Harpoon Report - Late

Citizen Q

Yeah I know, the contest ended over 2 days ago, but the ringing in my head is just beginning to slow down, so this is actually right on time. For those that didn't already know, I was at the Harpoon New England Barbeque Championship in Windsor, VT being "mented" this weekend by the great team of "Lunchmeat" who were kept pretty busy rearranging the trophy table as more and more awards accumulated throughout both days of the contest.[p]I arrived Friday afternoon with 2 BGE's in tow to find my teammates sandwiched between Rich Decker's "Lost Nation" crew and Shotgun Fred & BBQ Bob Trudnak's "BBQ Guru" team as well as almost directly across the lane from The Virginian & Mr Earl cooking "Free Range BBQ". Great guys, all.

At some point, well into what were supposed to be quiet hours, Mr Earl led BBQ Bob and myself as a wandering 3 man barbershop quartet in an effort to make sure that any teams trying to get some rest did not. We were quite effective despite the fact that we only sang one line from one song. And we only knew that much due to it being both the song title and the team name on the sign of the guy we were harrasing.[p]Saturday morning found Rich Decker searching out KCBS reps for an official DQ ruling as to my prominently displayed full moon. I calmly explained that I could not possibly pull my pants up because I needed my hands to hold my head out of the trash bucket while I emptied my gullet. The DQ was overruled due to the fact that while KCBS rules clearly stipulate that "shirts and shoes must be worn", there is no mention whatsoever of pants.[p]Saturday afternoon brought more excitement as Lunchmeat got 3 calls to the stage, 7th Chicken, 3rd Ribs and 6th Brisket. Ribs and Brisket were done on Gary's regular equipment, but the chicken got some experimenting. He did 2 batches, one on his Webber and one batch on the Egg, figuring to put the best looking thighs in the turn in box. Well wouldn't you know, the box had 3 Egg and 3 Webber pieces, so we'll never actually know which 3 kept him off the podium for those first place photo's, but my side of the debate was bolstered when Sunday's grilling competetition earned him a 1st Place in Chicken Wings with an entirely BGE cooked entry. That, plus calls for Chef's Choice and Grilled Pork Chop were enough to earn Lunchmeat the Reserve Grand Champion on the day. And don't forget one more call for Team Of the Year in the Ribs category, not too shabby, not shabby at all.[p]All in all, this was one great contest that I will definitley be back to next year, and hopefully some of my new knowledge will get me a call or two onto that beer soaked stage. Michelle, Gary, Teri, Sully & Teddy, if any of you are lurking (and I know you are), I couldn't have found a better team to be mentored by and get demented with. I'll tell you about the late night encounter with the moose next time I see you.[p]Sadly the event WAS marred by one prankster. It seems that 9 of the 10 vehicles belonging to competitors who camped out an extra night were vandalized. That's right, somebody TeePee'd the vehicles with paper towels in the wee hours of the morning. Apparently the vandals couldn't find any Tabasco to spike Backyard BBQ Corps'& Dr Frankenswine's orange juice with so they wrapped up the cars and trucks in the bulk pack of Bounty that was laying about in the open. They must have run out of towels before they reached my truck, so upon seeing what they had done and figgering that they might be back from the Quickee Mart with more at any minute, I made my escape unscathed.[p]Cheers,
C~Q