Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: San Antonio and Barbecue Judging

12/6/2018-12/9/018

Thursday – Moving day today. Left Fredericksburg early in the morning and headed south. Destination today was an Escapees SKP Park in Hondo TX. Is was about an hour and half drive but good road and nice scenery. Although this park is a good 45 miles from San Antonio where we plan to visit the Riverwalk it is fairly reasonable at $20 per day plus electric. It is also adjacent to the US 90 that we plan to take west to Big Bend.

Friday – Forecast was for rain all day. Not a good day to go to the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Good day for a drive through more of the hill country. I was a little concerned though as there was a flood watch in this area and a lot of the roads in the hills have low areas that can flood. However as we drove, most of the gullys were dry so we were in no danger. We started west on highway 90 to Sabinal then turned north on RR187. At Vanderpool we headed west n RR 337 to Leakey then picked up Highway 83 north to RR39 toward Kerrville. About ¾ of the way to Kerrville we came upon a truck blocking the road with his flashers on. It turns out someone pulling a large load on a semi got stuck on the wet road going up a hill. In his attempt to get going he fish tailed across the road and completely blocked it. We turned around and went back to Leakey. From there we turned onto RR337 west to Camp Wood then south on RR55 to Uvalde.

In my research of area events I discovered there is a BBQ Cook-off being held in Uvalde this weekend so we drove to the fairgrounds to check it out. There was a lot of campers and smoker rigs there but the competition is tomorrow. We went on the web site to check it out and found out they were looking for judges so we signed up. Tomorrow we will be spare rib judges! How cool is that!!

Saturday – Our judging time was scheduled for 2:00 but we headed over to Uvalde early to walk around and talk to the competitors. Dennis got tips on different techniques to cook ribs. Around 1:00 we went to the judges waiting area and talked to some of the other judges. At 2:00 we entered the judging room. There were many tables set up with cups of forks and knifes. No plates. Our section was going to taste 15 different ribs. We were given a judging sheet where we were to give each rib a rating from 1 to 10, 10 being the best. A box of ribs was set before us, we cut off a piece, tasted it, scored it and passed it on to the next person. Each time we got a new box we had to use a new fork. It was fun and delicious! People we talked to who had done it before said we would be stuffed at the end. Well both Dennis and I could have gone another round, we were still hungry! However they do not let you do back to back judging so we were done judging for the day.

Sunday – San Antonio day! San Antonio is one reason we came through Texas on the way to Arizona. It was about a 50 minute drive but being Sunday morning the traffic was light. First we toured the Alamo. We purchase auto guides and listened to them as we went through the site. We learned a lot about the history of the Alamo and how Texas became a state.

From there we walked over to the Mexican Marketplace on the other side of downtown. We strolled through the marketplace and were able to catch some Mexican dancers performing. From there we went back to the Riverwalk and strolled along the river. We ate a early dinner then went to the mall downtown to wait for dark. Around 6:00 we boarded a river boat ride to enjoy a tour and the lights along the Riverwalk. It was a wonderful day despite the chilly temperatures (high was around 56).

Where we are parked: Lone Star Corral SKP Co-op Park – Site 109 – Full hook ups $20/day plus electricity for Escapee members.