Adventures of a Latter Day Coosie continued #3

Adventures of a.....continued

Skip Clark, John Sullivan and Wayne Calk

When we got back from Austin, Skip decided to leave nearly all his trappings on the trailer so he won't have many more additional things to load when Steve gets here. I have put together a heap of things that will go in Steve's pickup.  Right now I am heading off to the kitchen for a little practice session.  I'm going to try the recipe for the peach cobbler to see if it all goes together according to plan and also try the hen butter to see if it will be good enough for the syrup entry for the breakfast competition.  We may not use either one, but we will know what we are doing if we do decide to use them.  Steve is going to craft his famous breakfast burritos for the dessert competition.  It will be something like the judges have never tasted.  We may find out that it doesn't exactly fit the category for dessert.  Things do happen unexpectedly...like the time a couple of years ago when the yeast for the bread died and we had to do Pan de Campo at the last minute.  If that happens, we will have the cobbler recipe to use as Plan B.

Well, the unexpected has happened.  Steve just called from Monahans, Texas which is about 5 1/2 hours from his home in Denton, Texas and he said he guessed it had finally sunk in that his Dad was not going to be around much longer and he couldn't continue in our direction any further and he was heading back home.  I told him he was being awfully strong to attempt the trip in the first place.  I said go home and be with your Dad.  That's more important than anything else in the world right now.  We will miss his help and BS that he brings to such outings. Prayers for he and family.

We arrived at the Festival of the West around 3:30 pm and worked 'till about 9 pm setting up camp.  We got the wagon unloaded, fire pits dug, the wind screens arranged, the teepee staked out, and the pickup and trailer spotted about a quarter of a mile away from the camp.  The camp must be ready for judging by 9 am. There is still a good three hours of work to do before we will be ready.  In the morning we will set up the saddles, bed rolls, harness, buffalo robe, wagon tongue, Arbuckle's Coffee box/poker table, guns, knives, horseshoeing tools, and a few other little things.  I talked to Silky and she said we could be last in the judging line. That will give us a little more time.  I think we will have to consider coming on Wednesday next year so we will have more time.

I am looking up at the moon remembering what folks use to say about a ring around the moon. "When you see a ring around the moon, there will be moisture within three days."  I haven't kept a close tab on how many times that has proved correct, but I even remember my Grandfather, who was a farmer, saying the same thing.  I sure hope the prognostication is a little off so we can as least get loaded up on Sunday before it start to rain.

The voice of the Encore Western Channel, Bob Barwick, was in our camp a couple of times and was quite personable.  He said he remembered my green wagon from the piece he did on the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso, New Mexico for the Food Network.  We invited him to come back by and eat with us. What a distinctive low voice he has!

Here it is 9 am and we are ready.  Just stand around and look pretty and wait.   When the judges get here, Skip is going to be roasting coffee beans in a skillet and I will be working on the wagon tongue.  I had hoped to get a couple of Willow poles from Sully to put up our teepee so we wouldn't have to use the metal ones we have.  His supplier didn't get a chance to cut us a couple of 14 footers.  I got the wagon shined up with some Thompson's Water Seal.  Not sure if that is best for the wood since I hear tell the Linseed Oil will make your wagon turn black over time.  I thought I would try it since Buster (a wagon cook from Sanderson, Texas) told me that is what he used on his wagon,  I am a little suspicious that the waterseal may have some oil in it as well.  I have been using paint thinner and linseed oil mixed 3/4 to 1/4.  We'll see how it goes.  Jerry Baird tells me of a product called penathane that is suppose to be the teehumptumdinktum for preserving the wood.  That word is one Festus Hagen uses on the Gunsmoke TV series.

Speaking of Jerry Baird and linseed oil, Baird tells about a time when he was testifying before the Texas Senate Sub Committee on naming of the Chuck Wagon as the Official Vehicle of Texas (SCR8).  The story was after a long while of questions and answers when one senator said that he had a wagon on his ranch and wanted to know what would be the best way to preserve his wagon.  Jerry told him "I'll tell you one thing, you sure as heck don't want to put linseed oil it 'cause it will turn your wagon black."  Baird said the senator smiled and was satisfied that he knew what he was talking about.  Anyway the other side of the story was the Chuck Wagon was designated as the Official Vehicle of Texas in May of 2005.  Now, we have something just as important as the Blue Bonnet for the official flower, and the Mocking Bird as the state bird. Chuck Wagon:  Official Vehicle of Texas.  Pretty cool huh?

Recognition from the Secretary of the State of Texas
( This was prior to receiving the Official notice from Governor Rick Perry. 

Representatives from the American Chuck Wagon Association