Review: Old Smokey Bar -B-Que

Hey folks, been a while, but I'm back!

I apologize for being gone, but eh, that's life.  And I'm even late on this review. 
Old Smokey's...way down in Leeds Alabama.  Coming in to Leeds, you see a big sign saying "Old Smokey Welcomes you to Leeds", and on the back side it sees you out with a nice message as well. 
I'd been here once before, having wondered if it was a good place or no since it seemed to be sponsored by the whole friggin town.  I have to say, the first time I was NOT impressed.  The people were nice, the food was overpriced for it's quality, and it's quality wasn't even what I'd call mediocre.
I did not do a review on it at that time, but I did post a comment on their Facebook page.

A few weeks back, someone finally made a reply.  They stated, they were under new management and asked if I'd be willing to come back out.  Well, hey, I'm a fat man, and it's Bar-B-Que. Do the math folks, it's easy enough, so I gave it a shot first chance I had.

I came in just about lunch time which typically is busy at any eatery, especially bar-b-que if it's good.
Before I go in to the review, let me tell you about the place.  Right off the main Parkway running through Leeds, it's certainly not difficult to find.  Small parking lot, but small building.  Reminds me of where I grew up and several people ran the most AWESOME bar-b-que out of the little 10x10 buildings one would normally store their tools and lawn equipment in. I miss those places.
Oddly enough you walk in, and it's got a little bit of size to it.  Nice quaint little spot to do lunch, even a shaded picnic area outside for those who enjoy eating outdoors.  The deco is simple, lots of train stuff on the walls which matches the rest of Leeds. I like trains. I'm good with this.  They certainly don't try to make up in deco like some other places I've been, and that's good.   I like simple, I like cozy, and I like good food.

They had a few folks in there, an older gentleman had put in a large order so there was a slight wait. I got up to the counter, the lady asked if she could help me. Her name was Jennifer. I introduced myself and she was happy to meet me.  She took my order, in which I ordered their lunch special. A large sandwich, fries, and a large tea for $8.75
Now, the last time I went in there, I got a 20 ounce tea, and it was the same price, the sandwich wasn't as big either. NOT impressed.  This time, a true large sandwich with meat enough it was falling off (just the way I like it baby!), and a big 32 ounce tea, with a good serving of fries.  I chatted with them for a few minutes, paid for my food and sat to wait.  It did take a couple minutes to get my order in, but they got fairly busy after I made my order, and they had an unfortunate mishap with a couple orders.  Normally I wouldn't bring this up, or if I did, I'd say it was a bad thing.  But they handled the oopsies very well and efficiently. I honestly think they mishaps may have been due to having to learn new technology, which hey, anyone working in a company has experienced that before, so I can blow that off.

I got my food. Simple fare, nothing gussied up about it. BIG pork sandwich, fries, sweet tea.   They put the bbq sauce on it already.  They only have once sauce, and that's what they used.  There was ketchup on the table for fries or other things you may desire ketchup for.  I like a good saucy sandwich, this was I'll say okay on the sauce. It had good taste, and I expect if I would have asked for extra sauce, I'm sure they would have given me some with no worries.
Now. The pork was your typical southern smoked pulled pork. Decent flavor, but something a really awesome sauce would make it explode in your mouth. The sauce was pretty good, but not as explosive as I'd hoped. Again though, simple is good. Too many choices sometimes, and you're spending more time wondering than eating, and I was very hungry this day.

So I devoured my food, licked my fingers, got a refill at no charge (BONUS!! Yes folks some places I've visited will charge you for a refill on your tea. Not these guys though!), said my thanks and was on my way.

The results:
The Bads: I like a small cozy place, but it gets a little cramped during lunch hour. Certainly not a place to bring a big group unless you plan on sitting outside. That being said I wonder if they'd be able to handle say, a group of 20 efficiently. The taste was good but I felt it could be a little better, but I certainly ate the heck out of that sandwich, so by no means was it bad!  You could possibly stand to have a variety of sauce for those who like to mix things up a little. Perhaps extend your business hours some? I come through that area between 3 and 4 sometimes and it makes me sad to not smell the smoke and crave good eating...
The Goods:Location was great. Customer service was great. Price is still about the same, but I didn't feel cheated this time due to better quantity. Taste was much better than last time I feel. They have a pretty good sized menu, even though I stuck with bbq, so variety can definitely be good.
Again. Simple. Cozy. GOOD food.  Much improvement! 
All in all I'll give it 4 out of 5 hammers on this one. Really good stuff, and I'll definitely come back.  If you're in Leeds and want to try good food, stop in to Old Smokey Bar-B-Que at 7323 Parkway Drive. They're easy enough to find. Tell em Hammer sent ya.
Until next time,
Thank you drive through!

Review: Motel 6 Chattanooga

So I found myself having to go to Chattanooga for a memorial service and decided I should look for a room and stay overnight instead of driving up, attending, and driving home.  The wife and I decided to make a weekend over it.
Having done many travels, and needed a room, I've become fond of Motel 6. So I looked online for one close by.  Found one. Kinda close.  Motel 6 East, down town Chattanooga. right off 24, and about 15 minutes (supposedly) away from where I needed to be.  I made the reservation online.
This would be at I-24 West at US 11/Broad Street, Exit #178, 2440 Williams Street in Chattanooga.

Amenities include:

Free Local Calls Free Morning Coffee Free Expanded Cable Kids Stay Free Pet Allowed (View Policy)      Additional:   Accessible (more info) Airport Nearby Elevator Restaurant Nearby Wireless Internet (WiFi)           "Special Amenities"- Free Wi-Fi in all guest roomsSuites Interior corridors Selected rooms offer microwave/microfridge units. A nominal fee may apply; please inquire. Hot tub available in selected rooms

So I made the reservation online, and it was relatively painless for my first time doing this.  Total for 2 adults, one queen size non smoking room came to $41.95.  At this point I see the "*NOT including taxes of: 17.25% upon check-in (subject to change)" notice...but I needed the room so I figured I'd deal with that when I got there.  Printed me pages and out the door we went!  After approximately 3 hours on the road, we got there. Walked in and had to wait for someone to come to the counter, as the lady was down the hall in the laundry room. No big deal. Nice younger Middle Eastern lady who was friendly. Total came to just under $49.00 and we were in room 112. Just down the hall.   So we get our cards and head on to the room.  As we open the door, the fragrance was a bit over powering. I'm not sure what it was, but it's one of the middle eastern perfumes you normally smell if you go in to a 7-11 (I'm not trying to be mean or anything here it's just that's the only place I smell this fragrance...)  The smell hits the wife pretty quickly, but it somewhat dissipates as we inhabit the room.
So as we start to unpack, we notice this room literally the bare essentials.  A counter for placing belongings, a small cabinet/closet that's about 7 feet tall, with an angled top where an old model 25 inch TV sets on top for our viewing pleasure of the "Free Expanded Cable". From that corner another counter top about 3 feet tall by roughly 6 feet long runs along the window sill and is over the standard air/heating unit. Not bad usage of the space, but this isn't fairly braced, of where I'm sure people will commonly sit.
The bed itself was a queen size bed. No headboard. Just mirrors on the wall, and the two fluorescent lights directly above it, WITH THE LIGHT SWITCHES BEHIND THE PILLOWS.  I capitalize this because it's literally RIGHT THERE!  I see immediately that this will be a problem...
Mounted shelving/countertops on either side of the bed for night stands. Complete with bible and phone book.  Not too bad.

So, I step in to the bathroom, notice 2 of the standard "complimentary" bars of Motel 6 soap. One on the bathroom counter, one on the bath tub. That's it. No Shampoo/Conditioner. No hairdryer. No Iron to iron your dress clothes.  Towels, rags and floor towel for wiping your feet.  The light switch consists of a plate with 2 switches and an electrical outlet, in which the place is cracked. I discovered later as I unplugged my phone charger that the place was rather loose and the plate and socket will indeed come out if you're not careful. Yeah, no electrical hazard there...Oh, and the second light switch didn't work. Could have just been a blown bulb or it may have operated something down the hall. I'll never know.

Anyway, we unpack our few belongings, and I step out to grab my drink from the truck and ask for a couple extra pillows. Within 5 minutes, Housekeeping has knocked on the door with 2 pillows for us. Thank you, very fast and courteous.
We unwind for a little while, do some reading, check emails on our phones using our data plans since of the 5 Motel 6 Wi-Fi connections, we couldn't connect to any...at this point, I recalled reading something somewhere about it costing 3 dollars a day for Wi-fi (and yes, it was pertaining to another Motel 6 location, I looked at but at this point I didn't recall...). I also want to note at this time that the even numbers (example: our room was #112) are on the right side, which faces the main busy street. So, we were succumbed to listening to traffic running up the street all day and night. If you're a light sleeper I strongly advise asking for an odd numbered room to avoid this.  Also we had a pretty creepy noise from the wind whipping around the building going on.
Later, we decided to go visit the down town area and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo for a bit before on to the memorial service. Conveniently we were only about 5 minutes from our destination, so it didn't take long to get there.

After the memorial service and dinner, we retired back to our room. Pulling in to the parking lot it was a bit fuller, so evidently they'd done some business while we were out.  (On a side note, this doesn't seem like a really safe and secure location of town, so be sure not to leave any valuables in your vehicle as they have signs in the parking lot saying guests are responsible for their own vehicles.) We follow another couple in, which smelled very strongly of a pot smell, and only added to the rough smells of the hotel. I noticed at that point, a very nice, large, flat screen TV mounted on the wall directly across from the front desk, and a very portly man sitting behind the counter watching. Meanwhile, the ancient 25 inch TV sits on top of the angled closet looking like it's going to fall at some point...I really hope this thing was secured.

As we're getting ready to crash for the evening, my wife needs Kleenex.  None in the room. She calls room service and asks if they have any. No.  Don't most rooms have at least some generic Kleenex in them?? Anyway, no go there...

We've unwound and relaxed a bit, now time for bed.  We drift off to sleep, me finally with having to fight the sounds of traffic on the street outside, and the occasional voices. At some point during the night, my wife, and myself in rolling over managed to turn the lights on no less than 3 times (remember me complaining earlier about the light switches being mounted at the head of the bed??) in which caused a very rude awakening with the lights being beamed directly down on us...yeah, not so fun.

I wake up rather early in the morning, in which I do every morning...yeah that part sucks sometimes...but I decide I'm going to take a shower while the wife sleeps. Fortunately I always pack extra toiletries so I can make sure I have enough soap and shampoo.  I get in the shower, notice that the shower head is actually taller than me, THANK GOD!! That's one thing I hate about a lot of hotels is that the shower head is usually just about my chin or chest level. Apparently I'm a giant among hotel stayers...but back to the story.  I look at the shower head and notice it could REALLY use a good cleaning. In the process I notice it's also a bit loose. I turn the water on and let it warm up, pull the shower plug and step back so I don't get that icy cold blast of water. Almost instantly it's good hot water! And very nice water pressure.  I enjoy a nice long hot shower, and I will say at this point there were no temperature changes from searing hot to icy cold and back again. A good solid temperature all the way through, and great water pressure!  One of the nicer showers I've taken in a hotel!  Top marks for that!

I get out and dry off, and get dressed. I turned on the TV, if anything just to have a little background noise while packing and all. I didn't do a lot of channel surfing but I didn't find anything local to check news or weather in the 10 or so channels I looked at. So I turned it back off. I wake the wife, she dresses and we pack up our belongings and check out. I've had my 'complimentary coffee', which was lukewarm, although a decent flavor, and now I'm starving. At this point I'd even welcome a continental breakfast of breads and cold cereal, but nothing there.  Nobody there to see us off. Just drop the card in the basket and out you go.  Off to find food.

So, all in all, this is a tough one to rate for me.  If I were there to actually visit the down town attractions, I'd say this place was a very convenient stop for me and could be worth the cost of stay. But we weren't. I also note that the price seemed to be a bit higher for the particular weekend I stayed than another weekend I looked at so I could gather info from the site...maybe something was happening in town that weekend I wasn't aware of? Maybe the cost goes up if you reserve the same day? I don't know.  I didn't feel like this was a very safe place, mainly due to the neighborhood. I really enjoyed the shower, and the bed was pretty comfortable, albeit the issue with the light switches in a BAD location. I didn't really have enough interaction with the staff to say if they were friendly or not, although I will say they certainly didn't go out of their way to talk to us or be courteous. There is a machine in their 'vending area' that sells toiletries, but you'll pay about 200% more for the little tiny bottles than you would if you just swing by a store on the way.

All in all, I'm going to say this gets 2.5 out of 5 hammers. I'm really torn because the shower was so good...but the rest just brings it down.
 I don't know that I'd recommend this particular Motel 6 to anyone unless you're literally pulling in to crash and leave as soon as you wake up...definitely not one of the better Motel 6 hotels...and I most likely won't go back to this one.

Till next time,
Thank you drive through.

At What Point...

I live in the South. The DEEP South.  Middle of Alabama.  Here, it's a whole different world. Here, the religion is SEC Football.  If you don't eat it, sleep it, breathe it, something's wrong with you.  Well, something's wrong with me.  Something's wrong with my wife, even worse. She can't even stand to see a football game on the TV.  I can watch it, but I don't buy in to all the fanaticism that comes with it. 
I don't yearn to go out to my local sports pub and scream at the giant 2000 inch TV's with 500 other people. I don't gather with my Bama friends or Tiger friends to watch "the big game".  I'm perfectly content with letting the game go by.  I may on occasion put it on one of the games I'd like to see the outcome of and watch here and there, or drop by a friend's house and watch with them. That's about the extent of my "fandom" of football.
I tease and pick with my friends who are big time fans, quoting "mama" from the movie "Waterboy" with Adam Sandler calling it 'that foozball'.  Even been known a time or two to utter "that foozball is the devil".  Just my way of having a bit of fun. Fortunately my friends know me well enough that they don't take offense. Most of them even get a laugh or join in.  Truth is, yes, I do know a bit about football. I played a little in Jr. High School. I moved to a bigger school and didn't make the cut, but I wound up being the photographer for a while for the school and got to go to a lot of the games for that reason.  But I'm still not a wild raging fan.

Which brings me to my main point. The Iron Bowl. What the south deems should be a National Holiday where nobody does nothing but sit and watch the Gridiron with their friends and nothing else.  Paul "Bear" Bryant should have been some holy man and revered as such. Nick Saban is the proverbial saviour of the Alabama fans.  He's a good coach. I'd say a great coach. I don't study football so I can't give you quotes on stats and all that jive, but having 2 National trophies in 3 years, and coaching a team that pretty much leveled anyone that stepped on the field with them for the past 3 years, yeah, I'd say he's a great coach.

Last night, November 30, 2013 was the Iron Bowl. Alabama Crimson Tide vs. The Auburn Tigers, War Eagle. Most people I knew thought The Tide would destroy Auburn. Last year the Auburn coach was fired due to lack of performance in his team, and everyone know it would spell the downfall for Auburn this year. The typical bashing comments like "oh, this will be a rebuilding year for them" and "well they won't do much because they have to get to know each other this year" were tossed out like mad. With a record so far for 2013 of 11 wins, 1 loss, even though there were a few very near defeats, I'd say they rebuilt fast and hard.  The last couple games (including the Iron Bowl) a fantastic last minute play that won the game for them.  Call it luck, call it talent, call it whatever. A win in the books is a win. Period.
Gus Malzahn, the current head coach for Auburn, has done a great job, and I think he definitely deserves credit.  He did what seems no other coach has been able to do, and that's defeat the great Saban.

Here comes our trouble.  I think the Tide has become too over confident. They got too cocky. They've rolled over almost everyone and they came in thinking the Iron Bowl was going to be a breeze.  There's discord among the players, the fans, the coach, the students in worrying that Saban is going to move to Texas. There's disconcert in that Mrs. Saban says they're not getting proper respect. They're under appreciated. People are leaving the games before the end of the game. The seats are being filled like they're supposed to.  Well, that's because Alabama has become that good.  If I know by the 3rd quarter that Alabama is going to beat the opposing team by 35 points, then yeah, I'm going to go ahead and head home to beat the crowds.  If I knew Alabama was going to beat Chattanooga 49-0, then why would I want to drive down from Chattanooga to Tuscaloosa to watch it? Meh, I'll just hear about it tomorrow. Why pay such a crazy price for a ticket when I'm pretty sure I know the outcome already and it's not in my team's favor? 
So yeah. Bama got drama. Auburn has been doing well all season, but keeping quiet and being humble from my perspective. 

Last nights meeting was epic in my opinion.  Both teams had some GREAT plays. Both teams had some mess ups. THE. BETTER. TEAM. WON.  Period.  I loathe to hear excuses of "well we just weren't at our best last night" and "well we should have been better..."  If you're not at your best, why are you on the field?  Accept that you guys did what you could with humility, and work harder next time.  There's no shame in defeat. If we never lost, we'd never learn. No. Nobody likes losing. But last night, when it literally came down to 1 second, I'd say Bama has nothing to be ashamed of.  In all honesty, maybe Saban should feel a bit bad because he fought that one second so hard and made the call to kick a field goal instead of letting AJ try one last pass and go in to 5th Quarter.  That the final is in, the game is over, look to next game now.

Now I've been on Facebook last night and this morning. Bama fans refusing to acknowledge the victory to the better team of the night. Refusing to admit an SEC team OTHER than Bama won and is going forward. Reports of DEATH THREATS via Twitter and other social media to Cade Foster, the Alabama placekicker.  Really folks? This is what your fanaticism has wrought? And people wonder why I despise the sport so much.  Families divided. Families split over the rivalry. FIGHTS ensue. Fans destroying things (See: Harvey Updike, Toomer's). Fans that teabag other fans when opportunity arises. If you don't know about that or know what teabagging is, I leave it up to you to find out. 
Really? This is how we act when our team wins? This is how much worse we REACT when our team loses?

At what point to we stop and look at ourselves and see what we've become people? I for one, who has a passion for many things, and a deep passion for a few things which I hold dear hope that I would never react to my passions like some of the things mentioned above. And if I do, please hold me to it.
I saw a picture of Bear Bryant with a quote that says: "It’s awfully important to win with humility. It’s also important to lose. I hate to lose worse than anyone, but if you never lose you won’t know how to act. If you lose with humility, then you can come back."

I think that's one of the reasons he was one of the greatest coaches in history, and a great man overall.

For my friends who love SEC football, or football in general. Know this isn't a cut at any of you. Just an observance of behaviour. I love all my friends regardless of their opinions and decisions, and I hope they are the same with me.

Thank you drive through.

Food Review: Uncle Sam's BBQ Bessemer Alabama

Well I'm back on the road again with my job. Traveling through Bessemer today around 11:30 am and wondering what I was going to do for lunch. I was thinking hitting some place in Trussville after my next stop.  I came around the corner and the smell of smokey meat hit me and convinced me to have lunch right there, right now. The smell of Heaven was coming from a place called Uncle Sam's BBQ. I've passed it a few times and wondered, but today there was no passing this place, so I wheeled in.

I walked in the door, unsure of exactly what to do. So I followed the guy that walked in just before me as he walked up to the counter area and a lady handed him a menu. I walked up and a nice lady did the same for me.  She stood there by me, greeted me and asked if I knew what I'd like.  Having been my first time in the place, and still mesmerized by the smoked meat smell, and seeing all that lovely meat in the open pit..just...mmmm...
The inside seemed to be nice and clean, paper towels and basic condiments on the table. TV's in 2 corners. One was on news and the other was on Sports I think...that part really didn't matter to me, as how I don't care for TV's in a restaurant anyway. 

So I looked at the deals. Lunch deal. Any meat, that's pork, beef, or chicken, and your choice of 3 sides between beans, fries, slaw, or potato salad. All for a decent price of $4.75  Not bad I thought. SO I chose pork, beans and fries, not worrying about the third as I'm not overly fond of slaw or most potato salads due to my dislike of onions.  Then I noticed said combo did not include a drink, so I would have to order my sweet tea separately.  Remember this, it comes in to play later.   Anyway, So the lady took my order and asked my name, and said it'd be ready in just a minute. Meanwhile another server walked by me with a plate of food identical to what I ordered and my stomach got very excited!

So I sat in a chair and started to watch the TV and in just moments a lady called my name. I turned to see who and where, and she was at the register with a bag and motioning towards me.  I got up and went to the counter and she started to ring me up. I told her I'd like to dine in but I was fine with the food in the to go box. She got kind of snippy with me and said no, and took my food and marched back towards the kitchen area. In a very heated tone, said "he wants to eat here, not to go!" She actually said this to a few different people, and I replied "hey no problem, I'm okay with it like this..." to which I was ignored.  She came back over to me and told me they'd fix it and asked where I would like to sit. I pointed to the chair I was in and she got my tea and started walking that way. I asked if I could still pay my ticket and she told me to just wait until I was finished.  So I obliged and took my seat.

Just a few minutes and my plate was in front of me. It smelled wonderful!
So I got my food, and I started prepping everything. Good healthy sized pork sandwich...fries and baked beans. I went to move my sandwich and noticed the bottom bun was super soggy. Almost so soggy that I couldn't pick it up...okay, so I've had messy bbq before...no big deal...the lady asked if I'd like some more sauce. I looked at my sandwich and it almost looked like there was no sauce on it, so I said sure, thanks!

Now, I LOVE me some bbq. And I LOVE a great BBQ sauce. But when I go to pour the sauce on my food, and it's more liquid than my sweet tea? That's not good. I'm a firm believer that your BBQ sauce should stick to your meat, not run right through it like you're rinsing it off...

So, to my disappointment the sauce was very runny. It did have good taste, I will say that. The pork, finely chopped was a bit dry and chewy.  The fries were good, and the beans, although not my style, were good.  Taste wise, I'll definitely say my meal was worth the $4.75. Don't think that's good praise though. A McDonald's Quarter Pounder meal is less than 5 bucks, AND YOU GET A DRINK FOR THAT. Value of the portion, definitely good.   
So I went to pay for my $4.75 combo plate, and the cashier announces the total was $7.15.   So, for a 20 ounce tea, I paid almost 2 bucks for. That's where they kill you. Oh, and they didn't seem real keen on giving me a refill while I was sitting there eating my meal...

So overall, I'm going to have to give Uncle Sam's 2 out of 5 hammers.  I must say this is one of the bigger disappointments I've had...the smell was so overwhelming and so promising...only to be let down by runny sauce, bland chewy BBQ, and limited choice of sides, although very good portions.  I don't know that I'll be returning to this establishment any time soon.  Here's hoping you do better guys.

Stay tuned, you never know where Hammer's gonna pop up next!
Until next time,
Thank you drive through.

Review: The Bic FlameDisk

Wow. I've got a fair amount to say about this product...

I was roaming through my neighborhood big box mart grabbing a few items and there it was. This orange-ish yellow box. It intrigued me so I picked it up. My mom was shopping with me that day so we kind of discussed it back and forth.  The Bic FlameDisk.  From the picture it looks kinda like a JiffyPop Popcorn disk, only on fire.

It comes one to a box, and it's about 5 bucks. It boasts "Convenient and Portable Outdoor Grilling" and "The Charcoal Alternative for your grill".  I do a lot of camping and thought you know, if this does work, it might be good to carry along with me since it's light weight and I could toss this in a back pack. Let's see you do that easily with a bag of charcoal! 
So we bought it and I was rather anxious to give this thing a try.  Unfortunately with the rain and crazy weather we've been having it took me a couple weeks before I got the chance to try it out. But I read the box front and back to learn more about this interesting product. Certain catchy things jumped out and caught my eye like "faster, cleaner and more convenient than charcoal" and "Picnics, camping, backyard, BOATING and tailgating"...yeah, because I want an open fire on my boat in the middle of the lake...

So finally, the night came. Tonight was the night! I'm ready to grill some burgers!  On the back are pretty easy instructions. Peel the film off, light any outer hole, grill, and dispose when cool. Even has cute little pictures to go with it.  Again, on the back of the box it boasts "Fast and convenient". "Ample Grill time and cools quickly". It claims 35-45 minutes of grilling time.  You'd figure with as many times as it shows fast, convenient, blah blah blah, you're hooked that this thing is going to rock your socks off.

Well, here's the result.
I take it out of the little box and start to pull the film off the top. Took a few minutes. That sucker is held on firm!  The box says that the FlameDisk uses Ethanol as it's main fuel ingredient. Pretty cool! Clean, renewable, good stuff. I'm cookin' with whiskey baby!!  Not really, but hey it sounded good!
So I finally get the film off and put it in my grill. I took a pack of matches and lit one, and got maybe 2-3 inches from this thing and WOOOF! Not a massive flame but quite the quick flame which resulted in a considerable amount of hair loss on my right fingers and that burned hair smell that we grillers love so much when grilling on an open flame! Okay, not really love, but I'm sure most of you are familiar with that smell...NOT what I want to enjoy while cooking my burgers!

I gave it a minute or two to light, which it light evenly and quickly, I will definitely say that! Fair amount of heat coming off this 10 inch disk... so then I put the grill on the cooker and gave it a quick scrape as it warmed up. This took no more than a couple minutes before I was putting the patties on. 6 nicely shaped heavenly pieces of 100% Grade A Angus Beef...oh yeah...
I made 2 rows of 3 as close to the center of the grill and centered over the FlameDisk.  Now, typically for a nice thick burger you put your patties on the grill for 5 minutes, flip it, cook for 5 minutes, and you're done. You adjust your time accordingly for the well doneness that you desire. I like a good medium well to well burger. So I close the lid and set the timer to 5 minutes.

Almost 6 minutes later I come out, raise the lid and...hmm...this isn't looking good. The meat isn't so warm on the top...let's flip it and see what it looks like.  So I flip the patties...and they're barely browning on the inside of the middle patties. The outside patties still look just about raw.
So, I flip all the patties and decide to give it a bit more than 5 minutes.  I come back around 9 minutes later...the flamedisk is sputtering in spots...kind of reminds me of the random flame sputtering from the fireswamps in "The Princess Bride"...and my patties are cool enough I can place my hand on them without being burned...and guess what...still not cooked.  BARELY that nice line where the grill sears the meat...I'm not happy.  From the 35-45 minutes of "steady flame", I barely got a good 10-15 minutes.  So I take my patties off the grill and finish them in a frying pan on my stove. Hmm...stove cooking. How mundane...
Fortunately with a bit of seasoning and a quick heating stove I salvaged my patties...as I was cooking on the stove I kept glancing out the window noticing the still constant sputtering flame from the flamedisk...

So I've tried the Bic FlameDisk, and I must say, I'm not impressed.  For my money, and my tastebuds, I like a nice wood fire, or a charcoal fire, or a mix of both. Gives that nice smoky flavor. But this thing...heh, maybe for use as a fire starter on a campout. Other than that, I have to say, don't waste your time or money.  Sorry Bic....big disappointment for you guys here.  Maybe just stick to lighters instead of full on fires next time.

Till next time,
Thank you drive through.

My trip to Shiloh Military Park, March 23, 3013

Friday March 22, we set out for Shiloh Military Park in Shiloh Tennessee. I'd heard about it through my buddy Frank and a few other scouter parents here and there.  I had no idea what to expect, but I knew I wanted to go and check it out.
Among the things to do at Shiloh is taking long hikes with goals on each hike to find certain things. Sort of like being a big scavenger hunt, which is a good way to keep the boys from thinking about hiking all those miles.

9 boys and 7 adults wound up going. Most of the boys are our group that just crossed over in to boyscouts. I know they were up to the task because we worked with them a lot and took several hikes in the last few months building up to it.

The drive up there was routine and not too interesting. We made it up there around noon time, just in time for lunch. After lunch we set up camp with didn't take a lot of time at all.  After set up we went to the Shiloh Visitor Center and checked it out, and watched a movie which was a documentary on the battle at Shiloh. Very informative, very real.

Now, I must say at this point, I'm not a big Civil War buff like so many others. Main reason is being that I'm from Arizona and grew up mostly here in Alabama, I was jaded with my own prejudice against the Southern Civil War. It mattered not to me so I didn't study hard about it in school.
This trip was a big eye opener for me in more ways than one.

After the movie and walking around at Visitor Center for a bit, we returned to camp and started preparations for dinner. I made my 'world famous' chili, which turned out to be a success amongst the parents.  The boys made tacos, and from what I understand it was quite good too. (The reasoning for the two different meals is that the boys are supposed to take care of themselves, and the parents are on our own. Worked for us!) After dinner we sat around the campfire taking and sharing stories and enjoying merriment had by all until bed time.

Saturday morning. Time to wake up, have breakfast and get ready for the big hike! The parents made their breakfast, the scouts had their breakfast, then we started prepping our packs and making ready to go.
We finally got on the march to Shiloh! 14 miles of hiking, finding answers to the questions in the packet, and seeing monuments and informative markers. We found the starting point, in which I found the geocache at the starting point, and the hike was on.  We hiked maybe a half mile and was to the first marker, I believe it was a point of the beginning of the battle with the lead commander being named Hardee. Don't expect me to remember all the names, you got lucky this time!
So we got to the battle ground, a very wide and long open field, and the parents looked across the field as Adam and Frank led to the boys to the other side to get answers for the hunt.

As I watched the boys marching across the field, I took a picture and wrote a few words on a document on my phone:

I never was much for learning about the Civil War, being from Arizona and growing up here in the South. But standing here on the battlefields here at Shiloh Tennessee, looking across the field and imagining the gun shots and cannon blasts coming across the field where I'm standing...it outs a whole new perspective on things.

This was the first of many stops we encountered and had the chance to stop and gaze, to imagine what it would have been like to be in the war, to see the war. To see all these people fighting, the smoke filling the scene from the musket shots. It was like looking at the movie in real life, and it really went through to the soul.

We hiked for about 4 hours, completing a little over 7 miles just getting to the Visitor Center around 12 for lunch. We passed through the graveyard where we learned that of all the thousands of people buried there, only 2 were Confederate soldiers, and the only reason they were buried there is they were prisoners of war. We passed the spot where General Johnston, a major driving force in what success the Confederates had, died due to a gunshot wound to just behind his knee which went through an artery and he bled to death.

After lunch, we resumed the hike and came across many other monuments, some really beautiful and very large.

 Then the rain set in. We hiked on. We would finish this hike. We hiked in the rain, and we found the answers to questions. It was getting a bit longer since we were now slugging through the rain but we continued. At one point, it started to thunder and lightning. BSA policies says we cannot be out in thunderstorms, so our fearless leader Adam started forming a plan. I helped him along with keeping a watch on the weather on my phone weather apps, and he contacted Mechell to come round up a couple parents to go back to camp and get vehicles so we could shuttle kids back to safety. We marched on to an easier point to meet up with the ride. By the time we met up with Mechell and the van, the thunder had stopped. We had a few weary scouts, but after a quick talk, I'm proud to say that all of our scouts and even all of our adults decided we would continue and finish this hike. With only a couple miles to go and the hopes of completing our quest in less than an hour we were determined.  So we hiked on.

Our next big stopping point was at Shiloh Church. It's still a very old structure, and we decided to step in and look at it for a moment, and with hopes of getting out of the rain for a few moments. I love looking at old structures like this and how well they were put together with such primitive abilities around 200 years ago. Surprisingly, with all the gaps, open windows, holes in the floor, the inside of this church was dry and considerably warmer than outside.  We piled in and everyone sat on the benches like we were getting ready for Sunday Sermon.  One of the parents read from the book of Psalms out of the bible sitting on the pulpit. I don't remember the chapters, but it really seemed to fit with the day, the location, and the meaning of what we were doing. Afterwards, someone said something about singing a song. One of our boys from the back of the church started "Amazing Grace", and we all picked it up and started singing. It was something truly magical to me. An experience I hope to remember to my dying days.  All those boys, all those adults, through different walks of life, different beliefs, came together and made such a joyous noise unto the Lord without being forced to do so, and it was joyous.

After the song stopped, several parents talked for a few minutes, driving home the points of our trip, just giving a few words of wisdom for us all to ponder as we walked and finished our trip. It was very touching all the way around.

We noticed, as we finished and walked out of the church, the rain and completely stopped. Whether it God smiling upon us for our little bit of worship, or just the storm passing over, that's for you to decide in your mind. Likewise, I know what I believe.

So, we finished the trip, just over a mile to go after the church stop, and we did pretty decent time. I know we were all pretty worn out after the hike which came out to be just a hair over 14 miles, and we did it in roughly 8 and a half hours, including the hour for lunch. Again, I'm very proud of our boys and what they accomplished. May it never be said they backed down from this challenge.

That night after a little rest, we settled in for dinner and more merriment. Shortly after the rain set in and it rained all night till around 3 or so in the morning.  Amazingly, we woke at 6 am on Sunday morning in good spirits and broke down camp while trying our best to avoid puddles. Funny how that never seems to work out. So, soggy and stiff, but happy, we packed up and headed for home.  

This was a great trip, and one I'm glad to have made. I definitely suggest checking out Shiloh if you ever get the chance.

So, from Hammer to you,

Thank you drive through.

Goodbye to a great man

Tomorrow, March 1, 2013, we lay to rest my grandfather. Franklin Hancock.  I really don't know what to say other than I've lost a great role model in my life.

How can I say that? I grew up 1600 miles away from this man. However, I feel I can say this because every chance I got to see this man, he was always great. I don't remember seeing him until I was 11. I got to fly out to Arizona on my 11th birthday. I spent some time with my dad, then got to spend about a week with Grandpa Frank and Grandma Molly.  I won't even begin to try and calculate what age he was at that point, but I know he was on up there. And he was still working. The man always worked. Why, because he wanted to. That's what a man does.  But this man was different. No matter how busy he was, no matter how many projects he had going, he always made time for me when I was out here. He always made time for everyone. I don't know that I ever saw him mad.  I don't know that I ever heard him raise his voice. He was a man that commanded respect, simply because he was.  If ever a man to grace this Earth with positive thoughts, love, joy, happiness, his name was Frank Hancock.

Even when it was a serious time, he was smiling, and he'd make others smile and laugh. He was always up to something crazy, just to see people smile. You couldn't dislike this man.  Grandpa Frank was the type of person that would give you the shirt off his back. I know you hear this a lot, but he was also the type that would make sure you had shoes and a decent pair of pants and even something to eat right along with that shirt. 

He could fix anything. Even in his later years in life he was always wiring up something, fixing a car, building a house or a workshop, etc. In the few times I got to see him, I don't think he ever slowed down.  I remember coming out in 2009, with my wife and 2 kids, hauling a camper with the Suburban. We broke down in Pecos, Texas with a blown waterpump. Spent a few days in Pecos and came in to Safford where we parked at Grandpa's.  The Suburban still wasn't working right, so Grandpa checks it out and discovers a messed up water hose, and a few other minor things not working properly.  Without missing a beat he tells me to hop in the car and we go in to town.  Now, Safford Arizona isn't a huge town, but it's no longer a small town, definitely not as small as I remember from my earlier visits. EVERY SINGLE PLACE we went, everyone knew Grandpa. Calling him Mr. Frank, or Mr. Hancock as he walked in the door. I was simply amazed at the respect these people had for him! We finally find a place that has the right hose....kind of. Instead of it being the exact part, he spies a roll of hose on the wall off to the side. Tells the guy "I need about 9 inches of that 1 1/4 inch hose, how much is it?" They worked out the the details and we came home and it was exactly what was needed, to the centimeter. The tricky part, I don't recall Grandpa ever pulling any kind of measuring device to get what he needed. That may be old hat for some, but to me, that simply amazed me.

Grandpa Frank, as I said before was a very kind man. He never met a stranger. A good portion my family, my wife isn't overly fond of and is only social with them because of me. She instantly loved my grandpa.  Same as both my kids. For my son that's not hard to do. For my daughter, well, that's another story.  I only regret that my kids couldn't spend more time with such a great man, and that they didn't get to see him one last time before he passed away. I only hope I can scrounge some pictures to save his memories.

Grandpa was a deeply religious man, but not an overbearing religious man. He'd talk with anyone about religion, not at you. He was happy to share the Mormon ways and beliefs, but it was never in a way you felt like it being thrown on you. He spent many years doing for the Mormon church and to my knowledge never had any problems with the church or felt like he was being used or abused. He will be buried in Mormon dress clothes.

Frank Hancock, as you've read here, was a man of many things. He loved the outdoors, he loved fun things, he loved to work. He was a very physical man with his hands. As he aged, he looked like he was as mean as a bear and had a slight growl to his voice. But never a kinder, more gentler man would you meet. He's a man I aspire to be like. If I can only be 1 1/10th of the man he was, I will know I have accomplished something. We lost a very great man this week...I hope those who knew him have as great a collection of memories as I do, or even better.

Franklin Hancock. Husband. Father. Grandfather. Great-grandfather. Mentor. Teacher. Hard worker. Devout Mormon. A person to love and to be loved by. Respected and respectful.  I pray I can live in your legacy.  Rest in Peace Grandpa. I hope you get your finger back...