{"id":22832,"date":"2026-03-11T13:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/this-chuck-wagon-chef-followed-his-heart-and-his-stomach\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:15:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:15:03","slug":"this-chuck-wagon-chef-followed-his-heart-and-his-stomach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/inspiring-stories\/stories-of-faith-and-hope\/this-chuck-wagon-chef-followed-his-heart-and-his-stomach\/","title":{"rendered":"This Chuck Wagon Chef Followed His Heart\u2014and His Stomach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas\u2019s Palo Duro Canyon gets mighty cold in December. Especially at 3:45 in the morning. My hands, my whole body, felt frozen as I rolled out of my 1876 Studebaker chuck wagon. I could barely hold a match to the lantern, the wind blowing from the north. \u201cGod, let this catch,\u201d I muttered.<\/p>\n

The cowboys were still asleep, though they\u2019d be stirring before long. It\u2019s my job as cook to be up first, firing up Bertha\u2014my 385-pound, wood-burning camp stove\u2014and get enough eggs and bacon going to feed a small battalion. An army moves on its stomach, they say. A cattle drive is no different. Without a hearty breakfast\u2026brother, we\u2019ve got problems. It\u2019s all riding on me.<\/p>\n

I gave up a good-paying, secure job to become a chuck wagon cook. At the time, it felt like what I was meant to do. But on mornings like this, a warm bed sure did seem inviting. I went to the barrel to get water for coffee, but it was frozen solid. I\u2019d have to chop it to get some in the percolator. Lord, what am I doing here? <\/em>I wondered. Just then, the lantern blew out.<\/p>\n

My whole life, I\u2019d been around cowboys<\/a>. I was the youngest of four children, and my daddy ran about 250 cows on a small ranch in southwest Oklahoma, some of the most beautiful and desolate land on God\u2019s earth.<\/p>\n

When I was eight, I went on my first cattle drive, moving a herd 10 miles. Just like here in the canyon, it was still dark when we saddled our horses and led them out of the pen. We paused, and Daddy said, \u201cLet us not forget we all have Someone beside us, Someone to help us as we ride along. So let\u2019s cowboy up and get it done.\u201d It was a long, hard day, and there were times I wanted to quit, not that I ever let on. The next morning, my entire body was sore. Still, I stood a little taller that day, even if it made my muscles ache more.<\/p>\n

There came another day when I awoke and the temperature was barely five degrees, the wind blowing something fierce. Daddy and the other cowboys went about their chores regardless, but my mama held me back. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you and I make a chocolate cake<\/a> today?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

I took another look outside, the men bracing themselves against the cold, and quickly agreed. Mama told me the ingredients I needed to find and began spooning flour and sugar into a bowl. \u201cHow do you know how much to use?\u201d I asked. I\u2019d never seen her look at a recipe to cook anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach ingredient has a purpose,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a team that works together. It\u2019s about finding the right balance. You\u2019ll make mistakes<\/a> at first, but that\u2019s how you learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon the house was filled with the sweet aroma of rich, velvety chocolate. The heat from the oven was warm and welcoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what comes next?\u201d Mama asked me.<\/p>\n

\u201cEating!\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

Mama laughed. \u201cFirst comes cleaning up,\u201d she said, filling the sink with hot soapy water. Hmm, even fun jobs required hard work. \u201cThe joy of cooking isn\u2019t about the eating. It\u2019s about seeing the smiles on people\u2019s faces<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t quite see how a smile could beat a piece of chocolate cake until I was a few years older. I was 15, and Daddy, my brother and I were pitching in at a friend\u2019s ranch, an annual custom called neighboring up. Around midday, I heard an old feller, sweat running down his face, say, \u201cWe better get paid well today.\u201d Wow, we\u2019re getting cash money, <\/em>I thought.<\/p>\n

Then I looked up to see car after car coming down the driveway, wives and moms bringing platters of fried chicken, breaded pork chops, salads of all kinds, cakes and pies. The cowboys were grinning from ear to ear. To this day, I remember how good that food tasted after a morning of hard work.<\/p>\n

That afternoon, the cowboys worked twice as hard, laughing and cutting up. Me included. I thought about what Mama had said about why she liked to cook. To be able to give folks that much pleasure, well, that seemed pretty special. I knew there were men who specialized in cooking for cattle drives. I set my mind to figuring out how I could do that.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how I found myself on cattle drives in places like Palo Duro. Now the lantern was lit again, and it was almost toasty with Bertha throwing out her mesquite-fueled loving. The cowboys gathered round the table, warming their hands on cups of coffee. \u201cLet\u2019s bow our heads,\u201d I said. \u201cDear Father, we thank you for all you\u2019ve given us. Bless this food and help us get through this day without any bad accidents. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fellers ate quickly. When they were done, they tipped their hats. \u201cMighty good,\u201d one cowboy said. They mounted up, the sun barely peeking over the horizon. \u201cLet\u2019s hit a trot,\u201d I heard someone say. \u201cWe\u2019re burning daylight.\u201d I felt a tinge of sadness watching them ride off. As important as I know breakfast is, it still seemed like I was on the outside looking in. How much could a plate of eggs and bacon really matter?<\/p>\n

My first chance to cook for cowboys came after high school. An uncle in New Mexico who worked as a hunting guide invited me to cook for his clients. I jumped at the chance. I didn\u2019t have Bertha then. I cooked over pits I dug in the ground. The wind blew dirt and burning embers over me. And I quickly learned how much I didn\u2019t know about cooking. Such as how elevation affects how dough rises. Where we were camped was more than 3,000 feet above sea level.<\/p>\n

One morning, I made biscuits for breakfast, the way Mama had showed me. But they hardly rose at all and tasted like shoe leather. \u201cIs this flatbread?\u201d an old-timer asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the only bread we\u2019ve got,\u201d I said. I felt like a failure. Still, hadn\u2019t Mama said mistakes were part of learning? I tinkered with the ingredients, and the next time they came out better, still not perfect but more recognizable as biscuits. Cooking was hard work, but I loved the camaraderie with the other men, seeing their smiles as they dug into breakfast.<\/p>\n

But Daddy was getting older and needed my help at the ranch. I moved back home. There was no time for cooking, especially after Daddy was diagnosed with cancer. Running the ranch fell to me. I worked 20-hour days trying to keep things together.<\/p>\n

After Daddy passed, the pressure on me only grew. I took a job operating a road grader for the county highway department to make ends meet. The pay was good and came with a retirement pension. I wasn\u2019t happy, though. I missed cowboy culture, the joy I got from cooking<\/a>. But how could I give up the security of a government job to chase after a dream? Besides, cattle drives weren\u2019t exactly common anymore. Maybe I\u2019d just been born at the wrong time.<\/p>\n

I told Mama everything I was struggling with. \u201cYou need to do what makes you happy,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ll trust God with the rest. He\u2019ll see us through with the ranch.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was nearly dusk in Palo Duro. It had been a long day for all of us. We\u2019d moved the herd 10 miles, no mean feat in freezing temperatures. In the distance, I could see the cowboys coming back into camp. Bertha was throwing off a ton of heat, the hickory logs inside her crackling. Soon she\u2019d be cooking platters of chicken fried steak to perfection. I already had potatoes and blueberry pie going in my Dutch ovens.<\/p>\n

My menu offerings had grown more sophisticated since my days in New Mexico, cooking over open pits. My world had changed dramatically. Word had spread, and I was traveling all over Texas and Oklahoma, cooking for cowboys. The governor had named me the official chuck wagon of Oklahoma. Still, every meal I cooked felt like a new test. Especially in these conditions. The cowboys rode in. One of them\u2014a crusty sort\u2014dismounted and shuffled over to me, sniffing the air. The other men would be following his lead.<\/p>\n

With no warning, he wrapped his arm around my neck. \u201cYou sure do make a feller feel at home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Home. I couldn\u2019t have imagined a bigger compliment. We were nowhere near the comforts of civilization, and yet through my cooking, I\u2019d done my part to create a feeling of family, of belonging. A reminder, that even on a cold December day in Palo Duro, we had Someone helping us<\/a> as we rode along. God would see to it, just as Mama said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pleasure\u2019s all mine,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

Try Kent’s prize-winning recipe for Cowboy Chili at home!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For more inspiring stories, subscribe to <\/em>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas\u2019s Palo Duro Canyon gets mighty cold in December. Especially at 3:45 in the morning. My hands, my whole body, felt frozen as I rolled out of my 1876 Studebaker chuck wagon. I could barely hold a match to the lantern, the wind blowing from the north. \u201cGod, let this catch,\u201d I muttered. 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