A DanO burger at the Park!

Forsyth MO. - One of the great joys of camping, for me at least, involves food. Everything (well just about everything) cooked outdoors seems to taste a lot better to me! Weather: Low 70's, south winds 10-20 mph. Sunny skies.

It was still early spring in southwest Missouri and while it was still a bit chilly to go tent camping, I wanted to go down to one of the area parks to try out my cooking skills on a Coleman propane stove. Armed with a plastic spatula, a fry pan and a few condiments, I planned to grill myself up a hamburger DanO style!

For this very modest outdoor culinary effort, I had visited a local grocery store to pick up a package of 'pre-formed' hamburger patties (yes, I'm that lazy) along with a package of buns. In the back of my Jeep was the aforementioned propane stove, 2 propane canisters, a very old fry pan, two hot pads, a spatula, paper towels, salt and pepper shakers, a slice of red onion, some potato salad, romaine lettuce, my special hamburger sauce and a couple of cherry tomatoes! Wow! That was certainly a lot of junk to haul around just to prepare one measly little hamburger! (But, I gotta tell ya, it was so worth it)!

Shadowrock Park

Setup of the Coleman stove on a picnic bench was a snap, even for me. And before I could say 'I'm really starving', I was up and running with a meat patty sizzling in the pan. I was making myself a 'patent pending' DanO Burger! And, while this burger has endured many transformations over the years, I still always find myself going back to the burger basics; good buns, great ground meat along with a few select condiments.

As my burger cooked, I looked around and noticed that there were very few people in the park. One couple that were standing nearby did look at me rather intently. (I'm sure they were wondering what that crazy looking old man was really up to. Actually, the crazy old man was wondering the same thing). As the day was on the coolish side for me (~71°), I was wearing a hoodie, dark glasses and a rather strange looking hat while standing over a fry pan that looked like it was on fire! That couple quickly turned and fled the area. Fine! OK, so sue me. I'm an acquired taste, don't ya know. Well, suffice it to say that the hamburger was all it could be and that I enjoyed myself thoroughly...