What does it take to compete 1500 miles from home

Well first it takes somebody willing to drive the 1500 miles to get our equipment to the contest. Thankfully our team member Pat is up for the task. Then it takes roughly $800 dollars to keep the gas tank full for the roundtrip. Charlie,Carlotta and Carmen were lucky enough to get free airfare thanks to Pats wonderful parents who happen to have a stash of frequent flyer miles. That saves us $600 right there. I on the other hand have to shell out the $200 for airfare. If you want to play you gotta pay right ? Then we need two hotel rooms for Saturday night because after cooking two contests back to back a shower and a bed are the only two things in life worth living for. This my friends is where it pays to have a teammate that works in the Hotel Industry. We have two discounted rooms at the lovely Marriott hotel which cost $39 each. You can't beat that !! Thanks Doug we wish you were making the trip with us.

Then there is the question of meat and garnish. Do we bring it ? Should we just attempt to purchase the meat there ? Well we decided to do a little of both. I think the big meats (brisket and pork butt) travel just fine and will be ok in a cooler for a few days. The smaller meats (chicken and ribs) don't travel all that well in my opinion. Now in the past I've taken my chances and drove around looking for suitable meat. Not this time. We've been doing this competition thing for close to 10 years now and we've managed to make friends all across the country. I have a friend in KC that's going to get us some Ribs, Chicken and Garnish. Thank you very much. I hope we can return the favor some day when you head out East to compete.

So as you can see it takes planning, money and a little help from our friends to make it possible for us to compete so far from home and still feel we have a fighting chance to win. I have traveled and borrowed equipment from people in the past but it's just not the same as having all of your own stuff to cook with. As long as we pack everything in the trailer we should be good to go. We're looking forward to the Royal and looking forward to seeing all our friends that we only bump into a few times a year.