Competition from south of Hades


 
Wow. Everything that could go wrong, did.

First off, I have to say that the contest reps did the very best possible job in spite of the absolutely awful conditions. I don't point any of my issues at them.

So I pull up to the contest site early Friday morning looking forward to a really good competition. One of the reps meets me at the entrance and is really cheerful and nice. I give him my info and he tells me my site number and 'oh yes, did you want to make your payment now?' Say what?? I payed about 3-4 weeks ago. Strike one.

Btw, the reps came back later Saturday and said they figured out the problem and that I really had paid.

I get onto the site and get the trailer situated where I want it. Unlock the side door and go in to get a couple of things. Wait a minute, why is it so breezy in here? I look up and see that one of the roof vents has decided to destroy itself. I'm looking through a 14" square hole in the roof and rain is predicted at any time. Strike two.

Get set up as quickly as possible and get meat inspection. Talking to my neighbor who is local, I find out that there's an RV shop about 10 miles away. I look up the number and call and describe my situation. Yes, he has the parts I need so it's off to find his shop. Get back and realize I don't have a ladder to get up there. Luckily the reps came to my rescue and loaned me a ladder. Get that all fixed and now I'm 3-4 hours behind my meat prep schedule. Strike three.

I'm just finishing up brisket prep and I hear rumbling off in the distance. Then I hear somebody outside yell, "Here it comes!". I go out the back just in time to see my EZ-Up (with full 5 gallon buckets) go flying. I grab what's left of it when it comes back down and hold on for the next 15-20 minutes. It is completely wrecked. So now it's find the closest Sam's. $200 and another hour later and I'm getting the old one down and the new one up. Now I'm REALLY, REALLY behind schedule now. Strike four.

Normally at a comp, Friday night I'm in bed by 10:00 or so since 4:00 comes real early. No such luck, I don't finally lay down until well after 1:00 by the time I get all the meat prepped. So it was less than 3 hours of sleep. Strike five.

Try to re-group and get back to some form of routine. Saturday morning it starts raining a lot (the wind never did die down) so now it's REALLY breezy and raining sideways. I get the grill going for the chicken and I can't get it over 300 for anything. It would start to go up but as soon as the wind picked up again the temperature dropped like a rock. So the chicken ended up just barely above safe temperature. I strongly considered not turning in chicken and DQ'ing myself The smokers aren't faring much better. Meat that is normally done by 8:00 or 9:00am, still isn't done at noon. Strike six.

21 overall, 23 chicken, 23 ribs, 27 pork, 12 brisket, out of 32 teams.

Bad weekend....

Russ
 
Russ, Great story, if it weren't for the 4 strikes. 21/32 after that story aint bad. So how is the team doing overal this season?
Any more comps? My rookie year is over, funds have dried up, will judge at least one in Nove but it's back to the LABORATORY, to cook up some winners for next year. All you need is ALCHEMY, to make gold out of dirt. HA!

Thanks for sharing.

Mark
 
Things are finally starting to come around. I'm getting about a walk per contest on average. Some of the top teams have been extremely kind and shared some secrets.

Cooking four more and judging two more this year. Next year I'm going to scale back a little. I'll probably only cook 10 or 12 events instead of the 16 like this year. Plus, I'd like to get my gold judging badge so I'll be judging a little more.

Russ
 
Your'e a full timer!!! Congrats on your accomplishments. We had a judge going for his masters work with us last comp. We both learned.
Mark
 

 

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