Kansas Visitor's Guide 2007/2008 - (Page 64) BEEF Kansans still revel in this cowboy past at rodeos, trail rides—and at chuckwagon meals like the one I’m visiting today. K A NSAS IS T HE MIDW EST ’ S rootin’, tootin’ cowboy state. The tradition dates back to the years immediately following the Civil War, when somebody figured out that folks back East might enjoy the excess of longhorn beef then roaming wild in Texas, thanks to neglect during the war. Enterprising Texas ranchers began branding the ornery critters and funneling them to railheads in Abilene and other Kansas frontier outposts. Kansans continue to revel in this cowboy past at rodeos, roundups, trail rides, guest ranches, historic attractions—and chuckwagon meals. I relish the latter at Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper, which annually attracts about 70,000 cowboy wannabes like me. Its setting is part of a 700-acre working ranch on the open prairie in Benton, about 15 miles northeast of Wichita. In a dining and entertainment hall called the Opera House, the dinner bell rings each night at 6:30; guests at long tables chow down on a cumulative 1 ton of beef each week, followed by live Western music and stage banter. Thomas Etheredge, who owns this spread with his wife, Cheryl, has agreed to stage a chuckwagon lunch and live performance by the awardwinning Prairie Rose Wranglers— just for me. Yippee! I’m served the standard, allyou-can-eat supper menu of slowbarbecued beef brisket, smoked beef sausage, warm buttermilk biscuits, red beans, potato salad and hot peach cobbler. Very satisfying, although I’ll soon learn this wasn’t a typical meal on the Chisholm Trail. Then comes a performance by the Prairie Rose Wranglers. Thomas calls the music by the group a “water and weeds” repertoire because the characteristically doleful, lovelorn cowboy classics include “Cool, Clear Water” and “San Antonio Rose.” By the time they harmonize “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and “Rose of San Antone,” I’m waaaay gone, tapping my foot and basking in fond memories of Roy Rogers. Time for some cowhand history and a tour. Raised on a Texas ranch, Thomas pursued a banking career here and overseas before settling down at this ranch his wife’s family has called home for more than 120 years. 64 Official Kansas Visitors Guide PHOTOGRAPHS, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: JASON LINDSEY, BOB STEFKO (2), MICHAEL C. SNELL, BOB STEFKO Eat Like Cowboys Sort of
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