American Royal – Part 1

Ahh yes…year two at the American Royal. Last year we were very happy to be there. And given, the different problems that we had last year in terms of getting our money in and such, we were relegated to the dark side, far away from all of our friends. We had a good time, but it definitely could have been better.

2015 would be our chance!

We conspired with Redneck Scientific to have a site right beside them at the new Arrowhead Stadium location. We’d be in space G360 for three days. And it was sure to be a good time. Other lessons learned form 2014 that would be essential for 2015–take a bicycle, trim all of your meat ahead of time…and get as much sleep as possible.

My friend Keith and I left Northern Virginia around 6:30 p.m. on the Monday before the Royal. Keith had just come off of a 4 day bender in Boston watching sports, and cavorting around. We decided to drive straight through this year. I’d take the first shift and get us into the midwest, and then we’d switch off as needed.

And push through we did. We kept chewing up miles until we finally pulled into our house for the week in Kansas City. There was discussions of a nap, but those were quickly discarded. Off to the bars for lunch, dinner, and frivolity throughout the evening.

After a couple of days of fun, Keith would depart on Thursday. Luke would set up the cooksite and then have normal Thursday night fun…which this year included watching the painful Steelers-Ravens matchup at the Chix Swine and Bovine site. There are many stories from that night. Most aren’t fit for print. I was dissuaded from riding said bicycle for safety reasons. We partied with a lot of different people, including the awesome folks at the DivaQ site…to being saved from floor sleeping by my friend Sean and waking up in a strange motorhome next to Jerry Stephenson. All in all, a magnificent Thursday night.

Friday was game time. Leigh Anne and Bob were in the house and ready to go. LAT was busy shopping and getting ready for all of the ancillaries. Bob helped Luke with meat prep and such. We also hung out a lot with the good folks of Redneck Scientific, and graciously let them use some of our space to they could fit all of their equipment, and Jerry’s beard.

Throughout the weekend, Sean would become known as the Mayor of G lot. He ran the roost and made sure to keep everyone in line. Bob would watch the cookers on Friday night, while Luke slept in the trailer, and the girls slept back at the house.

The cook was probably our hardest of the year. Temperatures dropped. The cookers ate fuel. We had temperature problems all day and the continued until all turn ins were finished. It was a struggle…and it showed in our results, with our highest being a 44th place chicken. Not at all what we were looking for. But a special shout out to Contagious Q and Sean Mikel on his perfect 180 and first place in ribs in the American Royal Invitational….