American Royal: Monday. The last leg.

Monday. A day I can't wait to forget.
Oy... Where do I begin??? At the beginning I guess. The day started off fine, had a little nibble at the Days Inn continental breakfast... We were anxious to get home though so we hit the road right away, we were driving by 6:30 in the rain. We stopped a couple times for gas, basically plowed straight up the interstate towards Canada. We planned on hitting Fargo for lunch at around Noon.

Until the (FIRST) incident. I was driving on I-29, other 3 passengers fast asleep, traffic was light and I had passed someone on my right... All of a sudden the truck started moving, I looked in the rear view to see the trailer swaying all over the place. I gently hit the brakes to get it under control, I figured we blew a tire... I moved over to the left side of the highway, not wanting to hit any oter cars with the out of control trailer. The next moment was a sight that will haunt me forever... I looked in the mirror just in time to see my BBQ, upside down and 10 feet in the air, tumbling slowly into the ditch. It really was as scary as it sounds.

It came to rest upside down, in the middle ditch on I-29, about 15 miles South of Fargo. There was mud jammed up the stacks, a bent shelf, and the bar used to keep the lid shut was bent. All things considered, this thing was built like a tank and it took on very little damage. All indications were that it was still towable. The ball was still lodged in the hitch coupler, and the barbell lock was still intact holding onto the ball. After a few minutes to calm down and take some pictures, we flipped the trailer onto its tires to make sure we could do it without a tow truck. We all piled back into the truck and immediately booked an appointment in Fargo to get a hidden hitch installed. We had to wait an hour and a half for the part to arrive, so we hit Granite City (upscale brew pub) for lunch. Then we hit Menards for some new parts (drawbar, hitch ball, etc). We were happy to run into Smokin' Jim there, it was a pleasant surprise on an otherwise crappy day. We chatted for a few minutes then got out of there. The hitch was installed in 30 minutes and we were on our way back to the scene of the accident. Which leads us to the SECOND incident.

We soon arrived at the scene of the CRIME... That's right, crime. We arrived to an empty ditch. Some friendly North Dakotan took it upon himself to 'relieve' my BBQ from the lonely gully between the 2 lanes of the interstate. I don't even have words to describe the feeling in my stomach. My baby was gone, along with a LOT of gear we had crammed inside - lots of hickory, my Weber Smokey Mountain, extension cords, turkey fryer, cutting boards, my duffel bag and clothing, most of the new rubs and sauces I bought in KC, you name it. So we tracked down the police on the phone, filed a report with about 3 or 4 different departments, and we got back in the truck and drove home. It was a quiet trip.
We stopped in Minot for supper... Jacy opted instead to hit Target to replace some of the gifts she bought for the kids that disappeared in the trailer. Gord wasn't hungry so he tagged along. Dad & I hit Buffalo Wings & Rings, a wing joint / sports bar. Service was fast so we picked up the other 2 less than 30 minutes later. The border crossing was uneventful and we pulled into Regina at about 2:00 AM. We were about 5 hours later than planned but we were safe and sound. Dropped Gord off, unloaded the truck at home and my head hit the pillow at 3 AM. The alarm was to go off again at 6:00, holiday over and back to work. Fortunately I napped from the U.S. to Regina so I wasn't a complete zombie the next day.


Checking out the damage...


Here's where the tongue dug into the soil and launched the pit into the air.


Examining the escape tracks, looking for tread imprints for the sheriff to inspect


One final pic. We cooked a lot of food on this BBQ in the 4 summers we had it... We used it to cook our first big cater to some of our best friends' wedding guests, we hauled it to Manitoba and Calgary this summer to win BBQ Competitions, we cooked endless rib trials on it this Spring looking for the right combinations of spice rub & sauce... We used it for just about every big catering job this summer since our generator (to run the ovens in the catering rig) has been in the shop since May. It was hauled out of the garage and into the driveway every January for a mid-winter "stick burning" BBQ feast. That storage bin you see is brand new, it was installed the night before we left for the Royal. That spare rim and tire are new too, that was a VERY difficult rim to find. I hope we see you again girl, I really do.