Ribs on the Ridge and Another Big Decision

We competed this past weekend in the "Ribs on the Ridge" barbecue competition in Haines City. We had so much fun seeing many of our old friends that compete who we haven't seen in awhile and and also making some new ones. It is such an awesome experience and you meet the nicest people. Ellen's sister Harold, her husband John, and niece Luccy surprised us with a visit Friday afternoon. They live in Oldsmar which is about a two hour drive. We visited for an hour or so and when they left they said they would be back on Saturday. They stayed at a nearby motel and came back out about 11:30 Saturday morning and stayed for the awards which started at 5:30. We had a great visit. Ellen doesn't see her sister very often and it certainly made her day to spend some quality time with them all. Here is a picture of Harold, Luccy, and Ellen.

This was our cook setup.


We had a great time but you know what they say, "All Good Things Must Come to an End" and our competition BBQ is no exception. This was the last time Ellen and I will be competing. We have discussed it at length and with what we're trying to accomplish we are not going to be able to continue. We will be putting the house up for sale soon and will be moving into an RV park until I retire. There will be no place to store our trailer at the RV park and we would have to rent some place to keep it. It just wouldn't be worth it to us. We also have two cats and we stay in the motorhome when we compete so it would be like moving your entire house, pets and all for a weekend cook.
We've had a great time and a lot of fun over the last couple of years doing this. We thought we had good BBQ before we started and a lot of our friends thought so too. Many of them encouraged us to start competing because they thought it was that good. But I must say we have learned a great deal more about cooking good BBQ because of these competitions and the many great BBQ cooks that we've had the pleasure of getting to know. Many of them have shared their little "secrets"  with us that have helped us improve what we were doing. We've met so many wonderful people and made some great friends along the way. We will certainly miss it.
Until next time...