{"id":26060,"date":"2024-08-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/chuckwagon-rendezvous-co-founder-harry-baxstrom-ready-to-hang-up-the-apron\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:32:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:32:49","slug":"chuckwagon-rendezvous-co-founder-harry-baxstrom-ready-to-hang-up-the-apron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/chuckwagon-rendezvous-co-founder-harry-baxstrom-ready-to-hang-up-the-apron\/","title":{"rendered":"Chuckwagon Rendezvous co-founder Harry Baxstrom ready to hang up the apron"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Harry
Harry Baxstrom, co-founder of the Chuckwagon Rendezvous, cooks chicken-fried steaks during the 21st annual event on Saturday in Bayfield. (Matt Hollinshead\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

BAYFIELD \u2013 Harry Baxstrom watches his freshly made chicken-fried steak simmer and sizzle while cooking it in a cast iron Dutch oven over heated oak coal.<\/p>\n

The smoke from underneath starts billowing out, and the steak starts turning golden brown but remains completely fresh and free of extra chemicals. With no thermometer to determine the meat\u2019s readiness, he\u2019s always attentive and learned over time just how many coal cinders he needs.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the co-founder of the La Plata Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association Chuckwagon Rendezvous in Bayfield, which held its 21st annual event on Saturday at L-J Ranch, loves about that cooking method: the freshness, and the joy of other people eating fresh food. That\u2019s why his plans to retire from the cooking portion of the event and focus more on the daily management operations are far from an easy decision. Still, he believes the time is near to put away the apron.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just getting old and don\u2019t have as much help as I used to. My health isn\u2019t as good as I\u2019d like it to be,\u201d Baxstrom, 77, said.<\/p>\n

Baxstrom, whose top specialty dishes over the years include chicken-fried steak, peach cobbler and bread pudding, said the legacy he helped build made his decision more difficult, adding that he couldn\u2019t imagine not having at least some involvement with the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in it so strongly. To just abandon it \u2026 I can\u2019t do that. \u2026 It\u2019s hard to not do something you\u2019ve been doing a long time that you love,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 The best part is participating in something that you love. \u2026 We\u2019re supportive of each other. It\u2019s not so much about competition or anything; it\u2019s about the camaraderie and friendships. \u2026 Even the people who come and eat at your wagon, there\u2019s nothing like being able to hand someone a plate of food and have them smile back. \u2026 It makes you feel good about what you\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baxstrom said cooking food using oak coal as a heating source ensures there are no external pesticides or chemicals that may emanate from a gasoline-powered oven.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just get a clean taste,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chuck wagons were operating mobile field kitchens back in the late 1800s where someone could transport and store their food and cooking equipment.<\/p>\n

He said this kind of cooking format is not something seen every day. He also said the concept of chuck wagons were important to the area\u2019s agriculture cattle businesses because they were a key part of that line of work with no trains around as a means for transportation.<\/p>\n

Baxstrom, who\u2019s also a recently retired veterinarian, appreciates the history of chuck wagons and the power of cooking fresh food in that manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just been instrumental in preserving the history of chuck wagons, especially in our Four Corners area. \u2026 He\u2019s just been a big part of our community. \u2026 He\u2019s a close friend of the family, someone that I respect and look up to,\u201d said Krii Black, secretary for the La Plata Archuleta Cattlemen\u2019s Association and the Chuckwagon Rendezvous event coordinator. \u201cMy husband (Paul Black) would just go and pick his brain, ask as many questions as he could, try to just learn from him.\u201d<\/p>\n

mhollinshead@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled the Chuckwagon Rendezvous co-founder\u2019s last name and misidentified the name of the coal<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018It\u2019s hard to not do something you\u2019ve been doing a long time that you love,\u2019 he says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[731,438,28,1231],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bayfield","tag-food","tag-headlines","tag-pine-river-times"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79208,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26060\/revisions\/79208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26060"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}