We’ve officially reached the halfway point.

This week, I recap our trip to Dillon — a competition that started with the truck running board partially falling off and somehow progressed to both drum smokers getting blown over and a failed BBQ Guru fan being replaced by a box fan.

And yet, somehow, it worked.

Big Boyz BBQ finished with two calls — 7th in ribs and 8th in pork — and a 694 overall score, our highest ever.

With five contests now complete, we take a look at where the season stands at the midpoint. We’ve officially qualified for the Rocky Mountain BBQ Association Cup, and with only the best five scores counting, our final three qualifying contests give us a chance to replace some of the mistakes from earlier in the season.

For this week’s Rugby Byte, I go back to my first Maggotfest with the Montana All Blues, a champagne breakfast more than 30 years ago, and how an old rugby memory eventually became an unlikely competition barbecue ritual: sometimes, when everything is going wrong, working faster isn’t the answer. Sometimes you need to stop, reset, and then get back to work.

Finally, we look ahead to Laramie, Wyoming — a new contest, a new destination, and competition number six.

Five down. Five to go.

I don’t have a Laramie story yet. I guess we’re going there to make one.

Keep on keeping on.