Well, despite the best of intentions - and yes, Mom, I did go get my flu shot this year - I came down with the flu and a 102 degree fever the Wednesday before we were due to head to Santa Fe to compete in the Sam's Club National BBQ Tour event. We had been in Dallas the week before at a dental meeting, and perhaps I picked up the "bug" there and/or while on the plane trip... Regardless, we were more than bummed to miss out on this event!! There were some great teams/friends there - some of the best in competition BBQ - that I was looking forward to seeing again and competing against - Johnny & Trish Trigg with
Smokin' Triggers, Vince & Alexa with
Rhythm N Que, Glenn with
IAB 30 BBQ, Garry with
The Smoke Ring,
Sweet Peppers, and
Carcass Cookers among others. "Strange" and unfamiliar names to the general public I know - but great teams and wonderful people well-known to those of us on the competition BBQ circuit.
So now our next opportunity to get "off & running" for the 2011 season will be the WestX Western Festival & BBQ competition to be held in St. George, UT on May 13-14. This competition, while smaller than the one in Santa Fe, will still feature some great talent including one of the best & hottest teams in Utah right now (
R&R BBQ), along with a national "celebrity" BBQ team - Harry Soo &
Slap Yo Daddy BBQ from California. It will be a great event, and we are ready to get out there and get our feet wet. It will also be good to get that first competition of the year behind us, too, and there are always "butterflies" at the start of the year.