#pinkystrong — Sam’s Club Local Laurel, MD: August 22-23, 2014

The New Virginia Creeper, the name of our trailer, occasionally demands a sacrifice. On Friday morning, Pitmaster Luke raked his pinky finger across the edge of the diamond plate on her nose, shedding blood and meeting said demands. It was an interesting start to the weekend.

With one digit wrapped in gauze, Luke got the gear to the Sam’s Club parking lot in Laurel at 10 a.m. that morning, with Leigh Anne right on his tail. After getting the trailer parked next to our friends at Hog-It-Up BBQ, Luke departed to the nearest urgent care facility while Leigh Anne put the trailer together. The mighty pitmaster returned with Burger King for lunch, 4 stitches in his pinky, and a tetanus shot to find the facility put together. With Kim joining in on Friday evening, the team hosted an impromptu potluck supper. Our friends from Hog-It-Up, Pepper Monkey, Redneck Scientific, Brown Liquor and RESQ brought over some amazing food and great company. After a quick cat-nap, it was time to light the fires and get the smoke a-rolling.

The weather report called for a 50% chance of rain on both Friday and Saturday. Somehow, we made it through the night without a drop. It was actually a beautiful night, although no one took Leigh Anne up on her offer to play some produce department floor hockey at 4 a.m. at the local 24-hour Wal-Mart.

By mid-morning, everyone’s luck ran out. What started as a light drizzle would alternate with solid showers. We carried our turn-in boxes under a giant umbrella. Once brisket was turned in, everyone commenced to breaking down as quickly as possible, despite the downpour. We were told awards would start promptly at 3 p.m., and that’s exactly what happened. We tried to find some dry clothes as we gathered to hear the results.

Our new chicken process seems to be headed in the right direction, yielding a 12th place finish. No one seemed to like our ribs or pork, which is surprising. We swing back and forth on the pig products, despite not varying our process. We just don’t understand. Thankfully, we were able to produce an amazing brisket, which yielded us our call for the day and hey – 1st place ain’t nothing to sneeze at it. With a finish of 9th overall, we did not advance to the Sam’s Club Regional in Richmond next weekend. However, much love our mates at Redneck Scientific, Brown Liquor, and Checkered Flag 500 — we’ll be rooting for all of you next weekend. It was great to cook next to our old friends at Hog-It-Up and nice to make new friends at Big Block BBQ (also congrats on advancing). Way to go Pork Barrel for the GC and Sauce This for the RGC.

As always, we sincerely appreciate the support we get from Dizzy Pig, BBQ Guru, Bob’s Have’na BBQ Sauce, Hunts Point Meat and our Kickstarter friends. Thank you for everything that you do!

We’ll see you in a few weeks down the road in Richmond for Recovery Fest. Everyone have a great Labor Day weekend!!!!