Good call Pappy.
I had to cure the paint so I tossed in 5 lbs of burning briquettes and the pit settled in at 250. I added more unlit charcoal to keep her at 250. After about 2 hours I rolled over (the fire-box is so roomy, I had the chunks off to the side in the firebox next to the charcoal to heat up) some large mesquite chunks to boost up the temp.
The chunks were pretty big and the pit climbed to 325. I let the mesquite burn down to hot coal and I added some small sirloin steaks to the fire-box grill....hey, might as well cook supper
I was pretty surprised how nice the pit ran on just briquettes. I think I will work on a charcoal basket for the times I just want to use briqs over splits.