Say chuck wagon and you think of cowboys and cattle drives, camp fires and hearty meals. Ask where you can find the best chuck wagon cooks in the nation and you’ll get the answer, Amarillo, TX.

Every year, about 40 chuck wagons from across the western U.S. arrive in Amarillo for the World Championship Chuck Wagon Roundup. They camp next to the Amarillo National Center on the Tri-State Fairgrounds and the activity around this campground becomes the centerpiece for Cowboy Roundup USA, one of the largest western events in the nation.

The 18th Annual Cowboy Roundup USA includes the World Championship Chuck Wagon Roundup as well as the Coors Ranch Rodeo, a variety of cowboy and western poets and entertainers, and wraps up Sunday with Cowboy Church.

New this year is the first Cowgirl Ranch Rodeo. The event features many of the same events as the Coors Ranch Rodeo- sorting, branding, team tying, doctoring and horse competition. Like male competitors in the Coors Ranch Rodeo, each female team member must live or work on a ranch, or be ranch-raised and spend her extra time helping the family ranching operation.

The Cowgirl Ranch Rodeo is at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 4 in the Amarillo National Center.

Anchoring the weekend are two performances of the Coors Ranch Rodeo, on Friday and Saturday evening, June3 & 4. Usually a sell-out, more than a dozen regional ranches compete in a spirited competition to see who will win the title of champion.

Each of the chuck wagon teams will spring into action early on Saturday morning, June4, and prepare an authentic chuck wagon meal not unlike a meal cowboys of the late 1800’s ate when on cattle drives. The menu includes chicken-fried steak, potatoes, beans, sourdough biscuits, coffee and peach cobbler.

Col. Charles Goodnight is generally credited with inventing the chuck wagon in Texas in the 1870s. A former Texas Ranger, Goodnight is a Western legend and he established the first cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle He converted an old army wagon into the first chuck wagon and the practice quickly spread throughout cattle country. Soon, a good chuck wagon cook became an invaluable part of the ranch operation.

All the cowboys and cooks competing in the World Championship Chuck Wagon Roundup wear clothing authentic for the late 1800s or early 1900s.

When the dinner bell sounds at noon on June 4, the public is invited to a chuck wagon lunch ($10 per plate). Just walk around the campground and sample the food from any of the 40 teams and it is easy to imagine yourself on a cattle drive, when the chuck wagon was the center of work as well as a symbol of security during weeks on horseback.

Visit the Amarillo CVC web site at www.visitamarillotx.com