The 2008 season draws to a close.

The above map is an interactive feature from The Pickled Pig website. Thnx to Paul O's hard work, you can see where were received our awards this year. It really should be displayed on a full screen. Unfortunately, I'm not smart enough to post it on the Pellet Envy website, so it's here.

The year is over. It ended somewhat inauspiciously, considering that I skipped the last event due to illness and didn't have much of a showing in what turned out to be the last event of the year. The trip itself was an adventure and I as it unfolded I had several great ideas for blog posts. Unfortunately, I've pretty much forgotten most of those ideas. Additionally, the hardest thing for me to do is get pictures taken while on the road. I have no idea why that is, but I always kick myself when I get home. I see so many others taking pics at events, but I just can't train myself to have that point and shoot digital camera at the ready like they do.

This post is really just a quick update. In fact, it's sort of a teaser to what I hope is several posts about the trip. For those of you that don't know, we headed to the Atlanta area where we catered a Kansas City style barbecue lunch for 150 at the Greased Lightning headquarters. That was way cool. Then we traveled a short distance to a suburb and hosted an Old School versus High Tech cooking class with the help of Big Jim Stancil. Then the plan was to head south to Florida to cook two events to end the year. Unfortunately, I ended up with a bad head cold in the summer like weather before even getting to the first event. Being so far from home I decided I better cook. The tenth place finish tells you how that turned out. Then, in my clouded state, I decided that I could rest up and get back on my feet in time to cook Plant City. So, I pretty much slept for four days. However, I wasn't getting better. As foggy as I felt and without the ability to taste anything, Wednesday evening I made the call to head home. Cooking Plant City wasn't going to do me any good and, if I were a judge, I sure wouldn't want to eat the food of a sick cook. So, Thursday I started the two day trip home.

So, it's Thanksgiving week. Sheri decided to host family dinner this year at our home. I've had two days to continue my recovery. I have a ton of stuff to do. I hope this post can tide you all over until I can do better. If, by chance, it doesn't happen before Thanksgiving, here's hoping everyone has a wonderful, joyous day with their families. Oh, and over indulge, you have three days to recover.