Smoke & Bones BBQ trip: A journey to the Heartland
Part 2
Tennessee Bound
By Justin Kyllo
Smoke & Bones BBQ
smokeandbones@shaw.ca
www.smokeandbones.ca
 |
Photo courtesy of Justin Kyllo
Metropolis, Illinois’ Blues And Ques. |
After our fantastic time in Kansas City at the American Royal, we moved on to visit St. Louis, Missouri. I have wanted to visit the Gateway Arch since I was a child and watched NHL hockey games involving the Blues that were telecast from St Louis. I can recall seeing that Arch on television when they panned the skyline of St. Louis and thinking what an amazing looking building.
 |
Photo courtesy of Justin Kyllo
The St. Louis arch as seen from a helicopter ride we took. |
In our hotel on our first night in St. Louis, I found myself on the KCBS website looking for any upcoming contests we could enter. We had new techniques we came away with from Kansas City that we wanted to try before competing at the Jack Daniels in a couple of weeks. I found the listing for the Metropolis City Blues and Ques contest that upcoming weekend in Illinois, so I called and arranged to enter. We left St. Louis and booked ourselves in to a motel in Paducah, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Metropolis City and then sourced out our meat and supplies. Metropolis, Illinois, also known as Super City, is all about Superman; Superman is everywhere, including the town square where they have a 15 foot tall bronze statue of him. On Friday night as we pulled in to park our trailer in front of Harrah’s Casino, we came around the corner of Main Street to see Mike Davis and the Lotta Bull RV and trailer. I quickly realized that this competition had brought out some big names. That said we came with some new ideas to try and a boatload of enthusiasm, so we were excited to get cooking.
 |
Photo courtesy of Justin Kyllo
Should be Justin and Rob preparing pork for turn in at the Jack Daniels competition. |
My daughter and I started prepping and then cooked through the night on Friday. Saturday morning came, and as we finished up and started turning our entries in, we knew we had some good stuff. At the awards ceremony, we were really curious to see how we would do, especially with our new brisket and pork butt entries. When the awards were called, we ended up getting calls in both of those categories, even taking second place in brisket, and walking away with some money, a trophy, as well as an award for traveling the longest distance!
We were feeling pretty good leaving Illinois and heading to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where we stayed to visit Mammoth Cave National Park. Mammoth is a place not to be missed if you are anywhere near Kentucky during your travels. Our next stop was Nashville, Tennessee, where we had one week to visit. While in Nashville, Jessica and I went to rock concerts, the Grand Ole Opry, The Country Music Hall of Fame, and even handfed live stingrays at a local attraction. We dined out at Jack’s BBQ on Music Row and ate at Hog Heaven, a small take out joint near the Parthenon. Our visit to Music City USA was great, but sadly I had to fly Jessica back home from there as her time away from school was done.
 |
Photo courtesy of Justin Kyllo
Metropolis 15 foot Superman statue. |
Thursday I drove to Lynchburg by myself to drop off my trailer and get settled in to the town. It was quite the feeling to approach the Lynchburg town sign on the way in. I was actually here. My wife and my friend Rob Reinhardt had flown in to Nashville to come and be my teammates for the weekend. We rented an RV and settled in to the town of Lynchburg in preparation for the Jack Daniels competition. Friday night after the parade of teams through the town, they held a dinner up on barbecue hill overlooking the holler. Live music, good food and people I recognized from cookbooks, television, and print were everywhere. What an atmosphere and I was here alongside them!
That night as my meat was smoking on the pits, I contemplated sleep. I was tired but had no ambition to give up the night. I was here and I was just taking in the moment. You don’t know when you will be back again. Unlike another contest that you know you can just sign up for next year, this one has no guarantee. Eventually, I crawled in to bed at about 3 a.m. As I lay there, my mind wandered constantly. I imagined what it would be like to win, even just an award. I eventually succumbed to sleep somewhere I presume around 4 a.m. I was awakened at 5:30 a.m. by rain, so I went out and checked on everything and at that point decided to get the ribs out and start letting them warm.
 |
Photo courtesy of Justin Kyllo
It was quite the feeling to approach the Lynchburg town sign on the way in. |
The first half of the day was a flurry of activity. The grounds get really busy on Saturday morning as the visitors start to arrive. The town’s population swells from 650 to 25,000 for this weekend. The tension started to build around 11:30 when one of the teams cranked up the volume on the stereo and Ozzy Osborne’s Crazy Train started things off. At that point, you could feel it building and I was getting charged. Here we were at the Jack and it was time to go! Our food was awesome and it looked great. By the time the turn in’s were done, I turned to Rob and Cheryl and said, “We have just competed in the Jack!”
 |
Photo courtesy of Justin Kyllo
Jack’s BBQ on Music Row in downtown Nashville. |
Awards came and our best category was pork, where we managed to beat some of the very best teams in the country. The lessons learned in Kansas City were definitely becoming instrumental, and although there is only one winner in competition, you get the feeling that you are not alone in the realization that just being here is an award in itself. The party up on barbecue hill, the competition, the camaraderie and the people are what make it so special and why it is such a sought after event. I now understand why everyone wants to go back. We headed back to Nashville to return the RV, as well as to let my wife and Rob fly back to Canada.
 |
Photo courtesy of Justin Kyllo
The Parthenon in Nashville is a full size replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It was built for the Tennessee 1897 Centennial Exposition. |
After goodbyes I am on my own again, this time for the rest of the trip. I have one week to get ready before the Best of the Best at The National BBQ Festival in the city of Douglas, Georgia, where I will compete as a one man team. I have been on the road for one month now and I have seen a lot of the country, as well as met a lot of people. Little did I know I would still have so much ahead of me. Georgia is on my mind…
Back
to Top |
