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A recurring theme in our travels is the fine art of barbecuing. Not my own; I just travel with a small Weber spherical grill that allows me to do the bare minimum. To our good fortune we have camped with a few folks for whom bbq is an obsession. Can you imagine paying an hundred bucks for a whole brisket because "finishing third sucks". These competitions are well regulated, professional operations that have some significant prize money even at the small regional level.
Today I wandered over to the NH Rockn' RibFest held on the grounds of the Anheuser Busch brewery in Merrimack, NH. I did not know if any of them would be there. First I spotted the Judge's tent with the atomic clock outside. If the ribs are to be judged at XX00:00.00, ribs that arrive at XX00:00.01 will be DQ'd. Typically, an equivalent clock is mounted prominently in each competitor's prep area.
As I wandered through the competitors' area, I ran into a familiar logo.
Note the clock in the upper right.
This is the operation of Tom and Michelle Perelka. Year after year they have pulled down single digit national rankings out of 7,000 competitors. The next two shots show the four ovens that they will be using this weekend. There's at least a half dozen more at home that didn't make the traveling squad this weekend.
These are serious competitors and great cooks. They will be camped with us in Maine over the 4th of July weekend. To give you an idea of some of the prep work, I'm about to show you the before and after pictures of a rack of ribs as Tom prepares them for a uniform presentation.
Here's the rack as it came from the butcher. Next, Tom will trim it and remove the "silver skin" and excess fat and make it uniform. The trimmings, by the way, go home with them to become sausage.
Now the result.
They don't just cook one rack. To increase their odds of creating a few perfect ribs for the judges they cook typically six racks.
Tim and Wendy Boucher of "Feedin' Frenz" will be joining the party in Maine. I believe my diet is going to take a serious hit. Let me tell you that this grillin' and competin' community is the most sociable and congenial group around and we are most fortunate to know some of them.
We have been busy visiting friends and relatives. As I write this, Durelle is at Nashua Country Club visiting with her cronies from twenty years ago when she was the president of the ladies group. Last night we went to supper with grandson, Dave, and Carolyn and Brielle. Brielle is still in school until the 20th. We have been informed that she is number 1 in her third grade. Below is a picture of her preparing to get outside a piece of baklava.
It is still difficult to realize that when we look at her, we are looking at our fourth generation. I guess we have time to see the fifth.
Prior to supper she and Grandma played cards in the motorhome.
This afternoon a bunch of family and friends surprised Dan and Nancy with a party to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. We have to thank Nancy's brother, mother and wife (Keith, Julie and Karin) for putting on a fine backyard shindig.
Nancy was truly surprised and emotional. There were perhaps fifty people there, including all of the original wedding party. I will include two shots of the wedding party. First:
And, second:
The two in the lower right are my sister, Marian and her husband Eldy Taylor. Dan's older brother, Scott, is on Dan''s right. Dan is our nephew. The others I don't know and neither do you! The day was perfect, and we wish the two many more years.
Fifty four years ago this Fall we showed up for my first assignment as a brand new 2Lt. in the Air Force. We were the ultimate newbies. Fortunately, there was another Air Force family that were very close neighbors. Al was a 1st Lt. He and Joyce were of German stock from the cornfields of Iowa. He had had some enlisted time in the Navy before going to USAF OCS. They were like our older siblings as we acclimated ourselves to the Air Force. We have forced our paths to cross almost every year since, and 2014 was no exception.
This section of Fairfax is a nice neighborhood, but with small, winding streets that forced the trailing Jeep to make one careful excursion up over a corner of a curb. The bus and we spent the night in front of their house as we have before. Below is a quick snapshot taken just before we left. The youngest person in that picture is 76!!
As usual, Joyce stuffed us full of good food both for supper and breakfast. They are both a couple of survivors, and we wish them many more good years.
One notable event on our drive northward yesterday was the accident we passed that completely closed I-95 southbound near Roanoke Rapids, NC. Apparently a northbound tractor-flatbed trailer with a load of bundles of 2x4's wandered across the median and hit another flatbed of pipe! We passed the scene at about 1100 and the accident had occurred about 5 1/2 hours before. There were no flashing lights or emergency gear at the scene; just a bunch of "yellow gear" trying to uncouple the mess. A detour had been set up from one exit north of the accident to one exit south. I have no idea how long it took them to reopen it, but it was a major hassle for a lot of travelers and truckers.
We arrived at Pine Grove, PA shortly after two and everything is set up fine. There was a delay in acquiring the satellite which nearly precipitated mayhem, but "all's well that ends well".
We spent the night at a KOA here in our old spot. The place is run by a retired CMSGT, (USAF E-9) with whom I get along just fine. We have finished, I hope, all the debugging...of me, not the bus. Once I found the water heater bypass valve that was used to winterize, we had our hot water back. Once I remembered that the driver's side slideouts required the ignition switch to be in the accessory position, they worked fine. The driver's side are electric and the passenger side are hydraulic. I'm sure there is a good reason.
The TV was initially snowy in spite of a 90% signal strength, but it seems to be fine now. It's a big, sophisticated machine, and my aging brain has to be retrained every spring. I think we are good to go now.
Although he is a little wobbly and needs a little help and encouragement, Baxter is managing the stairs OK. Is there a common theme here?
Well, we finally got on the road. We never planned to get away early because Durelle washed our linens and remade our bed because we are going to have house guests during the summer. Besides, all of the packing has been on a gentle schedule. Cindy took a camera shot through the door of the bus just before we left.
Baxter required a little assistance to make it up the stairs, but he seems to be doing OK. The bus is loaded and ready to go.
We bought 90 gallons of diesel at $3.639 and headed out. I don't expect to find diesel within twenty cents of that for the rest of the summer. We arrived in Enfield, NC about 1615. A couple of problems arose: we don't have any hot water and the TV is snowy at times even when there is a good signal strength. We'll get things sorted out. Everything else seems to work.
Below is a picture of the bus all packed and ready to head north tomorrow morning.
By the way, that is Cindy's house in the background. It is nice to have her close. We took twice as long to load up as we used to, but that was according to plan. It is now parked in the street so that it is level enough for the refrigerator to work. And it does...with either propane or 110V. For the sharp-eyed among you, the two passenger side slides are out an inch or so. It was necessary to access a couple of closet doors.
A few posts ago I included pictures of an eight foot alligator on the bank by our fence. He has since chased a neighbor three doors down, so DNR (the Department of Natural Resources) came by and removed him. I guess it was the right thing to do.
Wish us luck and stay in touch.
