!!!!UP DATED!!!!

We started our journey down the chili trail sort of by accident. During spring time each year our home town of

Corsicana, TX has a celebration of its heritage called Derrick Days. This celebration is centered on the events of one faithful day back in 1884 that forever changed the history of this small town located in central Texas. As settlers moved west and the railroad started to sprawl across our great nation small towns started to appear on the landscape, Corsicana was one of those towns. Texas being a very arid region required water to support the new populations that were developing. Since at that time there was only one natural lake in the entire state of Texas most water was obtained from streams, rivers and wells. The city of Corsicana realizing the need for a sustained water supply to support the growing town contracted a then local company to drill an artesian well to supply water to the town. Drilling on the new well was started and hope was on the horizon for many thirsty folks in the area. Several weeks later at less than 900ft the drill punched through the earths surface and hit liquid. There was only one problem, it was not the scared water that they had set out to find but instead it was oil "Black Gold". This was the first discovery of oil west of the Mississippi river and the events that took place after that discovery changed the lives of everyone involved more than an artesian well ever could have. So each year it is the discovery of this Black Gold and how it changed this town forever that we celebrate!

  During the ensuing years a young business man named Lyman T. Davis started making chili and selling it in and around town to the hard working hungry folk. His chili was a big hit around the area and was the start of the trade mark that we now know as "Wolf Brand Chili". In the many years after the start of Mr. Davis's venture his chili became more one with the town of Corsicana, Wolf Brand Chili was a hit and the chili and the town are linked forever together in history. It is because of this link between the town, the chili, the chili aficionados herein and the faithful employees, friends and supporters of Wolf Brand Chili that Corsicana is the host each year for the Frank X. Tolbert Texas State Chili Championship held during our Derrick days celebration in downtown Corsicana. To say the history of chili in the west was grown here in Corsicana is an understatement. To learn about the rest of the story pick up a copy of the book entitled "Neighbor, how long has it been? The story of Wolf Brand Chili, a Texas legend"  written by Wallace O Chariton, This is a great book, well written and hard to put down once you start reading it.

 Ok, if you are still with me you must like chili, history or be bored and not have much to do today. Some say that I am long winded, don't believe it; I just like to make sure that you get the facts, as I know them at least. Back to the beginning, so since the Frank X. Tolbert Texas State Championship is held in Corsicana each year along with their BBQ cook-off we decided to cook Chili and do show for the trophy, this is a local pride thing, BIG DEAL. Out of the shoot 2003 was a banner year for our first attempt at chili. After capturing the third place brisket honors we were pumped up for the chili winner announcements. After 20 minutes of drama we could hardly contain our selves, literally, I had to leave to use the restroom. I handed my tickets to my wife for safe keeping and headed off to handle more urgent matters. After finishing the task at hand, no pun attended, I exited the facilities to find the crowd moving away from the announcement area. then above the din of the crowd I made out the voice of Mr. Al Hopkins making one last announcement "I have one more trophy to hand out and I don't know if you want it but it is for last place chili, the number is 340395" as I met my wife I exclaimed "that's my number where's my ticket!" Much to my surprise she pointed toward a trash can near the announcement area, now I am a proud man and carry myself very well, but I was dumpster diving like it was nobody's business when it came to finding that ticket. Face it a trophy on the wall, even for last place chili was better that no trophy at all, I was there, I cooked and I could prove it!

 Fast forward to Derrick Days 2004, we had planned to do show in 2003 and never got around to deciding what we would perform so it got passed us and we never did more than decorate the cooking area that will not win here in town bigger is better. This year we would have the best show that we could, for weeks previous to the cook-off we were in my shop crafting the 4000 pound rolling exhibit that is now known as the first Black Gold chili show. It was a computerized contraption (oil derrick) mounted on my BBQ pit that played music, had flashing lights, sirens and an oil well that caught on fire as part of the skit that we had engineered to go along with this contraption. All night Friday before the cook-off we ran the show, played the music and lit up the night ski with our towering flame. How could this not win? Saturday morning the day of the cook-off I was awaken by the sound of thunder, looking out the window it was apparent that we were going to have Mother Nature change our plans real quick. During the day it rained 6" and I will be the first to tell you that computerized equipment and rain do not mix; our 4000 pound rolling road show had been turned into an inoperable static display. The rain cleared out sometime just before judging for show started but we were out of luck, there was no recovery and we took second place behind our close friends, if you have to loose better to friends. But on the bright side the chili was better this year and I ended up somewhere between 11Th and last place, the BBQ suffered this year as well with all the work on show, Chili and all that rain.

 Since our friends had won first place in show they had automatically qualified to perform showmanship in the 2004 championship in Terlingua, TX. Since we had received 3Rd place we were awarded points to qualify to perform, we just needed to gather a few more points with a few more wins to get qualified. Now the amount of points needed to qualify depends on what state you live in, the more cook-offs that are held in your state the more points that you will need. After a quick scan of the web it was determined that since we live in Texas we would need 9 points or so we thought. After a month or two of fixing up the show and getting things ready to go we looked up the address of the closest cook-off the next weekend (there were quite a few) and we were on the way. We arrived, setup and prepared to do battle for the last few points that we needed. We were in the middle July by now and it was not the best time to do a show with a 4000 pound BBQ that has a fire show. We decided to camp overnight in our tent so that we could set up on Friday night and mingle at the cooks party. Now a tent in July is not a bad thing at the lake but at a chili cook-off it is not the best idea, it can be done but be forewarned it can be very tough. At some time during the night we decided that since there was very little breeze in the tent it would be better to move the air mattress outside and sleep under the stars. We positioned ourselves on the side of a small hill and were ready to drift off into peaceful rest. Several hours later we were awaken to find that the air mattress had slid down the hill and had a developed a hole where a stick had jammed through it, she was completely flat. To add injury to insult we were being attacked by fire ants and mosquitoes, as I watched the sun rise that morning nursing my wounds and I knew that this would not be an easy battle! Well we cooked our chili and did our show as planned not letting the fact that we had only gotten a few hours of sleep get in our way. The crowd was gathered and the results were announced and the score was, Chill not even close, out of the 24 cooks we were somewhere in the bottom 10, what part of the bottom 10 they don't tell you just have to guess for yourself. I prefer to think that I was #15 just out of the running. Show was a different story though we actually won first place and gathered some additional points. I thought to myself that I may never learn how to get the chili right but the show thing is sure starting to look a lot better.

 The next weekend we found another cook-off to attend and invested in a generator, insect repellant and a new air mattress. Again we arrived on Friday night and set up the now ever larger than before gathering of equipment and props and again we met some really nice folks that treated us just like family. The night was thankfully uneventful and we had a good rest. The next day it was time to test the new chili recipe. I knew that this one would do better than before since it was based on a calculated (The knowledge of Microsoft Excel and some spare time can get you in trouble) mixture of the spices that were used in the winning recipes of past champions. We also entered the wings contest to better the odds, like we did not have enough to do already. The time came and we hit it hard, wings were flying every which way, the chili was cooking well and looking much better and show went off without a hitch. This time I asked for an opinion on the chili just to see what someone else thought about it, I enlisted the winner of the previous weeks cook-off. Bravely he took a spoon and dipped it into the fine red concoction, a few seconds went by and he said "not bad, a little dry but you are getting close" Either he was telling the truth or I sure don't want to play poker with him because he looked sincere. The contestants were gathered and the results were read, again out of the 20 cooks I managed to get into the bottom 8 again, I can remember thinking man I am just on the edge of this cooking thing must have got 13th place this time. Again we shined in show, another first place and more points, that should do it I thought to myself we should be good to go to Terlingua. When I got home and I jumped on the net to check the score, I started looking at the rules and adding up points, for some reason we were short. Then I noticed that the web site was saying that 12 points were needed to qualify, those sneaky devils in the past month while we were competing they raised the number of point needed to qualify for show, maybe this was not as easy as I thought, maybe they raised them every month so you had to be quick to qualify. Whatever, we only needed one more point and there was a big cook-off two weeks later that if we were lucky and won it we would automatically qualify to compete "try and raise the points on me now"

 So after working on the show for two more weeks and adding a few more props we were ready to tackle the Texas Open Chili Championship. We arrived on Friday and started setting up and people were looking at us like we were crazy, what in the hell is all this stuff and what are they going to do with it! The next day I took off on the chili and whipped up a mean batch of Texas Red and I made sure that I put some more water in it this time. This time the competition was a bit tougher there were 181 cook competing in this cook-off, but they were awarding prizes to the top 20 and I had never been lower than that! We cooked; we showed we worked our rears off. After show and before the announcements I visited with one of our new friends Larry about the past few weeks and the competitions we had been going to.  Larry was nice enough to explain to me that there were three factions in the chili world, Tolbert, CASI and ICS and they all three did things a bit different. Here is where the train wreck started, the first cook-off that we placed at was the Tolbert Texas state championship and that was the first web site that I visited that is why there was only 9 points required for qualification. Somewhere between then and July I accidentally stumbled onto the CASI web site and started to compete at their competitions CASI requires 12 points for qualification. Now this is not all bad, Tolbert recognizes points that are awarded in CASI competitions but CASI does not recognize points awarded at Tolbert competitions, so at this point we were actually over qualified to compete in Terlingua at the Tolbert competition but we were four points short to compete in the CASI competition at Terlingua. You see there are two chili championships that are held on the first Saturday of November in Terlingua Texas, Tolbert and CASI, the same weekend separated only by 7 miles of Hwy 170. Who would have ever thought that cooking chili could be so complicated? Well they gathered the contestants back at the Texas Open and started the announcements, it was sometime after the event was over that I found out that I had slipped a bit, out of the 180 chili's 100 moved forward from the first round to the next, this is where they start keeping track of who made it that far, I know it is hard to believe but I was #101, again just out of the running, but look at it this way I beat 80 others that day, the best I had done so far. We did pull one thing off, we won first place show, we got the 4 points that we needed and the automatic qualification, take that number switchers! We were going to perform somewhere in Terlingua at a championship and we had worked hard for it, the question was now where. As we were packing up the next morning we made a new friend, one that would have a serious impact on our chili cooking skills. She was a seasoned veteran of the chili world and realized that new cooks needed a hand getting better at cooking chili and doing show, and that the only way to get and keep new competitors in the chili world meant that they needed a mentor to guide them along and develop their skills. She did that for us, sharing ideas, giving hints, and slipping us a basic chili recipe to start with. We now know how important that it is to share knowledge with new cooks and sometime with ones that have just temporarily slipped off the track. I never have a problem sharing what I know with others, it makes for better competition and we are all friends anyway, that is what friends are for. We thank her for what she shared with us and the good fortune that it has brought us.

 The help that we received really made a difference in the chili, since we were qualified for show we decided to make a run at getting qualified for chili. There was only 5 weeks left before the end of the 2004 season to qualify and that meant getting on the chili trail with a vengeance. We practiced at home the week before the first competition with the new recipe and cooked 5 pots for whoever would eat it. We showed up that next Saturday and three of us were cooking the new stuff. The results were astounding we had gotten a lot better, 8th, 7th and a 4th place the first time out, the next day on her second pot of competition chili Robbie won 1st and I took 4th. We cooked every weekend up to the end of September, Robbie qualified in three weekends and I made it the last weekend with one point to spare when I took 4th place at the Texas State Fair and beat 60 others that was a big moment for me. I felt that we needed to work on the show and add another ton of equipment so that we and enough to fill the two hours of show time completely without any gaps. So after some thinking I came up with an idea, a game, something that everyone could play and have fun with, between this and our original show we would do fine. So with another two weeks out at the shop, cutting, nailing, screwing, painting and engineering, we finally came up the finished product "the blow your own well contest" As it neared time to head for Terlingua we had a decision to make where to compete, we wanted to compete with our friends and that meant that we would be competing behind the store cooking with the fine folks at the Tolbert championship and that was ok by me. But as time got closer they made a decision that they would be unable to go and we had to make another decision again. Since we were the CASI Texas State Championship winners and they had thought enough of our show to give us that title we decided that we owed them the respect of showing up to compete for the international championship and to represent the fine state of Texas. Pack your bag honey we are headed to Terlingua!!!

 When it was time to start loading up and getting ready to head to Terlingua we realized one important thing, there is no way no matter how hard you try you will get an entire show team, all the gear you think you need and a week worth of supplies into a Chevy 4 door 1500 long bed and a Coleman pop-up and not have it somehow resemble the Clampett's go to Hollywood. It took an overhead crane, blocks, tarps and three hundred feet of rope along with the creative minds of half a dozen people to get that setup loaded and ready to go six hours later. At 7:00 PM on Tuesday November 3rd we departed town and headed for Terlingua. It was a routine drive of 650 miles across Texas leaving from 63 ft elevation and climbing to up over 5000 ft during the 9 hour drive. There was a cold front coming in from the north and there was a chance of snow on the way so we had to plan it just right. We started out making good time but that went to hell in a hand basket real quick. There was the sleet in the hill country, the three hundred deer there that I had to avoid hitting and then the battle with mother nature on I-10, the wind was blowing from the north at 30-40+ MPH and our tarp, load and rope were not handling it well. As we traveled further west the tempter continually dropped to below freezing again and again, the wind was tearing the tarp apart and that was working on the load and the ropes. The first time we stopped we had lost over 100 Ft of rope somewhere on the road, we used what we had left and continued on. By the second stop we had lost over 200 Ft of rope and we were getting creative on how to secure the load with what we had left, at 4:00 AM we pulled into Ft Stockton looking for the 24Hr Wal-Mart, much to my surprise or not they do not have a 24 Hr Wal-mart so we settled for a convenience store that was just our luck near the local honky-tonk that had just closed. Those were the most friendly people that you ever want to meet at 4:00 Am After a little bartering and some visiting we acquired an additional 100 Ft of 5/8" Texas sized rope, this stuff sucked the sides of the truck bed in when you put 250 pounds on the end of it, not only were we secured but we were more aerodynamic now, only 150 miles left, no problem, three more Red Bulls and we are there.

 Now while we were bartering for that rope my wife being the one that takes care of me felt that it might be a good time to pick up some breakfast for the last leg of the trip. She picked us up some sausage and egg sandwiches and handed them out as we headed out of Fort Stockton toward Alpine about a 65 mile drive. Now I new that my sandwich tasted a little different but I thought that maybe they had a different taste for spices that they put in there product. Somewhere about 30 miles down the road I decided that they like there sausage just like you and I do and that mine must have been yesterdays left over. It was at this point that I realized that I needed to find a restroom quick, real quick. The problem is that there is not much open at 4:30 AM between Fort Stockton and Alpine. It was now around 25 degrees outside and the wind was still blowing hard from the north, not a time to make an emergency roadside visit to the cactus patch. Those last 35 miles were the longest on the trip, thank God that there was a gas station open once we got to Alpine. I really fell sorry for anyone that visited station and had to use the mens restroom after we left there, the term "don't go in there for an hour or so" was real good advice. As we started off on the last 85 miles of the trip things were looking much better, we were a bit worn from the last 10 hours on the road but looking forward to arriving at the CASI ranch. The tempter continued to drop as we climbed in altitude toward Terlingua at 7:00 AM we had arrived at the ranch and it was now only 19 degrees outside, burr. We might not have been the first to be out and moving around that morning but we were in the top ten, things were quite but would not stay that way for long!


Wednesday

 Now the first thing that you will learn about Camping in the cooks area at Terlingua is the sooner you show up the better chance you have of finding a good spot to set up. If you show up on or after Wednesday good luck finding a spot on that side unless someone is looking out for you. Luckily for us we had someone looking out for us and after we drove a few laps around the cooks area we finally found their camp site. Since it was now just after 7:00 AM most of the cooks were still sleeping so we visited with those few that were up and outside on this cool 19 degree morning. After an hour or so and a hot breakfast hosted by the Central Texas POD the area started to come to life and we finally were shown the area where we could put our pop-up trailer. It took moving 7 vehicles to get the path cleared so that we could get the little trailer into the spot that we were given. After several hours of setting up we had our camp arranged and we were ready to start to enjoy our 4 day stay at the Ranch. It was now about 11:00 AM and after not sleeping for more than 30 hours we had a dilemma, take a 3-4 hour nap and rest up for the evenings activities or just get started on the activities and see how far we could make it through the day. We choose the latter, no sense in letting any part of the experience get past us.

  The second thing that you will learn about Terlingua is that beer-thirty is not related to any particular time on a standard clock, in fact as the weekend progress at the ranch, the clock in Krazy Flats (the spectators camping area) is always stuck at beer-thirty 24 hours a day. There were several mornings at 5:00 AM when we were headed into town to get a shower and get breakfast when we passed that area and the party from the night before was still going on and on and on. So we grabbed a frosty adult beverage and started to make our way through the days events. When you are a virgin cook / show team at Terlingua everyone is always ready to help you get pointed in the right way to get what is needed and make sure that you know where the days events are and to help you get through them. Since we arrived at 7:00 AM there was not anyone at the front gate when we got there so the first thing we needed to do was get our cooks wrist bands to show we were competitors, so we loaded up in a golf cart that belonged to one of our friends and headed to the gate to get our wrist bands.

 The third thing that you will learn about Terlingua is that the CASI ranch covers 320 acres and it is not particularly flat. Some sort of motorized transportation is helpful in getting around between the cooks camping area and the front gate or Krazy Flats.  Since the dust can be a challenge at times small slow moving vehicles like golf carts, gators or 4 wheelers are the best form of transportation. Now there is really no telling what you may see while you are there. I have seen jeeps, monster trucks, cars with the tops cut off and seats in the trunk, motor cycles, tractor-trikes, motorized hot air balloon baskets and even once a motorized 10 foot tall horned uni-zebra, there is no lack of imagination used in creating some of these. We motored or way to the gate got our wrist bands and headed back to camp to settle in. As soon as we got back to camp we loaded back onto another golf cart and were taken on a tour of the CASI ranch. Back in those days there was not a concessions stand or any vendors over in the Krazy Flats area so you had to remember the second thing that you learned about Terlingua the beer-thirty rule! Now you would not think that it would take very long to cover 320 acres in a golf cart on Wednesday but it actually takes about 3 hours between all the stops to visit and meet others along the way. Also regarding the beer-thirty rule, thank god they have the Porta-Johns installed by Wednesday the local terrain and vegetation does not offer much coverage for emergency road side pit stops.

 The fourth thing that you will learn about Terlingua is that you will always pack more food than you need. When we started this trip we had a 120 quart ice chest packed to the gills with every thing that we thought we would need for the three of us during the 4 days at the ranch. By the time that we had made it back to camp it was time to attend another POD function a steak dinner put on to raise money for one of the charities. We feasted on a great New York strip steak dinner with all the fixings at the camp across from us for a small donation to their charity. We had been at the ranch for the better part of a day and not had to cook or eat anything that we had brought so far. When we finished dinner and returned to camp it was time (8:00 PM) for the ladies to head over to the pavilion for the Tequila Rose Party. The ladies of the Tequila Rose Society have a celebration on Wednesday night each year where they read poetry, tell stories and toast each other with the beverage of choice for the evening, Tequila Rose. Robbie and one of her friends that was also a virgin Rose were invited to attend and headed over to the event. The gentlemen also have an event that night behind the main stage their event Tequila In Terlingua Society or commonly referred to as TITS get the guys to join together to share a vast array of  many types of Tequila making toast and generally having a good time. These two events normally last 2-3 hours and from the distance the two groups can be heard making their toast throughout the night across the ranch. Marvin and I choose a much quieter but equally festive event around our camp fire with the other guys in the group. We sampled home made wine, whisky, bourbon, scotch and everything else that was brought to the gathering, it was a good time for all.

 About 11:00 PM the ladies returned from the Tequila Rose Society celebration and joined us at the camp fire, I noticed that Robbie still had a full bottle of Tequila Rose and I asked her how she could come back after 3 hours of toasting with a full bottle. She replied "well (hiccup) everyone else kept pouring my shots from their bottle" I guess when you are a virgin that is the tradition that the ladies follow. At this point it was apparent that the combination of adult beverages and lack of sleep was starting to take a toll on the three of us and we were about to be headed in for the night. But much to my surprise at the suggestion of several in the group I was informed that it was time to take another tour of the ranch, this was the night time tour. We assembled the motorcade of golf carts and 4 wheelers and headed on out remembering the second thing we learned about Terlingua the beer-thirty rule! Sometime around 2:00 AM and after several more stops around Krazy Flats while consuming additional adult beverages we ended our tour and headed back to camp. We had done a pretty good job of making our first day on the ranch a success and had not missed any of the days events. Finally it was time to hit the bed and get some rest!

 Thursday

 We slept in on Thursday morning and finally came to life about 9:00 AM as soon as we got out of the trailer our buddies had a full spread of hot breakfast waiting on us. We joined them and discussed the days events that lay ahead of us, it was going to be a busy day again. Marvin was dragging a bit as the night before proved to be more festive than he was accustomed to in his normal day to day activities. Robbie and I stood fast, the previous day had been hectic but it was what we had been told it would be and a lot of fun! The first task of the day was to register to cook and do show on Saturday at the championship and get registered for Fridays CASI scholarship day events. Every year on Friday CASI raises money for the scholarship fund by hosting competitions in beans, wings and salsa. These are the only events during the year that offer cash prizes for the winners. Marvin, Robbie and I singed up for all the events on Friday, Robbie and I for chili on Saturday and the three of us for show on Saturday, Black Gold Chili! After registration we made a trip into really the only local town Study Butte to get showers and buy more supplies? We had not yet used one thing that we brought on the trip and for some reason we decided that we needed to go shopping for more? Must have been altitude sickness or something like that working on our brains. By the time we got back to the ranch it was after noon and as soon as we got back here were our buddies with lunch all ready to go. At this point I told them that they needed to start digging through our ice chest and cook what ever they found that they could use as it was still full and the food needed to be eaten.

 The fifth thing that you will learn about Terlingua is that you need to be flexible and prepared for what may happen during your time at the ranch. After lunch we visited friends in the cooks camping area and caught up on the events of the week so far. At 2:30 we attended the showmanship meeting behind the main stage and reviewed the rules for Saturdays Championship performance. This is when the chili hit the fan so to speak. I asked the head showmanship judge if we were going to be able to use the flame on our derrick as part of the show just to make sure that we did not get disqualified during the performance for a technical rule violation, better to ask now than find out later. I was informed that this was a form of pyrotechnics and was not allowed by the CASI rules. Wait a minute, we had competed in 3 CASI sanctioned cook-offs in the past 4 months with this same show including the Texas State Championship and it have never been a problem before. After a few minutes of heated debate form our team and the other teams that supported us it was made clear that we would not be allowed to use our centerpiece of our show. At this point we realized that it was a dam good thing that we had added another prop to our previous show set. Since we were registered for small showmanship 4 contestants or less and there were only three of us so we recruited a good friend Eric Williams to join our team on Saturday.

 When we returned from the showmanship meeting guess what, it was time to take a tour of the ranch again. I thought that we had a got a pretty good look at it all in the past two trips but to my surprise things had changed in the past 12 or so hours. Krazy Flats had had grown in population by a few thousand spectators and things were starting to get interesting over there, it was beer-thirty again. We cruised around for several hours made all the normal stops along with a few new ones and finally made it back to the cooks side by 6:00 PM, just in time to get ready for the Halloween costume contest. Robbie and I had prepared for the event and brought our costumes but Marvin did not have anything to wear. After about 15 minutes of brain storming with our buddies we came up with the only free costume that we could find a witch. We all got dressed up and ready for the contest, Marvin really needed some help so I volunteered to do his make-up for him. Never let your buddy dress you up in an outfit and do your make-up after a long day at the ranch! By the time I got done with him he was the ugliest witch that you had ever seen, but he had a costume and he could compete. The competition went just as I suspected, Marvin and I did not do a thing and Robbie won the sexiest costume category dressed as I dream of Jeanie.  

 More to come stay tuned........