This year, the tour made day-trips from Waco, TX and found that there are still some old-fashioned meat markets operating in the area.  We also found bbq ranging from the very low end of the spectrum, to nearly reaching the height of some of the most acclaimed joints in all of Texas.  We covered 640 miles in our 3-day tour, and ended up (once again) floating in the water with an old friend.  Special mention must be given to Jeanette - who gathered most of our advance intelligence on BBQ joints (and offered her home for the Crew at the end of the BBQ trail).

The Joints:

• Tony De Maria Bar-B-Que
• Wright's
• Kirby's BBQ
• Swick's
• Hyden Family Barbeque
• Axtell BBQ
• Bunkhouse Barbeque
• Jaspers Bar B Q
• Petty's BBQ
• Schoepf's Old Time Bar-B-Que
• Green's Sausage House
• Best Quality Meats & Sausage
• Vitek's Bar-B-Q
• Snow's
• Martin's Place
• Fargos Pit
• C & J’s BBQ
• T Bo's
• Mamma & Pappa B's Bar-B-Q

Our Piney Woods tour covered nearly 600 miles (plus the 225 back to Richardson when it was over).  We drove through three national forests: The Sabine and Angeline National Forests on Day 2; and The Davey Crockett National Forest on Day 3.  We found all manners of potato products: baked, smoked, twice-baked, mustard-based potato salad, mayo-based potato salad, tangy potato salad, sweet potato salad, etc... most of which were homeade.  Ribs were above average in this area, although sometimes at the expense of the brisket and sausage offerings.

Our visit to Lufkin Lanes during Rap DJ Night was quite fun, and bowling may become a staple of the Barbecue Tour on Friday nights form this point forward!

And when we reached the end of the Barbecue Trail, we headed over to a private lakehouse and proceeded to cool off in the lake and catch up with old friends!  It was THE BEST! 

Joints:

We return to Texas for our 11th annual Barbecue Tour.  This time we traversed Highway 82 from Clarksville to Wiichita Falls, with one excursion across the border for a bit of Casino-style action on an Indian Reservation.  We covered nearly 650 miles and tried the offerings of 15 barbecue joints.

Red River Tour Photo Gallery

Red River Joints:

Our 10th tour visited the birthplace of American Barbecue: North Carolina.  During our three-day tour, We hit 16 barbecue joints, and each night we found a minor league baseball game and tap room for relaxation.  Because our crew was small, we were able to cover a majority of the state, logging around 700 miles during the tour.  The barbecue was fantastic, and 4 joints placed into our all-time top ten list!  Yum.

Joints:

We returned to Central Texas in 2007, after a seven year absence.  The Barbecue Crew had grown, and many had not experienced a comprehensive sweep of these fertile BBQ grounds.  We were again fortunate to visit some old favorites, while discovering a few new ones.  We hit 21 joints over the three days and ~ 600 miles.  It's good to be home again!
Joints:

The 8th Annual Barbecue Tour is officially in the books. The BBQ crew was small this year...which allowed us to cover a great deal of territory. We drove more miles (790) and visited more joints (20 1/2) than ever before.

Here are some tour highlights, by the numbers:

The 2005 Kansas City tour was our 7th, and our first out-of-state tour.  We chose Kansas City because of its reputation, and the high concentration of barbecue establishements.  Over the course of our three-day tour, we were able to experience the offerings of 20 local restaurants, along with several bars, pubs, and brewpubs -- while keeping auto travel  around 300 miles!

Joints:

A time-shortened tour for a harried life.  This tour allowed us to revisit some old favorites and find some new ones... We hit 11 BBQ joints, plus the Fort Worth Stockyards in just two days of touring. 

Joints:

This tour took us in a wide circle out and around San Antonio.  We visited 18 BBQ joints, 2 brewpubs, 2 private residences, 1 brewery, 1 bar, and 1 low water crossing in 58.5 hours while covering over 650 miles.
The Barbecue Crew celebrated the end of the BBQ trail at a private residence directly on the Comal river.  And
for the grand finale the "Fab4" bought 3 suitcases of beer, donned 2 mullets, rafted the Guadalupe, and then visited
several other miscellaneous bars (including the brewpub inside our hotel).  We encountered primarily oak and
mesquite-smoked barbecue cooked using indirect heat.  This year we found several places using gas-fired ovens,
electric smokers, and even one place that cooked directly over charcoal.
Joints:

This tour was run around Houston and surrounding coastal areas, down to nearly Victoria.  We hit 17 BBQ joints, 1 pub, 1 mexican restaurant, 1 ball park, and the seawall in 57 hours -- while covering over 650 miles.
We encountered two distinctive styles of barbecue this year. 1) Pecan-smoked barbecue was predominant
around the Houston area; and 2) East Texas barbecue smoked over indirect heat, using hickory.  We also found a
number of places using oak, while quite a few places using different mixes of oak, hickory, pecan, and or mesquite.
The BBQ crew compiled 844 individual scores which were tabulated to generate the results shown below. A few
interesting facts from the data:

• It was a strong year for sausage with 14 of 17 sausage/hot link scores above 3.20
• The top overall scores were lower this year, with no joint scoring above 3.75.  (Last year there were four, however they were in a fairly narrow score band)
• The lowest overall score was above 2.07 last year it was 1.40
• Only two joints scored lower than 275 last year there were four

Joints:

Our 3rd annual tour covered North Texas from Glen Rose all the way to Shreveport, LA.  We hit 18 BBQ joints, 1 casino, and 1 pub in 59 hours -- while covering approximately 650 miles.

This was our first full three-day tour.  It gave broad coverage of the hill country -- we hit 14 bbq joints and 2 breweries in just 54 short hours!  This was a tremendous effort by a great crew of people thanks to all involved (well, except for the monkey doctor, but that s another story).

This was a short 2-day tour to test the barbecue road trip theory.  It was timed to ensure that we got to sample Kruez market before Rick moved it up the street due to the Schmidt family feud.  This tour was based around Austin because it had the highest concentration of joints from the 1997 Texas Monthly s top 50 barbecue list.  Our goal was to hit as many as possible in two days.  
The tour was an unqualified success... 9 BBQ joints and a couple of beer joints in less than 48 hours!