Thanks

[deestafford]

Words cannot express how thankful I am for the time, effort, and money y'all spent to come to the Gathering last week.  I talked with each one of you there and know how much you sacrificed in order to be there. Some drove over 11 hours and the Turtle came all the way from some island off the cost of San Francisco.  I could tell a story of the sacrificies each of you  made.

Y'all don't know how much work Tee put into getting donations of money and equipment from our sponsors.  Those sponsors really, really went all out to help us. I'm going to list the ones I remember and hopefully Tee will add the ones I forget.  Will each of you please send them an email thanking them for what they did for us.

RecTec
Grill Grates
PBC
Slawsa
Amazn Smoker
CookinPellets.com

I apologize for forgetting the others.  Please send Julie at Slawsa any recipes or uses you may have for her Slaswa. She has an outstanding product and working exceedingly hard to get that company going and needs all our help we can give her.

If you want some outstanding meat order from Snake River Farms.  The brisket the Turtle sent us was some of the best meat, if not the best I've ever eaten.  IR2Dum, a true Texan and great American, said it is the best brisket he has ever eaten. The brisket was about $6.75 a pound and the shipping was just about the same amount: $75 for the meat and $75 for the shipping.  That sounds like a lot, heck it is, but if you were having a special function it would be worth it. Brad, my son in law, says he has ordered from them over the years in his jobs at different restaurants and has always been pleased. They are based in WA state.

As I was discussing the events of the Gathering with my wife I told her it was such a great group of people and the only thing anyone ever said about anyone who wasn't there was we wish they had been able to attend and hopefully they would next year.

Well, that's enough rambling from me. Just understand....I really appreciate each of you---those who were there as well as those who could not make it.  It's a privilege to be associate with all of you.

P.S. It got to be a semi-miserable time for the Turtle toward the last day or so because he is not used to being that nice to a group of people for that long and the underside of his shell was starting to flake from the strain.

Dee

[sliding_billy]

Great message Dee!

[TMB]

Dee, you should be thanked as well cause without you this would have never happened.

Tee, thank you for the hard work and fund raising you brought to the cookout.

To the others that came, thanks for really great food and a great time and I didn't even cook!   

Turtle, thanks for the brisket and great conversation. You are one of a kind   how your wife puts up with you I don't know but proves you married up!

Pam, the biscuits and gravy will stay in my mind till next year

OH, emails sent Dee

[ACW3]

Dee,
Another wonderful time in Augusta!  Thank you for all you did and what you had to put up with.  A lot of good friendships have started because of you and the Gathering.  It was great to meet new (to me anyway) friends and be able to put faces with names. 

Art

Ki

I have already told my wife that we have an extra stop when we go back to Hawaii.  I'll have to check out the Turtle's PBC cooking skills.

[Pam Gould]

I would like to Thank Everyone. I had the best time, just like the last 2 gatherings. I loved meeting new peoples along with my old friends too. Everyone contributed to my having a great time. So Thanks everyone. Cya next year. I have my reservations already.  Pam  .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ

[Jaxon]

I am very grateful for the folks who made their way to Augusta last weekend.  It was good seein' them again AND I really enjoyed meeting the new folks.  Weird thing was that, though I live closest, I was about the last one there.  Albert pulled a neat stunt.  He and Sylvia flew in from Alabama in their Cessna.  He flew over a couple of times then buzzed us at tree-top level.  Also, he won the prize for being "MOST IMPROVED COOK" over last year.  It has been great watching him develop his skill on the grill.  He was a true rookie last year when they came to the Gathering.
I was a bit off my game this year because I was concerned about my brother-in-law who lives in Augusta.  He is being treated for a rare form of lymphoma...pretty good doses of chemo.  We were staying with them over the weekend and I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them, so I missed Friday nite bonfire and Saturday nite ghost stories, as well as all day Sunday.
For all you folks who took the lead cookin' (practically nothing but MEAT the 2 days I was there), you did a fine job - we have the pics to prove it.
Thanks, Dee, for herding this bunch of cats together one more time.  It is easy to see your passion for this group.

[teesquare]

I don't know that I can ad much to all of the above except to thank our attendees and sponsors again -
Just a thought or two about our LTBBQ sponsors folks:
Please, before you buy a product for your outdoor cooking needs - PLEASE look our Site Sponsors forum, and give our Sponsors a shot at your business.
LTBBQ is selective in allowing sponsorship. We will never allow LTBBQ to become cluttered with ads, nor driven by advertising dollars to "sell" you anything. We are proudly user driven.Any company allowed to participate as a Site Sponsor has been already vetted for providing quality products and service at a fair price.

SO- feel confident to contact any of our sponsors when you are looking for something shiny...They are the "good guys" in this hobby/industry.

( I will re-post this msg so it can hopefully be read by all of our active members - thanks for your time!)

T

[TentHunteR]

Tammy & I would like to give a HUGE "THANK YOU," to Dee for taking the time to get everything together at the campground.

Thanks to Tim (teesquare), Art (ACW3), Pam & I think Tommy (TMB) for staying up until we rolled in at midnight Thursday to make sure we made it in all right. Thanks Pammie for getting our room ready for us.

Turtle - What a unexpected surprise having you show up! I enjoyed the stories.

And finally, thanks to all the rest who attended: Jaxon, Mike (high on smoke), Terry (tlg4942), Albert & Sylvia,  Don (IR2Dum) & Steve (Jewknowwhat).

We had an absolutely great time. It was well worth the 11-hour drive to get to meet all of you. What a great bunch of folks you all are!

Cliff

[Jaxon]

We had an absolutely great time. It was well worth the 11-hour drive to get to meet all of you. What a great bunch of folks you all are!

Cliff

Cliff, I was really glad to meet you & Tammy (what an asset she must be).  B T W, did I call her "Terry" all weekend?  Dang...my hearing ain't all that good and my rememberer is even worse.
Pretty easy to see that you know your way around a grill.  I particularly liked the Stoven pellet adapter for your Weber kettle.  I mean I REALLY liked it.  That is one reason I came home on the hunt for  22 1/2 inch kettle of my own.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get the Stoven before I retire.  (all donations graciously accepted -     )

Seriously, you and Tammy did some great cookin'.  Please give her a kiss for us.

Oh...don't forget you were gonna send a pm with a recipe, etc  Thanks.

[TentHunteR]

Cliff, I was really glad to meet you & Tammy (what an asset she must be).  B T W, did I call her "Terry" all weekend?  Dang...my hearing ain't all that good...

LOL... She said, "Yes, but that's OK!"    She had a great time relaxing, reading and playing with her new camera. She got some great pics of the lake and such, which I am working on & will post.   

[HighOnSmoke]

Not much I can say that hasn't already been said.  This was my first Gathering and most
definitely will not be the last regardless of where it is held.  The camaraderie was beyond
belief.  I had the best time and met some very good and knowledgeable people.  Again Dee
thanks for all your hard work and also tee for giving me lessons on his Mac so I could post photos
to this great forum.  Only one thing left to say:

TOMMY DID NOT COOK THIS WEEKEND!

Mike

[Jaxon]

TOMMY DID NOT COOK THIS WEEKEND!

Mike

He DID use his crutch...

               

[Ka Honu]

Everyone done good.  dee did even more.

[deestafford]

Folks, Y'all are giving me too much credit.  Basically, all I did was get the key and open the gate.  That's why I like having it at the church camp ground. It's so simple and we have the place all to ourselves.

Thanks to the Turtle I found out something which may help us in the future.  Down the road about three miles is the Army's Ft Gordon Recreation area and it is fantastic.  The Turtle stayed in the newer "motel" type facility they are building.  Additionally, they have cabins which are nicer than we have at the campground and they also have travel trailers for rent.  I think the "motel" runs about $90 a night and the cabins around the same. Don't know what the travel  trailers run.

Some of your wives may not like the rustic accomadations of the campground and prefer to stay in something a little "nicer" (my wife would be one of those).  The nearest motels are about 20 miles or so away.

The Turtle found out the Army has started letting some civilians use some of the facilities at the Rec Area as a guest of a active or retired military member.  I don't know how many "guests" we could have there but I'll check and see what can be done and let y'all know sometime in the future for those who may want something "nicer"...can't imagine why.

Dee

[tlg4942]

I was really happy to make it again this year..  Thanks to Tommy for riding over with me.
It is such a family reunion.  Dee, your the best.  Thanks to Tim and everyone who help get things together. 
What a great group of folks!
 
Terry
"Way down in Alabama"

 Don- Be safe on your way back through, Looks like a stormy weekend down here along the coast...