Donning boots, jeans and camera, this past week end I headed over to the 3-day event, "Cowboy Gathering"
I would like to first clarify Cowboy Gathering. Cowgirls are also included. It is an opportunity for the western community to get together and enjoy music, food and horse training clinics. There were also western artists selling their artwork, trick rope demonstrations, and a big BBQ Cook Off.
What impressed me the most was the Chuck Wagon, and invention attributed to Charles Goodnight, a Texas rancher who introduced the concept in 1866.
Goodnight added a "chuck box" to the back of the wagon, to hold supplies. (like a kitchen cupboard) The term chuck is a slang word for food, not a nickname for Charles.
The canvas cover provided protection, from the sun or rain, for the "Cookie" on the long cattle drives from Texas to New Mexico.
The chuck wagon became part of history throughout the United States and Canada. If you are interested in reading more, click HERE. And click HERE, to read about the adventurous life of Charles Goodnight. Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove is a fictionalized account of Goodnight and Loving's third cattle drive.
You can see the chuck box on the back of the uncovered wagon.
No air inflated tires to cushion this ride.
Part of the chuck wagon display was a demonstration of dutch oven cooking with an open fire.
It is amazing how they can cook everything from stew, to biscuits and pies, in the large cast iron covered pot.
I think I will continue to make coffee in my electric coffee pot......
Meggie Mac
