Omaha International Boat, Sports & Travel Show

Hello friends and Hivians, hope all is well. Well I decided to attend an outdoor adventure show yesterday in my locale. It's the largest of its kind in my area and it's the 76th annual edition this year. A lot of the focus goes to hunting, fishing, hiking and camping. There are literally hundreds of vendors at this show each year.

This place is not short of boats for those enthusiasts that appreciate them. In all there were well over 50 of them showcased. My favorite are the pontoons (first picture), primarily used for fishing but some use them as a party bardge. Plenty of speed boats here to look at as well if your into speed on the water. They were selling them as some were tagged as sold. I like to look and dream so none of those sold tags were from a sale from me, haha.

The last two pictures are airboats. These two were in pristine condition. There primarily for skinny or shallow bodies of water. There's not a lot of water bodies here that would warrant them except for the Platte River which is really shallow and has a lot of sand bars on it. In southern states such as Texas, Louisiana or Florida there use is popular in swamps where other boats would get stuck.

There were an array of jet skies available to check out. Like the boats before these were being sold too. Quite of a few of them had sticker prices around $20,000. Some really cool looking ones but for summer use only they are bit expensive in my eyes.

There was a vendor that had just over a half dozen motorcycles on display for sale. I really liked the look of these Indian motorcycles. My favorite is the black and gray one 😊 I'm not a motorcycle ethusiasts but seeing these I could see myself sizing up one, hehe. I don't know why but the sticker price on a few of them were around $20,000, to me that seemed like a good price. I feel it's better deal than the jet skies I seen earlier.

There also was no lack lusters of RVs and campers here. Oh the luxury, to be in comfort while on vacation visiting somewhere in the great outdoors. I seen RVS that went anywhere $200,00O up to $500,000. A lot of dough and basically a home on wheels that might get a few usages per year. Is it worth it to spend so much for a few outings a year? I guess if you rich enough money may not matter. For me, I just let my eyes dream and keep the wallet in my pocket, hehe. Campers on the other hand ranged from around $30,000 to $80,000. Still not all that cheap but there is definitely a wider audience of buyers for them. Still a bit out of my range, I'm happy with my tent 😊 If I was a buyer I'd want to use something like this at least 6 months out of the year. A retirement dream, perhaps.

Most of the he RVs and campers had ample room in them. Most of the living room areas were spacious. If your lucky enough to be a buyer you need room to relax, socialize and eat in them. Typically space is lacking in the bathroom and bedroom areas. However there is so many different floor plans to choose from and one can also customize there own floor plan if your willing to wait for it.

After seeing what I have to this point it was time to check many of the the booths that were set up. One in particular caught my attention right away was a hunting guide all the way from South Africa. I'll admit the location interested me more than the wild life that could be hunted. A big part of me doesn't see the point hunting lions, zebras and other exotic animals. The prices for these adventures ranged from $3500 to $5000 depending on how many species you wanted to hunt.

A lot of the booths were fishing guides from the local area and neighboring states. There was also a handful from Canada and even one all the way from Alaska. I have always wanted to visit Alaska and it would be awesome to fish the rivers and ocean up North. I'm not big on hiring a guide to go fishing but if I were ever to visit Alaska I would hire one.

The rest of the booths included various vendors selling food items, coolers, pans, knifes and lots of other things. I particularly enjoyed the various state departments showing places to visit and go. I left with a huge bag full of pamphlets. Which gives me a a lot of ideas of places to visit in the future. I was looking for information on one place in particular but I didn't find it, Yellowstone. It's a place I'm hoping to visit later this year. Time will tell but if I don't there are a lot of back ups now.

The show had plenty of exhibits for the kids. Pictured above is a cold stream trout tank filled with brown trout so the kids (adults too, haha) could have a short & fun experience fishing. There was also a small archer range to hone in on your Robin Hood skills, hehe. I think the best experience for the kids was the Safari North Wildlife Exhibit.

Harris Hawk

African Sacred Ibis

Eagle Owl

This exhibit started with 4 species of birds, the one bird that is missing above is the Abdim's Stork. The stork picture did not turn out well so I left it out. I had two favorites here, the Harris Hawk and the Eagle Owl. They just look like two birds that mean business.

African Crested Porcupine

Serval

Ring Tailed Lemur

Red Ruffed Lemur

The two porcupines just appear that they are partners. The whole time I was in the area they didn't move. The Serval was the same, taking a cat nap. I even called for it by saying, "Here Kitty Kitty" and nothing. The Ring Tailed Lemurs were all bunched together for quite some time until one got up to get a drink of water. I didn't realize how long their tails were, they hid them well bunched up. The one Red Ruffed Lemur just decided to lay down keeping its eyes opened.

The Red Kangaroos were this exhibits main draw. The one Kangaroo pictured was active by jumping all over the place. When it stood up by me I thought maybe it was ready to box, hehe. I thought this Kangaroo could easily jump this fence but it did not maybe it can't. I didn't realize it had an adolescent Kangaroo it was carrying around in its pouch until it poked its head out. It was a cute thing to witness. Eventually the little one came out and than got some love ♥️

I had a great time at the show this year. I only had a few gripes which really didn't affect my overall experience. Alright the first gripe, everything for the first time at the show has to be purchased with a credit card. Prior to coming, I withdrew some cash from an ATM. I find it easier to control spending using cash. I was a little annoyed by this because I didn't want to have swipe my card for small purchases. I ended up not buying anything at the show so it didn't matter. I was very tempted at the concessions to get some corn dogs and some funnel cake. The smell of that just stayed with me most of my time there.

The second gripe is there was only one bait shop there this year. In years past there were always at least two sometimes three. I'd like to say the one bait shop booth had so many things but that wasn't the case. I felt I could have put a better booth together with my own gear. Nothing really stood out to me that I wanted, maybe I have too much gear 🤔 Another detterent was the prices were not all that great.

Like I mentioned already this was a great show this year. I obtained quite a few tips and information about a dozen or so places I hope to visit in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed some of the show I gave to you through this article. Take care, stay safe and have a great weekend ahead.