight where the. We had a hot mic.
Hot mic event. Did you hearwhat he said? Oh, folks, we're glad
(01:09):
that you joined us today. Wantto thank our sponsor, Better Rate
Mortgage for their support ofthe show. You can listen to previous
shows@stlintune.com pleasehelp us continue to grow by leaving
a review on our website, ApplePodcast or your preferred podcast
platform. Our positive thoughtfor the day. Our positive thought
for the day. You must bepositive, folks.
All right.
(01:29):
You must be able to turn thepages that are on the table because
if you don't, you're going tobe in trouble.
This is the longest introwe've ever had.
Remember, it'll go along withthis one. Remember, you'll never
get new results from repeatingold habits. You'll never get new
results from repeating oldhabits. Now that goes exactly with
(01:52):
what we're going to talk abouttoday because prior to the show,
we were talking with ourguest, Brad Kovach, and he is the
founder. Because I was like,you are the founder, right? And he
goes, yeah, he's the founderand he's the deputy director at River
City Outdoors. He's also thepublisher at Terrain magazine.
(02:13):
Holy smokes.
And the founder of GatewayOutdoor Expo Plus Summit, which is
going to take place November14th, 15th and 16th. Welcome back,
Brad.
When does he.
Thank you.
When do you sleep?
It's crazy this time of year.Yeah, yeah. Thanks for having me.
Third time, I was thinking onthe drive in, do I get a jacket Five
times? Like some.
Oh, is this the third time?
The Saturday Night Live. Ihave two more years for. But I'm
(02:33):
already thinking ahead to.
We can just give you one ofthose reflective stars.
We have a pen. We didn't givethem a pen. I've got one of those
official pens.
I can give you a Pen fromanother place here that we got.
Here we go. Our official pens.It's a fidget pen.
Thank you.
At the top, you can spin thetop. There you go.
(02:54):
Yeah. If you're bored, ifyou're trying to think about what
outdoor activity you're goingto do for Right. You can spin that
thing, your very own.
Like a little roulette wheel.
Yeah, we like the. We're atroulette. Are we going to get to
this show?
We're there. We're there.Okay, so Brad, this is going to take
place November 14th, 15th and16th. And I want to mention that
(03:16):
last year folks there wereover 6,000 people.
Wow.
And they expect more thisyear. So do you have to get a ticket
to come?
You don't. And that's one ofthe better things about the show
I think is it's not ticketed.So it's free public entry. Also free
parking. We want to removeevery barrier possible to coming
down.
And this is at the St. CharlesConvention Center.
It's easy to get to.
(03:37):
It is easy to get to. It's onout in Saint. Some people say Chuck
out there. It's on the southside of I70 and you want to get it
on the south service road. Ibelieve that's how they install that
there. But check that out. Sowhat are some things that people
can expect new this year thatif they've been in the past. Yeah,
we have going to be new.
(03:58):
A couple of fun new thingsthis year. We always tried to build
activity into the Expo. Soit's not just a booth event where
you walk from space to space.We try to get people, give people
things to do. This year wehave a run before the Expo starts.
So the Expo is on Saturday,starts at 10, so if you show up at
9, we're partnering with St.Charles Runners Club and they're
(04:19):
going to have a group run, noncompetitive, no tickets or no fee
for that either to just showup, run with some friends and you
can run up to 10k but youcertainly don't have to. You can
run any distance you want inbetween there. And then afterward
the group is going to havesome guides there and help shepherd
everybody through. And thenafterward you'll come back to the
convention center and there'sa free light breakfast that we're
(04:41):
offering. And then at 10 o'clock the doors to the expo open
and everyone can go inside andwalk around. And then we're doing
the same thing on Sunday butwith bicycles. So if you're not a
runner, but you're a bikerider. We're coordinating with Big
Shark Bicycles and SouthsideCyclery and they are going to host
the bike ride again, free,open to the public, starts at 9.
(05:02):
Ride your bike on the Katy forabout an hour or so. Come back, come
to the expo, have a littlefree light breakfast and then go
on and walk around.
And Brad is doing both. He's running.
And are us going to run for 48hours consecutively?
Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
Inside the expo? Yes. Run,walk. You don't have to run. Certainly
you can walk. But yeah, wewant to make it again as easy as
(05:24):
everybody or as easy as we canon everybody.
That's cool because Katy Trailis not too far away.
No, it's right there.
Yeah, that's the idea I thinkis to get people down to the Katy
and then let them go up anddown and take it at their own pace.
That's great. And if you'venever been there, folks, there are
a variety of activities.There's gear galore, base camp presentations,
hands on activities. Get intosome of these things for people that
(05:46):
may have wanted to go in thepast, but maybe the timing didn't
work for them or their familyor they're like, wow, I'm new to
the area, I never knew aboutthis, what do I do?
So the Expo itself is a biggathering of outdoor recreation businesses,
organizations, clubs, allthose sorts of things. Predominantly
the backbone of the show isthe booths. You have vendors there
who are. Some are sellinggear, some are talking about their
(06:06):
event or organization or clubthat might be a running club, a biking
club or a rock climbing club.But it's just a way for people who
maybe are new to the area orwho just want to get more involved
with the outdoors to comedown. Yeah, meet new people, sign
up for an event, sign up for aclub that then you can meet with
throughout the year or maybebuy some gear that you've needed
to get outside. One of theother things I might mention that's
(06:27):
new this year is we havepresentations. You had mentioned
that we call the area on theshow floor base camp, but it's really
just a stage on the expofloor. And we'll be having presentations
this year every half hour orso. Experts there to talk about whatever
their particular topic is thatmight be long range paddling or it
might be grassrootsconservation. Just different half
(06:49):
hour sessions that you canstop in at when you're walking around
the expo. If you need a breakfrom walking and want to sit, learn
about a new topic thatinterests you and then Pursue that
the rest of the year if you choose.
Is there a rock climbing wall there?
We will have the rock wallagain this year. Yes. Yeah, that's
a big one. Upper Limits alwaysbrings that. Families love it. Safe
way to try rock climbing andit's fun.
(07:11):
Now I'm wondering if there'sgoing to be like a kayak kind of
or will there be somebody withkayaks out there? Do they have a.
One of those swimming thingsthat you can bid in there and then
the water will rise?
I've seen those north at theboat show. They used to have a kayak
area with an inflatable pooland water. You could actually kayak
on site. Unfortunately, we'renot doing that. But hey, ideas for,
(07:33):
for next year?
Okay. All right. So how manyvendors will be there roughly?
We have 150 booths.
Wow.
So you know, it's about 100,125 vendors. Some have multiple size
booths, but yeah, so you'relooking at about 100 different organizations
that are going to be there.
So when you're talking aboutgear, you're talking about, okay,
tents, sleeping bags, bikes,canoes, kayaks, every kind of thing
(07:55):
that you would imagine foroutdoors. There's a vendor for all
of the above.
So yeah, we try to keep. Cut awide path there, if that makes sense.
A lot of different, differentgear from a lot of different places.
When did you start planningfor this particular year? Oh gosh,
the day after last year.
Yeah, that's the real answer.Things really heat up about three
(08:15):
months out. Six months is thelight break in. But yeah, once we're
three months out, it's really,it's all on fire because.
You have to make plans withthe convention center probably maybe
a couple years in advance.
That happens a year out. Yeah,so we're already talking about next
year. We're talking about 2026now at least with a convention center.
And then we start some lightreach outreach to vendors and stuff
(08:38):
about six months out and thenit goes from there.
And these aren't all localvendors. Do you have some vendors
in outstate Missouri or maybeout of the state of Missouri coming?
No, we do. That's a goodquestion. I haven't. Last year we
did a little heat map to kindof show where they were from. Haven't
done that yet this year, but Ido know we have a Colorado. I think
we have a couple from Georgiaarea, Louisiana, Tennessee perhaps.
(09:00):
They spread out a bit.Predominantly it's regional and local,
but we do get a few that comefrom the outlying area.
So you get not only vendors,but people to come from nationally
to this.
Those are more vendors. Yeah.And people. It's hard to say since
it's a non ticketed event. Wecan't. It's hard to track people.
I think most of the folks arelocal, regional, drawing from the
metro and maybe southernIllinois a little bit, but yeah,
(09:22):
predominantly.
Do you have a map? Like theycould put a pin and say where they're
from.
That would be fun.
Track.
I haven't done that.
That would be neat because I'msure there's people from Iowa and
Kansas and Nebraska and matterof fact, Missouri is one of the fewest
states that has the mostborder states around it. And you
get all these people comingin. And it's pretty centrally located
too.
I think so too.
(09:42):
Yeah.
November 14th, 15th and 16thand they can get some information@gatewayoutdoorexpo.com
Gatewayoutdoor Expo.com and inthe issue of Terrain magazine. Which
issue?
Yeah. So we just released ourNovember December issue of the magazine.
And one of the fun items inthere we do every year this. Every.
(10:05):
This time of year, every yearis a photo contest. So these are
the winners. These are allamateur regional photos. So submitted
by our readers. And then wehave a panel of judges and we go
through and we choose. I wantto say there's maybe 15, there's
five categories, three winnersin each category. So about 15, 16
winners overall. And it's justa fun issue to page through people,
I think to see what otherpeople are doing outdoors. Yeah,
(10:28):
I would encourage you to gopick it up.
Is there going to be like abooth with these photos up in display
and things like that?
We do do that. We did it forthe first time last year. We're doing
it again this year. So we'retake all the winners, we blow up
their photos poster size andthen we have a photo gallery at the
expo where you can come andjust check out what other people
have caught.
(10:48):
Can you purchase those ifpeople like them or.
We have not done that.
See, I'm giving him ideas.
These are good ideas. I do.The gallery is great. I do like the
idea of maybe having some prints.
Yeah, yeah, that would be great.
Yeah, there's probably somethere I'd like.
Because look at the. Thepicture here on the front. This is.
Was this taken out at.
That's Hidden Valley.
Hidden Valley, yeah. Look at that.
(11:09):
That's a great shot.
It is a great. These areamateurs. These aren't correct. It's
probably taken with an iPhoneor something like that.
Yeah. Who knows?
Yeah. So of course they wereshameless Plug.
We had a lot of good responseto that cover, especially a lot of
folks who were excited sayingthat that's just a photo you don't
anticipate seeing necessarilyin St. Louis, but sure enough, that's
right here in Wildwood.
(11:30):
I think it's great you'redoing it for free. I don't know how
you do it for free. Vendors are.
How do you do it? How do youdo it?
Well, guys, how much money doyou have to spe.
Yeah, let's go to the next question.
Brad's selling stuff out ofthe back end of his car. Old shoes
(11:51):
and stuff.
It's all those photo printsthat they submit for free that we
turn on and sell them.
Yeah.
How can people get on amailing list for Terrain magazine?
Oh, thank you for asking that.That's a good question. So we do
have on the website a freesign up for the newsletter, which
also, when you sign up for thenewsletter, you're also signing up
(12:13):
for the digital edition of the magazine.
Okay.
So we would send that to youremail address every other month.
It comes out every two months.And you get basically what you call
like the ezine format ordigital magazine form, the same as
you would get in print. Andthen if you do want it in print,
we're at most local cyclingshops, running stores, outfitters,
and then also in a lot ofcoffee shops, rec centers, that kind
(12:34):
of. Those kind of places. Soyou can find that list online at
terrain-mag.com if you want topick it up in print.
And would these be free orwould these be too? Wow.
Yeah, in print we're free. The.
Is the free guy.
Yeah. The only cost.
He's got deep pockets.
The only cost for the magazineis if you want to get a home subscription,
you can purchase that and thenyou're really just paying for the.
(12:56):
The postage. So it's. I thinkit's 24 for. For six issues.
Okay, now I refrained fromwhat I was going to say.
Next question. How manyissues? What?
Oh, no, you know, how manyissues? Six. Six issues. Yes, I was
refraining because when it wasmailed, depending upon what area
you live in St. Louis, you mayor may not receive it.
Oh.
(13:16):
Shots fired.
USPS will not like me. Iprobably won't get any mail now the
rest of my life. Yeah,exactly. A lot of great advertising
in here of stores andobviously they're underwriting the
magazine and the expo. Butthings that you might not even think
about. What's the Most unusualsponsor that's going to be here at
(13:40):
the expo that has a booth thatyou're like, wow, this is really
out of the mind, out of thebox kind of outdoors.
You're putting me on the spot.
And we're not saying that anyof them are not. But our new ones.
Yeah, our new ones. Yeah, newones. That would be a good one, Mark.
Coming in this year again.
Man, I'm biased.
Good. I love these curve balls.
You keep thinking for asecond. This is Arnold Stricker.
(14:01):
With Mark Langston of St.Louis in Tune, we're talking to Brad
Kovach, deputy director atRiver City Outdoors and founder.
And founder.
Right.
A founder of Gateway OutdoorExpo plus Summit, and he's also the
publisher at Terrain magazine.And Terrain magazine can be received
six times a year. This is theNovember December issue. It's got
(14:24):
a picture of winning shotsfrom the 2025 photo contest. And
great. Frozen in time.
Terrain-mag.com Correct.Terrain-mag. I'm going there.
So what's that? What's theanswer to that?
You know, I don't know why I'mtrying to think of, like, someone
that's really gonna be new andexciting. They're all exciting. We're
(14:46):
fortunate that we have a lotof repeat, repeat customers.
Let's talk about scavenger hunt.
Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. So,yeah, for families who maybe have
little ones who aren't asexcited to just walk around and look
at gear, we have a scavengerhunt that you will get when you walk
in the door. There's anopportunity to pick up a kind of
a printed directory. And thenat the same time, I'll have a printout
of a scavenger hunt, kind of abingo card. And you go around to
(15:08):
the listed vendors on thereand get a check mark or a stamp,
and then you bring that backto the scavenger hunt booth when
you're completed and you get afree prize. So the prizes are more
directed toward the littlecoloring book or a sticker or T shirt
or something like that, butjust keeps the kids engaged, builds
a little excitement in for them.
And I'm sure. Go ahead, Mark.
Are the big retailers in St.Louis there, too?
(15:29):
We have. Bass Pro is coming.I. Cabela's has not signed on yet,
but I know that we've beentalking with them. So Alpine Shop
is always there. They're oneof the big local outdoor outfitters.
So. Yeah.
Rei do they.
REI usually does not, but younever know. We still have some time.
Yeah. Never know.
Maybe in the future.
They should. They don't knowwhat they're missing.
(15:49):
There's another big storecoming into town I just found out
about called Sierra.
Yes. It's going to be in Kirkwood.
Yes, I just heard that.
I read that this morning.
A day or two ago.
Yeah.
Located where the. Across fromthe. No. Walmart and the Lowe's on
South Lindbergh or SouthKirkwood Brook.
Is Alpine still in Kirkwood?
(16:11):
Yeah.
Yes.
Okay. Wow. Okay. Kirkwood isthe outdoor capital of.
It's getting that way.
They all live in tents.
Okay, sorry, folks inKirkwood. I know.
I was going to ask you thisone. When people go around to the
booths, one of the big thingswhen I go to a convention or something,
(16:32):
there's always people that Igot my bag, what's the free thing
you're gonna give me? And theywalk out like grocery bags full of
stuff.
Right. Yeah, that. Thatdefinitely happens. That's the thing.
And yeah, I'm sure a lot ofthe booths will have little tchotchkes
or spin the wheel for a prizeor something like that. Again, it
just keeps things interestingand fun.
Keeps people coming in.
Exactly.
I know you've done this in thepast. Canoe with claws.
(16:55):
Oh, yeah. We are doing thatagain this year. So that's a fun
opportunity for.
Again, Dayton with Santa.
See, I'm helping them out, butyeah, another family activity. Obviously
this is a show geared towardall ages, but people come with their
families and so we try to keepit fun. So, yeah, you can bring your
kids or young at heart if youwant to get your photo taken. With
(17:17):
Santa, we set up a canoe and afull scene. This is backdrop. There's
snow, there's all kinds ofstuff, but Santa is seated in the
canoe. You come, you sit inthe canoe. Get your photo taken for
free and take that home. Showit off at Thanksgiving.
Yeah.
Hand it out with yourChristmas list. Yeah.
Now you have Expo plus Summit.
Right. So where's the summitcome in? Yeah, so the summit is on
(17:39):
Friday the 14th.
Okay.
So it's an afternoonconference style event mainly geared
toward the outdoorprofessional, so not so much the
public, although it is open tothe public. If you want to come,
you can.
Okay.
But it's more geared towardfolks who work in perhaps Parks and
Rec, or maybe you're with anonprofit or. Or you're just an outdoor
advocate. And so it's anafternoon of sessions to talk about
(18:00):
things that are driven towardthe industry professional. So it
might be talking about equityon the trail or talking about how
race events can help Driveeconomy or things along those lines.
It's from 3 to 6 on Friday.And then that dovetails into a little
VIP after party that we havefor the folks who attend the summit
and the vendors of the expowho will be setting up on Friday.
(18:24):
So Friday night we have alittle mixer for everybody. And then
Saturday really kicks off theExpo itself at 10:00 clock that morning.
Okay, now question about, arethere like breakout sessions or little
mini conference things wheresomebody says, hey, if you want to
go off camping by yourself,this is the best way to put up a
tent, or this is the best wayto start a fire, or this is the kind
(18:45):
of gear you need. Do they havethat going on?
Yeah, so that's thepresentations I mentioned that are
going on on Saturday andSunday during the expo that will
be taking place right on theshow floor there, so you don't have
to go to a different room. Orthey're actively taking place on
the main exhibit hall or inthe main exhibit hall while you're
walking around. And so, yeah,those will run a whole range of topics
(19:06):
from. I don't know that wehave anyone necessarily specifically
teaching how to build a fire,but along those lines, more educational
information type presentationsthat are geared toward the public.
Yeah, I hope people will stopand check those out.
So are these like ongoingkinds of things? Does somebody like,
wait, I gotta wait till I have15 people, or gee, I have five people
here and somebody's wonderingwhat's going on.
(19:27):
They're going on every halfhour, essentially.
So I didn't get that schedule.
Yeah, no, and that's obviouslythey're keeping things from you.
Yeah, I have to have somesurprises to talk about, but yeah,
so we have one on Tales fromthe Big Rivers. So people who have
done some endurance paddling,we have a talk about gear libraries,
what those are and how toaccess those. We have two of those
(19:48):
in Missouri. We have aconversation with our organization,
River City Outdoors. So whoare we? What are we about? So, yeah,
those are just an example of afew. We have one about stories from
Missouri student cyclists,kids who are on local cycling teams
and what they get out of it,how to be part of that. If you have
a child or if you're a youthwho wants to be part of a youth cycling
(20:08):
team.
I didn't even know there werelocal youth cycling team.
Yes. Yeah. So just those are afew examples of the presentation.
What's a gear library?
We have one here with ourfoundation, River City Outdoors.
We have about a thousandpieces of gear. And think of it,
much like you would with abook library. You want to, you want
to read this book. You don'twant to buy it. Maybe you don't have
access to it, but you can comeborrow it from the library, read
(20:30):
it, bring it back, I'll bethere. So if, if you don't have a
tent or a sleeping bag, butyou have a camping trip this coming
weekend and friends are like,hey, come with us. But you say, I
don't have the gear and Ican't go out and buy $300 worth of
gear. We will lend it to youand check out process like you would
at a library. You take it withyou for the weekend, bring it back,
and there you go. We'reallowing you or trying to help you
(20:51):
get outside and experience the outdoors.
This is great.
So how do people get in touchwith you about the gear Library?
If you go to our foundationwebsite, which is rivercityoutdoors.org
we have a page on the librarythat I believe says Gear Library
or I'm sorry, a page on thewebsite that says Gear Library. Click
on that and it just walks youthrough the process.
(21:11):
That's great.
Yeah. You do have to registerlike you would get a library card.
You have to register to get aGear Library quote unquote card.
But once you're a member, youcan reserve gear. You know as much
as you would like and as longas you bring it back in decent working
order and don't steal it oranything nasty, you can keep coming
back.
Did I say that?
Yeah.
I think that's great.
Are you guys the ones that dothe canoe trips by the arch and stuff?
(21:35):
As part of our foundation,River City Outdoors, we publish Terrain
magazine, we host the expo,and we also run Big Muddy Adventures,
which is. Which are the boatsthat go by the arch and canoe on
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Seems dangerous to me.
Do that confluence. Is thatthe part of the confluence?
We have done trips to theconfluence in the past. It's not
(21:57):
on our schedule right now.Things swap in and out year on year.
But we've certainly doneconfluence trips in the past.
Wow. Yeah.
This is crazy.
Like, I'm on River CityOutdoors right now. Mark rivercityoutdoors.org
They've got a get outdoorsdrop down and you can discover, Explore
the Gear Lending Library, PlayEvents, blog. Then there's Learn
(22:17):
More. Then there's Connect,which there's volunteering or some
careers or donation or mediarelations. And then there's the outdoor
brands, which Brad justmentioned. Big Money Adventures,
Gateway Outdoor Expo, AndTerrain magazine, the other one that
we. The reason Brad's here isto talk about the gateway outdoor
expo. Gatewayoutdoor expo.com.you can catch that. There's some
(22:40):
video on there, an expo layoutwith the base camp out there and
the. What's the MTB zone?
Oh, that's the mountain bikezone. So another activity zone that
you can take part in basicallywill put you on a mountain bike and
let you ride around. There'ssome small, like, entry level obstacles,
so rumble strips and. Andthere's a teeter totter you can roll
(23:01):
over and stuff like that. Sogive you a chance to feel what it's
like to be on a mountain bike,maybe approach some obstacles. And
then it's run by one of ourvendors, which is called Wheels up,
and they are certifiedmountain bike instructors. So they
will be on hand, one, to makesure you're safe, but two, also to
give you some little pointershere and there on how to negotiate
some of these obstacles.
This is just unbelievable.
I have a friend that doesmountain biking. He loves it. He's
(23:24):
addicted to it, actually.
It's very exciting.
He goes everywhere. He takeshis bike and goes all over the place,
always looking for a new adventure.
Well, we're fortunate thatwe're just north of Bentonville,
which is an amazing mountainbike town down in northwest Arkansas.
You can go down there. Seemslike every weekend you go down there,
there's a new trail openingup. It's just remarkable.
(23:45):
They have regular, very good,regular biking trails down there.
They do, too.
That really connect almost.Yeah. Almost all the way down to
Fayetteville.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Who knew? I never knew.
It's a great area down there.It's very beautiful.
It's lovely.
Yeah. You can see some greatartwork down there too, at the museum
down there.
And if they made those trails,that's great. So they don't have
ruts and everything and. Yeah,but it's more fun that way.
(24:07):
Yep. It's a great area.
Oh, yeah.
Highly recommend.
Had no idea. This is yourwealth of information.
What's your favorite outdooractivity and what's your. The one
that you wish you loved alittle bit more.
Okay.
Wow.
So we did talk a little bitabout this beforehand, but I have
certainly a mountain bikerthat's never going to go away. But
(24:28):
more recently I've been trailrunning and really enjoying that.
There's a lot of trails aroundhere that you can bike, hike and
run on. So that's beenexciting for me just to experience
a new activity. And you meetas you do that, you meet new friends,
new folks. So that's been funto meet a lot of different people.
Something that I would like todo or haven't done a lot of. I get
pitched a lot by friends whoare also rock climbers, outdoor rock
(24:51):
climbers, and I haven't reallydone much of that. They keep inviting
me. I keep not being able togo. One of these days I'm gonna go.
I've done it a couple times,very casually. It's fun. Again, just
a different aspect of theoutdoors. Completely different obviously
than running or biking, butit's exciting and new and so I think
eventually I will probably trythat out a little more.
(25:13):
Trail running is fascinatingto me. I've never heard of trail
running.
Pick your feet up. That's thenumber one tip.
But say, I know, is it likethe you're out of high school cross
country kind of deal?
Yeah, cross country, I guess.Would that kind of bridge does the
gap between like track andtrail running? Trail running that
I do is more on single tracktrails. So hiking trails that you
(25:34):
might. Trails you might hikeor bike on. Usually just one person
abreast. That's why it'scalled single track. But rocky, rooty,
hilly, up and down.
You wear gear?
No, not beyond just yourrunning shoes.
You're just like out there.
Yeah. If you're going to runlong distances, you might have a
water bladder.
Right. But if you.
More often than not, you'rejust out.
There, you trip and fall,you're going, yeah, it happens. Not
(25:59):
suggesting that will happen,but oh no, it'll happen.
It happens to me. Anyway.
Pick your feet up.
You may or may not be able toanswer this and it's okay if you
don't, but the, the abilityand the effort to get outside and
what it does for you mentallyand emotionally and spiritually and
(26:20):
physically in connectingpeople. Because we grew up, my dad
was a PE teacher, alwaysactively doing stuff and it seems
now with the phones, peopleare just. Or the computers, they're
just by themselves andisolated themselves. Getting out
into the outdoors really doesa lot for people's psyches. Can you
talk a little about or haveyou talked about that in the magazine
(26:41):
or at the expo?
Yeah, an ever presentundercurrent to the magazine and
the expo. Yeah, you'reabsolutely right. There are numerous
studies and I don't have anyhere to cite, but I don't think it
would surprise anyone to knowthat getting outside, even for 15,
20 minutes a day is going tohelp you mentally, physically and
emotionally and it can beanything. It can be a walk in your
(27:02):
neighborhood, it can be bikingat a park. It can be doing something
more air quotes. Extreme, ifyou want to call it that. But just
getting away from home, awayfrom the screen and outdoors in the
fresh air, no question isgoing to be a benefit to you in the
long run. The hardest part,honestly, and this is certainly applies
to me, but I think applies toeveryone. The hardest part is just
(27:24):
getting your. The motivationto take that first step to get outside.
Right.
Once you're there for meanyway, everything else just goes
right off my back. All thestress and everything just flows
right off. It's just gettingyourself into the habit of spending
20 minutes a day putting iton. Book it on your calendar. I'm
(27:44):
gonna take that walk afterwork every day, or I'm gonna join
this club that meets everyTuesday for an hour. And that's stuff
that you can find at the Expo,honestly, is. We have a lot of clubs
there, and that's why they'rethere. They're trying to get membership.
Many of these clubs are free.When I say membership, it's not that
you have to pay them 20 bucksa month or something. It's no, they
just want you to sign up, bein on their weekly or bi weekly or
(28:06):
monthly activity, their groupmeeting, which might be a run or
a bike or a walk. But once youmeet those folks, make friends, then
suddenly you're interestedand, and looking forward to being
there. And there's someaccountability as well. Honestly,
they're saying to you, hey,where were you last Friday? Why didn't
you come out to our run? Wemiss you. Come back out. So that's
(28:26):
one of the best things I thinkpeople can do, is find their group,
whatever it is, whateveractivity in those. And they exist.
There's tons of groups outthere. We try to feature those in
the magazine on a regularbasis. Once you find your group,
engage with them and try tomake it a regular part of your life.
Find your group and find your groove.
Ooh, yeah. Oh, my goodness.Somebody write that down, will you
(28:52):
please? Okay, yeah.
And this is not to say theclub memberships in these big box
places, exercise places, that,that's not bad. But getting outside
is just so healthy. Just tosee green or to smell fresh air or
to see the sun shine.Obviously not today, but.
Put the phone down.
Yeah, put the phone down.Getting out. Some people, they'll
(29:14):
exercise with the earbuds indisconnect, right? And connect with
nature and connect with what'sgoing on outside.
It's an amazing thing.
It is.
Really is. Always loved it.
So November 14th, 15th and16th, it's the Gateway Outdoor Expo
Plus Summit. It will be heldat the St. Charles Convention center
in St. Charles, Missouri. Theparking is free. It's free to get
(29:38):
in.
Free. Free.
Yeah, that's right.
You won't tell us how it'sfree, but it's free.
Saturday is 10:10am to 5:00pmSunday is 10:00am to 4:00pm and prior
to the Saturday event is a runand prior to the Sunday event is
a bike ride.
That's correct.
And if you want moreinformation, go to GatewayOutdoor
(29:59):
Expo.comGatewayOutdoorExpo.com and also you
can go toRiverCityOutdoors.org Brad, thanks
for coming in again, man.
Thank you.
It's great.
So much fun. I know. It reallyis. Be careful on that trail. Running
trail. It just doesn't, I justcan't get my head around.
I'm gonna keep picking thosefeet up.
Yeah.
It's not like the black ski one.
(30:19):
Which is, you know, this way,I can't imagine. And it's the same
trail usually that the bike,the rider. The bikes go. No.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Most. More often than not. Okay.
Just don't get a bike riderbehind you when you're on the trail.
Okay.
Wow. We're gonna take a break,folks. We'll be right back for our
next segment. You're listeningto St. Louis in tune with Arnold
(30:40):
Stricker and Mark Langston onthe US Radio Network. As strange
as it may sound, at BetterRate Mortgage, we love talking to
people about mortgages.Everyone in St. Louis promises a
better mortgage rate. But whatyou really need to turn that perfect
(31:00):
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Mortgage, we open the door toso much more. So where are you in
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of St. Louis us@infoistl.orgor call 314-773-9090. That's infoiistl.org
(32:12):
or call 314 203-9090. Welcomeback to St. Louis in Tune. I was
(32:34):
going to go welcome back.Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune.
This is Arnold Stricker withMark langston. Again the 2025 Expo
Summit going to take place theGateway Outdoor Expo Plus Summit
is going to take place at theSt. Charles Convention Center November
15th, 16th there's the 14th,but this is actually for those folks
(32:57):
who are doing the exhibiting.And so folks, if you want to go and
check it out, the exhibit hallopens at 10am to 5pm if you want
to participate in the runprior to that, that starts at 9 o'.
Clock. You would need to go toGateway Expo Gatewayoutdoor Expo.com
and find out a little bit moreinformation. Also Sunday, November
(33:17):
16 from 10 to 4 and prior tothat there is a bike ride on the
Katy Trail and it's free. It'sfree parking.
Yep. And thatmagazine@terrain-mag.com if you want
to subscribe to that. Andthat's free unless you want it mailed
to your house or you can.
Go to River City. Gosh, Imessed up. Rivercityoutdoors.org
(33:39):
and as Mark said, terrain,that's two Rs mag.com there's a lot
of.
Websites there to remember,but we'll post.
That on the podcast page.
If you like outdoors orconsidering doing outdoor stuff,
what a great place to start.
It is a wonderful thing. It'sreally premier in our area. I would
say that this particular expo.
So really, really fortunate tohave something.
(34:02):
Right here and somebody likeBrad who's really organizing all
of this and keeps keeps thingsfocused. You're taking in a whole
lot of new things. There'sthings that I'm sure like when rock
climbing first came on thescene. There's a lot to learn and
then there's things thatprobably people aren't doing as much.
Fly fishing. I know there'sgoing to be probably fly fishing
people there, but it's uniquekind of thing. It is even fly fishing
(34:25):
Making. That's even.
Oh, that is tough. Yeah. Areusing one of those fly rods.
Fly rods? Yeah.
There's a trick to those.
Yeah. I'm sure they probablyteach you how to do that.
Whip it out a couple of timesbefore you finally make it.
But, man, you go back to. Downto Montauk and Merrimack park down
there when they let all thestuff out and everybody there for
the first day. I guess it's inApril or late March or something.
(34:47):
And I used to go to Montaukwith my dad. We always had fun.
Were you lined up shoulder toshoulder, waiting for the horn to
go off?
Yeah, the horn. And then it's.Then all the. And how we didn't get
tangled. Tangled is amazing tome. I go. Everybody throwing their
lure in at the same time.
Yeah.
And. Yeah, you get tangledonce in a while, but not as much
(35:08):
as you think.
I could see a great cartoonwhere all the fish are out there
and all these things come inat the same time. We all just ought
to just let them hang there.
Now, I know it's probablydifferent now, but when we stayed
at the Montauk Lodge, therewas no TV. They couldn't get a TV
signal in there, so there wasno TVs then. Now, that's got to change
now, I'm sure. But. But whenwe went, there was no tv.
(35:31):
I think it's good todisconnect from that.
And instead of a gun rack,they had a fishing rod rack in the
room. I remember that, too.
People have that in the backof their pickup truck.
Yeah. Can I complain aboutsomething real quick?
Absolutely.
Because we're talking about outdoors.
Yes.
I have noticed lately anincrease in trash along the highways
(35:53):
in the country going, what arepeople thinking? We had a. When I
was in scouting, we have asaying, leave no trace. So if we
see trash, we try to pick itup. But I'm telling you what, there's
so much trash, I don't know ifwe could pick it all up. And I'll
go back to. I think that theyshould have a program, and I think
they did it one time. Forthose that are incarcerated, you
(36:15):
bring them out and have thempick up the trash. Maybe give them
time off their sentence orsomething. I guess it's dangerous
to be out there doing it. Idon't know. But, boy, it's tough.
You go down Highway 44?
Yep.
It's just. Just look, just payattention next time. I don't get
one last thing.
Keep going.
I get how people have. Justroll the window down. They get done
(36:37):
with something, just throw itout the window. What is that? What
are you thinking? Who doesthat? Why? I just don't get that.
Now, the only way I wouldaccept that is if there was so much
trash in the car and there wasno more room to put anything. But
that's not the case.
Or maybe it's on fire orsomething, or there's some reason
(36:57):
it needs to go out of the car,but other than just, oh, I just finished
my. My Big Gulp drink, and I'mjust gonna throw it out the window.
Really? You can't wait tillyou get to a gas station and use
the trash can there, take ithome, stick it behind, whatever.
I just don't. I just. Latelyit's because I remember there used
to be all those campaignsabout being a litter bug and all
(37:20):
that stuff, and it seemed towork well. See any campaign now that
don't litter? But it's gotten.And we talk about outdoors. Gosh,
nothing worse than being outon a trail somewhere and finding
trash. Trash.
Yeah.
What in the world? So that'smy. That's my rant.
No, that's fine. It used to bethat when you got to an intersection,
(37:41):
especially off a highway, youwould see cigarette butts. That would
be the big thing. It reallywasn't a lot of trash when we were
kids. But nowadays, like, whenwe go to another city, that's one
of the first things we lookat. Is there litter? Where is it?
Is the grass mowed? Or theweeds mode? Like, you come off the
Stamusil Bridge, StamusMemorial Bridge, coming from Illinois,
(38:04):
and you drive into St. Louis,one of the predominant entrances
into St. Louis. It is embarrassing.
It is.
It is embarrassing. And wealways used to have a saying at work
that if I'm driving up to aschool and I see weeds and I see
shades broken or junk all overthe place. That psychologically tells
(38:27):
me learning's not importanthere. You don't keep your money in
a bank that looks like it wasbombed out. Because, man, why would
I want to keep my money there?They can't even keep up the lawn.
So it's a psychological kindof thing, and it really makes you
feel good when things looknice. And it's not a strong effort
to keep it in your car andthen deposit it in a trash can when
(38:52):
you get home. In Japan, youdon't see any litter. Matter of fact,
people can't even. They'resupposed to just hang on to it.
Ah, take it home, recycle.Yeah, just throw away concept yeah.
Amazing. Be personal responsibility.
I used to put it on the floorin the back seat. I just. And then
I'd get somewhere and I'd takeit out and throw it away.
(39:12):
We go to so many places thathave trash cans.
I know. They're everywhere.They are.
I know.
And where you go to get thatBig Gulp, they've got trash cans
right there at the door. And Istill. I mean we shouldn't be talking
about who's going to clean upafter you in the first place. But
again, I think convicts wouldnot. I don't think it'd be a bad
(39:34):
community service to have themdo that, but I think they did for
a while. And then there wassomebody that complained. Yeah. That
said, no, you can't. This isdangerous. You can't use them for
that. I don't know what it wasall about, but I would give them
time off. If you want to bepart of the detail that goes out
and cleans.
It all up or it's pain. Let'stalk about this for a second. Because
our illustrious government inthe state of Missouri. And I shouldn't
(39:57):
say the government, it was oneindividual. And I don't want to mention
a name or a.
Yes, you do. You want to sayit so bad it's on the tip of your
throat.
Yeah. When you know inmates,they do receive funds for the work
that they do in a jail or thepenitentiary and it would go to an
account that they would have.And the nice thing about that would
(40:19):
be that when they got out ofjail they had what I would call seed
money to help them reinvestand re. Acclimate to society. In
their illustrious wisdom, thisparticular individual said, we're
going to take that and you'rereimbursing the state for your room
and board at the jail. I'mthinking like that's one of the dumbest
things I've ever heard.
(40:40):
No. Why would you. Insult to injury.
It really does.
It is. It's. Why would you.What. Who comes up with that stuff?
People who are.
I'll say it if that's a dumb idea.
It is a dumb idea. If they hada family member or a close friend
(41:00):
who was in that situation andwould understand what it takes to
re acclimate in society andyou get out of prison and if you
don't have a network ofconnection other than a criminal
network of connection, if youdon't have a halfway house or a faith
based organization that'shelping you re acclimate, in other
words, find housing, find ajob. Get a driver's license, get
(41:23):
all of this stuff. You're onyour own.
Right.
What's the chances of youheaded back to prison? Pretty high.
Yeah. Pretty good, I wouldsay. Yeah.
So the recidivism rate wouldbe really high for people to. That's
why people commit. Hey, I gotroom and board. I got my three squares.
I can watch tv. I can workout. I got a job here. It's pretty
(41:44):
comfortable. So I think I'mgonna go rob this convenience store.
Yes. I go back in the bighouse. That's just wrong. I don't
know why. Yeah, that's justwrong. Help people. When do we start
helping people?
When we got selfish.
There you go. That's the wordof the day. Selfish, I'm afraid.
But. So that's. That was mybig. It's been festering for a long
(42:04):
time to talk about that on the show.
Good one. Good one.
But, yeah, the litter. I'llget off at just 44. And J. Jefferson.
Just amazing. Just if you'regoing east. Eastbound. Yeah. Just.
I just. It's. Wow.
Notice when you go todifferent places, folks. When you
go to different cities.
Uhhuh.
Is it a priority or is it nota priority?
Don't letter, please.
(42:27):
So let's do some mental flosshere, folks.
Oh, no.
Okay, these words that I'mgoing to mention are legitimate.
They're certified dictionaryterms. They've survived for centuries.
Okay, so again, they are.There's bumfuzzle. Bum fuzzle. It
means to confuse, perplex orfluster. Kind of variation on dumbfound.
(42:52):
This year's corn maze was socomplex, it bumfuzzled visitors.
Then there's snickersnee.
All right.
It means a large knife.
A snickersnee. That's a large.
But can also refer to a knife fight.
Whoa.
Yeah. Then there's wabbit.It's not the Elmer Fudd one. It means
(43:14):
wary or exhausted. Huntingrabbits all day without a catch left
the predator feeling wabbit.
You think that's where it camefrom? For the.
It could be Wesley Webbit.Yes. Collywobbles. Stomach pain or
anxiety. Speaking in front ofa crowd. Gave Jane Collywobbles.
Then there's snallygoster.It's a shrewd, unprincipled person.
(43:40):
In 1952, Harry S. Trumanreferred to his political opponents
as snallygosters. He reallydid that, folks. This next one I
can't even pronounce, so I'mnot going to try. And there's terradiddle.
Terradiddle it means a pettylie. You can't blame the exhausted
mom for telling her toddlerthe park was closed today. A forgivable
(44:02):
pterodiddle. Yeah. Some ofthese I can't even pronounce. I don't
want to try to. Slubber degolen. What? Yeah. Can't pronounce
it. Slobber de gullion.Slobber de gulian. A delightful insult
for a slovenly, dirty,slobber, worthless person. After
living with three roommateswho never washed a dish, Michael
(44:24):
declared he would never againshare an apartment with such slobber
gullions.
There you go. That's it.
There you go.
Okay, Good for him.
Yeah. Slumber gullions.
Forget the slobber gullions.
Wow.
Okay. There you go.
Yeah.
Do you know today's NationalChocolate Day?
Oh, every day should be chocolate.
Do you like chocolate like that?
I like dark chocolate.
(44:45):
Let's see. InternationalAnimation Day. The art of animation.
Yeah.
It's a big Disney thing.
Walt Disney.
Yeah. Yeah. One of myfavorites. The National Immigrants
Day is today.
Huh? We're all immigrants atone point or another. You all have
some kind of link.
Don't forget that. PlushAnimal Lovers Day. Like your teddy
(45:10):
bear.
I don't have one.
Plush Animal Lovers Day. Younever had one?
No.
That explains a lot.
I think I really did. I justdon't remember.
I don't remember. I knowsomeday we'll have a big talk about
that first National FirstResponders Day.
Okay.
Thank goodness for first responders.
Yes.
(45:30):
Who wants to run into thatfire? That building that's on fire?
Really don't get paid enoughto do that either.
No. Who wants to stop thatcrime? That's. Those are just a few
of the many days of the daysof the day. Days of the day. Those
are some of the top highlightsfor us.
Yeah.
Okay.
I was going to buy a new carand the salesman said that the car
(45:53):
will seat six problem. Sixpeople without any problems. I said,
I don't know. Six people.People without any problems. The
first drone was invented bymothers that never missed the target.
(46:14):
Certainly not by a guy.
Yeah.
Never mind.
Let's see here.
He's thinking. He'll come upwith it.
I am thinking. I'm just. Myfriend told me me she wouldn't eat
beef tongue because it cameout of a cow's mouth. So I gave her
an egg. I think I've done someof these before. Let's go back to
(46:38):
some really old ones. Icouldn't log on to the site to get
the ones that I wanted. Herewe go. Ready? English lesson, folks.
Tsunami. T is silent. Honest.H is silent. Psychology. P is silent.
Knife. K is silent. Wife.Husband is silent.
(47:04):
Happy wife, happy life.
The only person coming to saveyou is the version of yourself that's
tired of your current situation.
Boy, isn't that the truth? Hello.
And maybe folks will closewith this. That maybe you have had
trouble with a password. Andyou know how it says you haven't
included this, you haven'tincluded that. You haven't included
(47:25):
this. Sorry. This was theversion that came up on the computer
the other day. Your passwordmust contain at least eight characters,
upper and lowercase letter, asymbol or number, a hieroglyphic,
a haiku, a musical note, thefeather of a hawk and the drop of
a unicorn blood. Isn't that true?
It is so true. I know. Thatway you gotta change the password
(47:48):
every time.
That's great.
I forgot it. I'm always.
Folks, that's all for thishour. We don't forget you and we
don't want you to forget us.Thank you for listening. If you've
enjoyed this episode, you canlisten to additional shows@stlintune.com.
consider leaving a review onour website, Apple Podcast, Podchaser,
or your preferred podcastplatform. Your feedback helps helps
(48:11):
us reach more listeners andcontinue to grow. Thanks to Bob Berthicel
for our theme music, oursponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our
guest, Brad Kovach and co hostMark Langston. We thank you folks
for being part of ourcommunity of curious minds. St. Louis
in tune is a production ofMotif Media Group and the US Radio
Network. Remember to keepseeking, keep learning, walk worthy,
and let your light shine. ForSt. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.
(48:37):
Sam.
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