Welcome to Jackson, Wyoming otherwise known as the “Last of the Old West”. While you are out here on your vacation you’ll most likely want to assimilate to your surroundings and cowboy and cowgirl up. If you’ve seen a few Westerns you know that the cowboy lifestyle although romantic in its spirit of rugged individualism and wide open empty spaces is also a lot of work. Between the cattle herding, fence building, and saddle sores it’s enough to keep a city slicker worn out for a week and who has time for that when on vacation? So skip all the work of the cowboy lifestyle and fast forward to the rewards of the day, the chuckwagon dinner. Relax and spend the evening at the Bar J Chuckwagon where you can fill up on some real down-home food and settle in for some fun entertainment as well. Don’t worry no one will know you didn’t spend the day doing your cowboy chores.
Good Eats
Bring your appetite because the food is authentic western, stick-to-your-ribs grub and plentiful to boot. The gates open at the Bar J Chuckwagon at 5:30pm and the dinner bell can be heard ringing daily at 7pm on the dot. All entrees are served with “a baked potato, famous Bar J beans, homemade biscuits, chunky applesauce, old fashioned, spice cake, real ranch coffee, or tenderfoot lemonade”. The only hard part of your whole night might be picking your entree. Choose between BBQ beef or boneless chicken breast for $25 and $27 respectively, or if both sound good, opt for them both in the combo. For half a sawbuck more, step up to the BBQ pork rib. A few bucks more than that will get you your very own grilled to perfection 12 oz. Rib-Eye. It’s just like what the real cowboys eat. For anything more authentic you’d have to go back in time like Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part III. No microwaves here, just open flames and cast iron dutch ovens. Little cowboys and cowgirls 12 and under get a choice of chicken, beef, or ribs for just $12. Lap-sized cowboys and cowgirls in training eat for free, which means your whole gang will leave happy and full.
Entertainment
After you’ve had your fill of cowboy grub to replenish those weary bones of yours, from doing all that hard work you put in on the ranch earlier in the day (yup, we’re still keeping up that rouse) sit back and be ready to be entertained by the Wyoming and World famous Bar J Wranglers. Part perfect cowboy harmonies and part stand up cowboy humor, the Bar J Wranglers will keep all you cowpokes in the audience entertained with songs and comedy for the rest of the evening. This cowboy troupe has performed with the likes of western royalty such as Roy Rogers and Randy Travis and can’t wait to entertain you after dinner. You can even take home one of the groups albums on CD “For God and Country” from the Trading Post, barjchuckwagon.com, or from fine stores all around Jackson, so you can sing along, long after you’ve left the chuckwagon and are back in your urban environment, where the cars outnumber the horses and wagons.
Trading Post
Make sure to check out the Bar J’s western village for keepsakes before or after you hitch a ride on your horse-drawn wagon through the western landscape to your tasty dinner that awaits. You’ll be able to take home a souvenir for yourself or family and friends to remember your night home on the range.
Cowboys & Cowgirls Reservations
The Bar J Chuckwagon kicks off yet another memorable summer season that starts Memorial Day Weekend and runs through the last Saturday in September. Yup, they’ve been doing it for 39 years straight, so it ain’t their first rodeo even though it might be your first chuckwagon. We bet you’ll have so much fun it probably won’t be your last. So do yourself a favor and call them today at 307-733-3370 or 1-800-905-2275 for a reservation to secure your spot on the next chuckwagon leaving nightly. Bar J Chuckwagon is just 10 minutes down the trail from downtown Jackson, in Wilson, Wyoming. Even with seating capacities of 700, reservations are strongly encouraged and are only taken by telegraph, er we mean phone. For more information on this must do Jackson adventure, go to barjchuckwagon.com.