Wheels -n- Squeels 2011

It has been an AWESOME weekend!  Bran and I got to spend the entire weekend eating great BBQ and meeting a bunch of new people.  Our church hosts the Wheels & Squeels BBQ Challenge every year.  The tournament is officially recognized by Kansas City BBQ Society.

There were 74 teams & they were all working had hard to win these!

The folks just opened the back of their camper and rolled out their smokers.

These fellas decided to make themselves at home.  At one point I saw a guy asleep with a beer in one hand and a bag of  cheese puffs in the other.  I'm pretty sure his friends must have just loaded him up that way and brought him to the tournament!

The main jobs of the volunteers included trash pick-up, and providing water and ice.  Our guys worked their butts off!  It was hot and sticky, but everyone had smile until the very end. We had a great team and I was proud to be a part of it!

Last night was party night.  The teams invited friends, family and sponsors to visit their team sites and enjoy some great BBQ.  We provided games and entertainment for the kiddos.

We also had Kids Q last night.  21 kids competed in a burger challenge.  The only way the parents could help was starting the fire and using the knife.  I got the opportunity to judge in this more relaxed challenge.  IT WAS SOOOOOO FUN!!

I even had to be sworn in!  After I finished judging, I picked up an application so I can become an official judge in October.  Living in KC allows for a lot of great judging opportunities!

Yesterday was fun...today was all business!  The first product had to be turned in at noon.

Bran and I got to work with a KCBS official to collect the submissions.  It was all very official!  You can see the clock on the left of the table.  The teams had a 10 minute window to turn in their product.  

As soon as we had 6 submission we took them into the tent for the next step of judging.

I'm not really sure about my smile.  I look like I just had a face lift and tried to smile maybe???

The next step involved the team number being removed and "double blind" number being added...all under the watchful eye of another KCBS official.

 After the judges have done their duty the remainder of the submissions were placed in a big tray for us to eat!

 At the end of the day 400 or so people gathered in the blazing hot tent for the results.

Swine Assassins took home the gold in pork as well as best overall.  The yellow shirt on the right is Scott...the guy that puts it all together.

 The boys and mema just walked in the door from Arkansas!