Sedalia, MO Cook-Off

Boy, talk about crappy weather, we had it this past weekend in Sedalia, Missouri. We had strong southerly winds at about 25-30 miles an hour which absolutely killed our firebox on our Series 70 Diamond Plate smoker. Running with full charcoal and logs, the wind sucked the heat out of the firebox not allowing the smoker to go above 50 degrees. I believe in "low and slow," but let's get real.

Around Midnight there were tons of thunderstorms to our south. We watched them fade over the horizon thinking we'd dodged a bullet. Then the wind died down and the temp on the cooker went up to 225; perfect temp. We're cooking now, I thought. It wasn't long before the storms reversed engines and headed back our way. With that the wind picked back up and the temp plummeted.

I continued to play the damper game, but to no avail. Then, the skies opened and it rained for 2 to 3 hours straight. Our fire was dead. Our brisket and pork butt was way behind schedule, so we had no choice but to pack-up and head for home.

It's a real "whizzer" to get all geared up and then have the charcoal yanked out from underneath you. Oh well, So-long Sedalia, so-long.