Kathy and I intentionally didn't have any plans over the 4th of July with the intention of visiting friends and enjoying a long weekend. As friday grew near Kathy got a little restless and suggested we go to a contest. I jumped at the chance and checked for something close. The one contest in Iowa was full, so I gave the report to Kathy and we decided to again enjoy the weekend at home. Then late friday afternoon I received notice that a spot had opened up and if we were still interested; come on up to Whiting Iowa! With only a 24hr notice, we spent Saturday getting supplies and preping for the contest to be ready to compete Sunday night.

This is a second year contest, first year sanctioned, in north west Iowa. There were 18 veteran teams all sporting some combination of RV and trailer. We saw Smokey D's, Plowboys, Swine Assassins, Big T's, Bubba Q, etc, etc and figured we had little chance at winning anything. While true we didnt win any top prizes we did end up 7th over all. Placed 4th in ribs, 8th in pork and 5th in brisket. We also took 2nd in people's choice sausage and won a new knife as a door prize. So we did well and came home with four checks and a new knife. We are not up to championship caliber yet but we are knocking on the door and have made the improvements we set out to early in the year.

All in all a fun time and Kathy and I enjoyed a weekend together.

Photos