The season has begun...

(Fort Worth) -- Well we pulled in to Westworth Village (basically Fort Worth) and found the Sam's Club. Glad they moved some of these southern contests out of July and into a more reasonable time of year. It was windy and cloudy but otherwise a beautiful day for the first contest of the season which just happened to be one of the early stops on the Sam's Club tour.

KCBS judges (BoD member Dave Compton second from left in blue) loitering in the judges tent prior to what will be the first contest of the season for most of us.

There aren't all that many KCBS contests in Texas so we like to travel down and hit them when they have them. And the Sam's events are known to have some pretty solid barbecue too. This event didn't disappoint.

Chicken was solid all the way around (as it often is), the ribs -- mostly pretty good. There was some excellent pork with one of the samples just sublime -- some of the best I've had. Brisket was weaker (judges -- burnt ends can sometimes be worth the extra point to take you to a 9 on appearance) with only one box containing burnt ends and only two boxes with what could honestly be called really good brisket.

It was a fun and well-run contest with a couple of our favorite reps on hand and a hard working Troy Black as the organizer (although they did run out of water -- in the parking lot of a wholesale club!).

Great show -- judge one of these Sam's Club events if you get the chance.

We also met the rep for the agency that handles this whole thing and we've been recruited to cook wings for the Tyson "Best Wings on the Planet" next week in Midwest City. We will lose the chance to judge BBQ but we'll be able to help contribute to the success of the event and earn a little scratch in the process. Set up and grill wings to hand out to the public -- these events are kind of like a mini-fair where the food is small but free.

See you down the road.

--Rufus