American Royal Newbie

Congrats Tom!!! Best of luck to a local team...

Get a lock for your porta potty, plan on little to no sleep and lot's of fun. The Royal is a sight to see, and can be a little overwhelming. There will be plenty of the Brethren there so don't hesitate to ask questions or for help.
As for the meat and garnish, there are Sam's and Wally Worlds you can hit before pulling in. I will let som eof the MOFO's and KAFO's help you on that front.
Good luck!

I have been many times as a spectator and helper, and I will tell you that it is a ton of fun!!!

My suggestions are stop at the Sam's Club just off of I-70 in Independance on your way in. Assuming you come straight accross on I-70....

Also you will need a lock and or some type of screen to hide/secure your porta potty. People get drunk and crazy and have no problem walking into your area and eating your food or drinking your beverages. Then when they are done they will go piss all over your porta potty.

The last couple of years we have taken to buying a bunch of hay bails and stacking up a make shift wall. Then we take turns sitting at the small opening we left and stoping drunk people. If you get in the right lot you will be fine, but man the party lot is a lot fun too see!!!

Good luck to you!! i am going to miss it this year, but I have something better to do.... our second child will be due that weekend!!

I've had a lot of offers from some Texans to monitor my perrimeters of my spot. Last year, after my brisket was lifted, one of my neighbors wanted to go hunting...

So I will go again, if I can get some Texans to be my security... :lol:

My experience on the Dark Side of the Royal last year was fine. I slept just as much there as other comps, we set up our port a pot in a back corner, put up some orange construction fence and didn't have any issues. We even left our space empty from time to time - just kept things out of reach from the walkway and put away smaller items that could have easily walked away.

Speaking of Royal, I need to sign up before July 18 to keep my spot.

Carry away? Nah... there is a sewer cap right there... Makes clean up easier that way... :twisted:

Like many have said, grab a padlock for the crapper. That will be a good investment.

If you don't bring your meat from home, there is meat (from Sam's) and garnish (from Price Chopper grocery) availible on site, but you have to pre-order it, and you have to take what they will give you (no picking through for the good stuff). You will be much better off making a stop before you arrive in town. I would suggest another thing...Find a Sam's or Costco (or whatever you choose) outside of KC on your way in and get meat there. There is a good chance that a lot of KC area stores will have been picked over pretty good by the end of that week. Keep a cooler empty when you are packing up to put meat in. Or, just bring it from home and stop every so often to make sure you have enough ice on it - then there will be no surprises.

One other thing...you mentioned getting a 38x25 space. Based on your set up, you might think about getting the smallest space. Your site is free for the invitational, but you'll still have to pay for it in the open. We have always gotten a 25x25 space (I am cheap) in Lot B and never had a problem getting all of our stuff in. If you can fit in that space, it will save you a few bucks that you can put toward fuel!

Coming through on I-70, you can stop at Sam's in St. Charles MO, Costco in St. Peters MO, Sam's in Columbia Mo (all within 2 minutes of the interstate, Columbia is the only 1 you can't see from I70).

Ok another dumb royal question.We are supposed to be qualified.If you are only cooking the invitational(time restraints)could the invitational team use a site and equipement from a team that is only cooking the open?Odds are we cant make it out but I was trying to weasel a way to do it.If I could just run out in the car with meat and those supplies I may be able to figure a way to do it.I thought that maybe I could persuade an open team into some kind of deal.

VA BBQ PIRATES said:

don't know how well the garnish will last - it's a 2 day drive.

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Garnish holds a lot better than you think it will, as long as it's kept cold. This last week, I bought lettuce and parsley on Tuesday, and packed it in a cooler by itself. We spent all day Wednesday driving. Thursday was spent with family -- I checked the garnish, drained the cooler and replaced the ice. Friday we drove to the comp site and set up, and the garnish came out of the cooler Saturday morning looking just as good as stuff I might have bought on Thursday.

I always bring my meat from home. That way you can pre-trim chicken and ribs and the big stuff if you want. So long as you have room for 2 coolers to hold meat for both days then bring it with you. Garnish is the same way especially if you do all parsley boxes. Those green bags work great but I've kept it from Wednesday to Sunday and it looked fantastic without the bags. Just keep it cool.

Now the real advice. Pray you survive. Doing 2 back to back with just 2 people is very taxing. Consider getting a hotel for your wife so she can get back to a real bed and good shower on Saturday night. And hay bales are a good idea and depending on what lot and site you're in lots of tape or snow fence or whatever. I like the slightly bigger spot so you can keep the vehicle onsite if you are both staying there. It also acts as a wall and a dry heated place if you really need it.

NOTE: at all times somebody needs to be at your site and awake. No exceptions or you could end up minus a brisket or fire extinguisher or who knows what. And while it's fun to walk around Friday night if there are just 2 of you, figure both of you to defend you site from about 5 pm until the wee hours of the morning. Especially if you cook on a UDS that looks a lot like a garbage pail that some drunk may decide to throw ....... you get the idea. WSM isn't that much different looking to a drunk.

Ford, you bring up a lot of good points. We've done three-day events, and with only two people it's brutal. I distinctly recall deciding that we were too old for that sometime during taking camp down, and that was WITH a hotel room!

The other issue is crowd control. I didn't sign on to bounce drunks, and I'm sure they wouldn't be terribly impressed by me anyway. This definitely gives me the heads-up that we need to recruit a local friend to help with overnight perimeter duty.

DivaHerself said:

I didn't sign on to bounce drunks, and I'm sure they wouldn't be terribly impressed by me anyway.

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Now I personally think a woman with a butcher knife is a lot more likely to sober up a drunk than a big husky guy.

I've spent Friday nights at the Royal in lob B with very little in the way of problems but I had good neighbors and hay bales blocking off most of the front of the site. However if you can get some local friends to come out with you until around 1 am you should be fine. And cots work for Friday night for you guys but that hotel for you Saturday means at least one of you is seeing straight on Sunday morning.

Ford said:

Now I personally think a woman with a butcher knife is a lot more likely to sober up a drunk than a big husky guy.

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LMAO! VQ will kill me if I dull up one of his Forschners, though.

*bright idea* OOOoooOOOOooo! Are tasers allowed?! I could get into this!





...Kidding, I swear.

Tom that is fantastic. That is amazing. It is good to see a Mid Atlantic BBQ member going. Congrats