Smoke On The Water - Pine Bluff, Arkansas

No, the Arkansas tornados did not get us. They tried, but we out witted them. Man, was Saturday night in Arkansas a little scary because of the weather or what? And to make matters worse, the broadcasters in the "weather center" all spoke in "county lingo" that made it nearly impossible to know if we were driving away from the latest funnel cloud or direction into it's path. We saw some severe damage in Missouri on our way home Sunday. Hopefully, nobody was hurt.

As expected, Ron Cates and his crew did an awesome job this past weekend. One thing is for sure, Ronnie can motivate the people. He had a ton of great help at the event again this year. We got to meet his mother, Betty, in person. That was way cool. On short notice, and due to the spring rains in that area, the contest was moved to the fairgrounds in Pine Bluff. That late, but essential decision probably hurt attendance a bit. It was a well organized event and there was plenty for the public to do, including a carnival, a product expo and several great bands. Now, if we could just get Ron to return his calls . . . . .hmmmmmm.

We finished 13th overall, with a 9th place call in chicken and a 16th place call in brisket (they paid 20 places overall). We felt a little beat up about our ribs and pork, but judges were probably pretty well on overall. Things just didn't click like we wanted. Congrats to Mike and Beth of Quau for being the Grand Champions and congrats to Mark of Four Men and a Pig on his Reserve Grand Champion finish. Also, congrats to Candy Weaver of Pine Bluff's very own BBQr's Delight on her very strong showing. Candy cooked by herself on two FEC-100's, finishing 5th overall. And thanks to Val for talking Steph into going to the irish donut shop on Saturday morning.

We introduced Greased Lightning to a lot of folks. Many had not heard of the product and were eager to learn it's many uses. It's fun to tell folks about a product that you already use and have strong belief in. We love the stuff. We loved it before we became marketing partners.

Off to the Boot & BBQ event in Claremore, Oklahoma this weekend. Sheri has the weekend off. I haven't decided which pit I will take just yet. This will be the first time at this event for me. Really don't know much about it. We haven't cooked in Oklahoma much, so I'm really looking forward to getting down that way.