Just to clarify, we are a close group of friends who believe in celebrating for no good reason at all.  We just like to camp, cook chili, and drink beer.  Do we really need to explain anything else?  Enjoy the site and God bless!

On second thought, perhaps we do go a little overboard with our chili obsession.  We travel across country, purchase vehicles for the sole purpose of driving around in Terlingua (our Party Wagon), and follow the chili circuit like "groupies" did for the Beatles in the 60's.

Collectively, we call ourselves Hillbilly Chili.  However, individually we each cook our own unique chili.  Despite the differences in our recipes, we cook side by side and have a great time.

In our first year, we really didn't know what we were doing.  We cooked fresh vegetables, used blenders to puree ingredients, made our own garlic powder, roasted our our garlic, used cut up filet mignon, cooked 15 lbs at a time (yes 15 lbs), and generally made things terribly difficult for ourselves.  Thankfully Colleen Wallace saw our routine in Wichita Falls (Southwest Open), and she suggested that we try using dry spices (like everyone else).  Life suddenly got easy for these Hillbillies.

Since that time, Meredith qualified and placed 15th at the Terlingua International Chili Championship (TICC) in 2007.  The following year David, Jena, and Meredith all qualified and cooked in the TICC.