To all the Masters of the Grill, Chiefs of the Charcoal, King of the Pit, Boss of the BBQ - also known as the dude in the apron.So three years ago I lost my sister to Alzheimer's. The long goodbye was difficult on everyone including my parents and my immediate family. It was also very hard on my wife who had lost her mother only months before to cancer.
This year, to lighten the somber date, I wanted to reunite my mother and her cousin by taking my parents to Washington state to visit. I noticed a new an interesting competition in the small town of Sweet Home, Oregon and decided this would be good excuse to venture out of Montana and explore a new region of BBQ.
Our Caravan started on a Tuesday due to the strange schedule of events in Sweet Home. I will describe the events later. As for our journey - two dogs, two teenagers, 2 almost 80 year old parents, my wife and I set out on a Tuesday afternoon with a trailer full of BBQ equipment. We planned a short 4 hour journey to Kellogg, ID to break up the 7-8 hour drive to my mother's cousin's house in the Tri-Cities, WA. We arrived late evening, checked into a "budget" motel, and went to sleep. While we were bringing things into the motel, I noticed my trailer tire was wearing very thin on the outside of the tire. I bought the trailer in the spring of 2021 and really only put a couple of trips on it the previous year. Of course all I had on my mind when I went to sleep was replacing the tire. I got up early and found a tire shop down the street from the motel. They quickly replaced my tires for a nominal fee, and we were back on the road. There definitely seems to be a bend in my axle.
We arrived in the Tri Cities in the late afternoon on Wednesday - and quickly found our way to my cousin's swimming pool. We enjoyed drinks and visited with family. The schedule of events was on my mind now. Load in started on Thursday, but also could be completed on Friday morning. This event included a steak cook-off (SCA) on Friday night, along with a Hamburger and Dessert contest. Saturday would be reserved for public vending and people's choice. The KCBS would be on Sunday. I chose to head to the Oregon coast on Thursday and show up on Friday morning to load into my spot. We would then head back to the Tri-Cities on July 4. Everything would be fine - as long as we got out of the Tri-cities in the morning. It was a 6-7 hour drive to the coast. Eastern Washington's climate is much different than the stereotypical climate of Seattle or western Washington.
And after staying up late that night drinking and visiting with family - no one was really up for "waking up." While it was as great night of reminiscing and family affairs - we were definitely running late. So we finally got out of town around 11 AM. This would put us at the Coast around 5 or 6 PM. After a nice bout of Traffic in the Portland area, we decided to cancel that portion of the trip and just head directly to Sweet Home, OR (rather Lebanon, OR) We lost our hotel deposit at the Coast, but did find a room at a Best Western 20 short miles from Sweet Home.
We arrived around 930 AM at Sweet Home to load in. We were having the contest at Radiator Supply House World Headquarters. The location was on a massive field that surrounded a small lake/pond. Teams were already loaded in - with RVs, BBQ Trailers and Pop Ups as far as the eye could see. The Event staff, who were great throughout the event, guided us to our location. It was a rocky, unlevel piece of land and was a mix of torn up shrubs, thick grass and dirt. We leveled out the BBQ Utility Trailer, and started setting up the camp. Our neighbors on the left was Hoggin da Sauce (Ron), a well organized team that consisted of a husband and wife. They would go on to win First place in Steak that night. On our other side we had a local team in for just Friday - to do the steak cook off - and they took off on Saturday. They were replaced by a father son team from Idaho (Bearded Boars BBQ - Tom). Originally from Montana, we chatted at length throughout the cook about competitions in Montana and the Pacific Northwest.
Before heading to Oregon, I reached out to some BBQ Friends - Owens BBQ (North Dakota). They were friends with a team in Oregon that was headed to the same cook off. We texted a bit and shared some background on what was popular, as far as BBQ flavor profiles in Oregon. Low and behold, after setting up, we met Shane from HoggerQ, friend of the Owens and former resident of North Dakota. After sharing a couple stories about our mutual friends the Owens, Shane gave me a heads up on the competition. I had done some recon using BBQ Data prior to coming and it was as I thought - some very good teams were at this high paying competition.
After we got everything set up for Saturday's vending day - we retired back to Lebanon to get one last good night sleep in the hotel. The cot and sleeping bag was supposed to allow me to get a good night sleep, but nothing beats AC, a warm shower and breakfast at the hotel. I was back at the competition around 11 AM with the items we were selling. My wife said it best, "bringing a knife to a gun fight. We bring fruit to a BBQ Competition." In the beginning there were several funny looks. There were several people that thought selling fresh fruit on a stick was cheating. We just laughed. Soon, though, the kids started running over and insisting their parents buy them a stick with grapes, strawberries and pineapples. Later - people who had already sampled most of the BBQ offerings were in search of something "not meat." We quickly sold out. My wife Jackie, who rarely attends my BBQ functions had made the skewers of fruit and quickly kicked out another 100 or so. They also sold out pretty quickly. In the end we sold over 150 kabobs at $3 a pop. We also received a dozen votes for People's Choice (mostly from kids).
As Saturday night arrived, my wife and son headed back to the hotel and my daughter (sous chef) and I started our routine. I had totally planned on arriving in Sweet Home with everything trimmed. But with the early departure (Tuesday) and hectic schedule between Helena and Oregon - I would be trimming on site again. I was looking forward to a few videos I had watched in an attempt to improve my Brisket game. My past two scores have rebounded from the slump I was in......and I was hoping this trip would seal the deal.
This would be a good time to introduce a new part of my Blog. I think from this point on, BBQ Bytes will spend some time analyzing/discussing the podcasts I have been listening to - including Pitmaster - an Old Virginia Smoke Podcast. I have truly found them informative, entertaining and most of all a great way to pass the time while driving thousands of miles in 2022. During the 80+ pod casts, Luke Darnell has mentioned multiple times - "if you really want to get better and learn about your cook - compete 4 weeks in a row." I had not heard this pod cast when I originally scheduled the Month of June and while I probably could have gotten a 4th comp in Nebraska in mid June - 3 out of 4 definitely proved to be helpful. How helpful - check back tomorrow for more details on the Sweet Home Icebox Cookoff 2022, including results.
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