Mountain High BBQ Festival - Franklin, NC

We competed in the Mountain High BBQ Festival this weekend and got to spend time with some of the great folks that make up the competition bbq circuit. Our trailer is over 30 ft and like most teams with large trailers you just don’t want to arrive late, so I pulled in at about 2pm Thursday. Setting up our trailer and cookers went real well with our front door and John & Kathy’s of Wild Bunch Butt Burners facing each other and on the other side me, Tarheel Smokers and Joe & Voncile of Smoky Mountain Smokers which were also facing each other. It was plenty ho and I had just finished setting up and showering afterward and had some refreshments when Chad Renfroe from Uncle Chet’s BBQ team stopped by for a visit (he never has told me why he named his team after me but if he keeps beating me as he did this weekend, I'm going to ask for my name back). While talking we both found we both had a few things we needed from the store and we’re hungry too so we hit the store first and then Bojangle’s for a chicken supper. I watched a western that had to be filmed just after the still movie days but it kept me occupied till bedtime. Sue stayed home to keep the office open Friday and since our partners Vern & Helen Ashbrook from Maryville, Tn were coming, she didn’t make the long trip up Saturday either so Thurs night was just me, myself, and I. First thing Friday I loaded some charcoal in the little PK grill to cook breakfast and the plan was a nice “Everything” bagel with thick sliced bacon (pig candy) rubbed with a little brown sugar and red pepper flakes, topped with a fried egg, tomato and mayo and I ain’t bragging but this was one dang good breakfast sandwich and I shared with my neighbors John and Kathy and they seemed to enjoy them as much as I did. Vern & Helen got there Friday around noon and Helen surprised me with a nice pasta salad and chicken salad and both were excellent and in fact it was so good I must have lost all control while eating mine and managed to dump about half my plate full in my lap and had to take a shower and change which I needed to do anyway. I had everything to make 4 pizzas with but just didn’t see the need to cook em with the nice salads Helen brought. The Backwoods Fatboy was unreal good throughout the entire cook and I give it credit for our 2nd in Brisket and a check for 400 dollars. We fired up the Chubby too early and had trouble managing the temp while doing our chicken but the chicken turned out like I thought it should in order to place well but the judges didn’t see it that way. We finished 18th out of 49 in the Overall scoring and the 2nd brisket was our best meat. Can’t wait till Thursday to head out again, this time a little closer to home in Kennesaw, Ga and Sue will be coming Friday night. For someone that makes pictures as much as I do, you would think I could get better pics at these contest but I never seem to. Here’s a few pics of some of the teams I know with the first being Rob “Rub” Bagwell (Swampboy’s) with his new Stump’s rig, BubbaQue, Smokey Mountain Smokers, and BobbyQ's truck with rig behind it. I sat beside the Grand Champion of this event through awards and it was the first time I have had a chance to meet "Tuffy" Stone of Cool Smoke and he and his wife certainly seemed like a nice couple and worthy champions. BobbyQ was Reserve and continues another year with great consistency. Come and see us.