Zig Zag #12

Road trips are another place where music seeps into my soul. But there are also other particular elements that have to meet my road trip standards. Here are my rules:

1. There has to be a killer curated road trip playlist. Themed, of course, to reflect the geography of your trip.

2. Snacks. I follow this rule: “It doesn’t matter how old you are, buying snacks for a road trip should always look like an unsupervised 9-year-old was given $100.” All dietary restrictions fly out the window. Do you prefer sour gummy worms dipped in chocolate over carrot sticks? Of course, you do. Have at it, my friend. Road trip snack rules take precedent. It’s the Wild Wild West when it comes to road trip snacks.

3. Stay open for the unexpected and spontaneous to happen. Roll with it. Flow. Live to tell the tale.

That last rule is my favorite and one I adhere to with ferocious commitment. It’s that moment when you realize something exciting is about to happen. Something that you probably shouldn’t do, but you do it anyway.

I was on a road trip with a friend from grad school. We were traveling from Missouri, making our way through Tennessee and parting ways in North Carolina while I continued on to Florida.

My friend grew up in Memphis so we spent five days there. It was a humid sweltering couple of days in May, and it just so happened to be the same weekend as the Memphis in May World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest. This is the big time. The best in BBQ come to compete.

My friend's dad is a certified BBQ judge for this particular competition. So we went to visit him while he was doing his BBQ judging thing. I mean how cool is that? If I was a certified BBQ judge, I would put that at the very tippy-top of my resume. At the very least, it’s a conversation starter.

So when he suggested that I take over his BBQ judging duties for one round, I jumped on the opportunity. Luckily, his name is gender-neutral. I slipped on an official apron and pinned on his name tag. Proudly, taking on the judge role. Nobody (until now) was the wiser.

I was slated to judge the “Anything But” category. Anything but pork that is. This was brisket and filet mignon and pretty much all beef. I was given a judges sheet, which outlined how I was to arrange the entries on my plate. I was judging based on presentation, taste, and tenderness/texture.

I had a cup of water to cleanse my palate in between each entry. It all felt very official and a little heady to be honest. The fate of the entries for this round was, in part, in my hands! Wowza. I may or may not have been getting a little high on power at that moment ;)

But what was even more mind-blowing was that Dave Anderson was within spitting distance of my judges' table. THE Dave from the Famous Dave’s BBQ chain was judging the same round I was! WHAT?!? I could have reached out and touched him, that's how close he was! Having just had a stint in the fine state of Virginia where there are a few Famous Dave locations, this was quite the food celebrity sighting for me.

I finished the round, and I felt like a freakin rockstar. I just judged a round at a top-rated BBQ contest with a man who knows his BBQ.

I still, to this day, have the apron I had to wear at that moment. Now, I don’t put this on my resume since I was judging under an assumed identity and am most certainly not certified to judge any kind of food competition, but I will gladly show anyone who asks that apron along with telling the story of one of the best road trip surprises I’ve had so far.

I sure do love my road-tripping life. I can’t wait for more adventures like this one. Maybe it’s time I put “become a certified judge of a food contest” on my bucket list. I’m ready. Bring on the food!

Stay open to the infinite possibilities, my friends. They'll present themselves when you least expect them. :)

Have a zig zag kind of week. Until we meet again.