Buffalo skin tipis

In the late 1700s the introduction of the horse, from the South, to the life of the Plains Indians allowed them to carry larger loads, build and carry larger tipis and generally live a better lifestyle than their pedestrian ancestors (according to the Smitsonian curator William Sturtevant).

The painting by Karl Bodmer depicts a plains Sioux camp, 1833, with heavy buffalo skin tipis and wooden peg openings.
I often dream of these camps on the plains with campfires wafting smoke and tales around the fire. I was raised near the historic "Kaposia" campground.