eCache

Uncle Dewey’s

470 Wheat Road
Vineland, NJ 08360
609/691-4454

39.513417 -74.981767

Uncle Dewey’s is a well-respected BBQ joint in the area. Most folks I know who like barbecue have spoken well of Uncle Dewey’s over the years. I have fond memories of stopping along Rt. 40 in Mizpah when I first moved to the area for some ribs.

It is interesting to see how perspective changes.

I recently purchased a smoker. By no means have I mastered the art of barbecue yet, but I have made some fine ribs and a wonderful pork butt on it. After ordering from Uncle Dewey’s today I know I’ll never return. There is just no comparison between what they serve and what I cook.

Even Gert who tends to like anything that money is spent on commented how bland the food was. We ordered a pulled pork sandwich and a rack of spare ribs. The pulled pork had no smoky flavor, was dry, and was served on a non-interesting sub roll. The ribs were overcooked, fatty, and blah. The sauce used did nothing to help. All that and it cost us just as much as 15 pounds of Boston butt does for me to cook at home. I can’t foresee ever returning to Uncle Dewey’s.
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All in the family

LCLN

39.513417 -74.981767

Gert’s been hounding me for pulled pork all weekend. Last night she called me in to watch Throwdown. Bobby Flay challenged some competition-winning lady from Virginia to a pulled pork sandwich. Flay only smoked his butt for 10 hours. That’ll never do.

My Boston butt is rubbed and coming to room temperature b4 I put her in the smoker. I figure she’ll be ready for dinner tomorrow night. Low and slow.

Anyhow, all day Gert’s been asking for pulled pork. Finally I said I would go to Uncle Dewey’s for some. She has been wanting some BBQ from there for a while now.

Well, we can now safely say Uncle Dewey doesn’t have anything on me. Gert said so herself. No smoke ring. No deep flavor. And dry. I used Uncle Dewey’s for the best BBQ in the area hunt a few years ago. No longer. My deck is!

I cannot wait for Monday’s dinner. Got to go get the smoker going. Yummy!
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Biking with a purpose

LCP7

39.361133 -75.07045

I added a bike race to the calendar almost two years ago to complete this hunt. I never made it to the event. A friend rode in a bike race a year ago and I missed that too. I added yet another for September and have been talking myself up for going to it. It’s an hour away so that takes some doing.

Then I stumbled upon a race much more convenient to me. Technically it’s within walking distance, but I gladly burned the fossil fuel to get there today.

I awoke late . . . so late I missed the start of the race. I thought I would be able to catch up with them, however.

We have a new motorsports park near me. This is where the race commenced. It is so huge in there, I became lost. I ended up at the F1 track instead of the other track. Silly me. The weather had been so bad this morning everything was delayed. I watched the runners go first. The bikes seemed to commence at the same time, but from an area I couldn’t get to. They raced around the track once before exiting the park onto the county roads.

It was difficult snapping pictures in the rain, behind cars, in-between port-a-johns. I opened the sun roof and stuck my camera out that way but didn’t get much that way. We were all halted as the bicyclists left the park.

Once we all got on the road, I snapped a couple blurry shots as I passed a few of the trailing bikes. I decided not to chase up Dividing Creek Road but rather return home.

The only banner I found was at the registration table. For some reason it had information about a ride later this month in Philly. The motorsports park is new (like a couple weeks old). They only had two events here so far and I suspect things were not as well planned as they will be next year. Indeed the event took place today. The proceeds of the race, which also included a run, will be split between Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation and the South Jersey Healthcare Foundation.
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Run For Your Life

LCIY

39.3582 -75.064817

Well, I woke up late, looked at the start time for this and thought I had missed it completely. Nevertheless, I dragged myself to the truck and drove down to the new race track.

Millville is now home to Thunderbolt Racetrack. It’s been a political nightmare getting this thing built. Truth be told, that’s a good thing as folks like me who live right here had lots of questions to be answered. This was my first time at the track. I was impressed. So impressed at the F1 course, I missed there was a second track. D’oh! One is named Thunderbolt, the other Lightning. Kewl.

The weather was so lousy things had been delayed an hour. By the time I figured out where to go and got there, the runners were lined up and the girl waved the green flag to start the race. One could not have asked for better timing. Only one guy looked like a runner, the rest were locals doing their best. Bravo!

This race benefited Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation.

It occurred to me during the couple minutes I was actually here that despite Charles Olsen’s (photographer for the local paper) presence, these photographs would be circulated days before his. The Daily Journal does not publish on Sundays. And while his photographs will certainly be better than these, it isn’t exactly news when it is published on Monday morning.
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Pub Quiz

LC77T

39.8037 -75.029983

This was an educational hunt! I am unfamiliar with these pub quizzes. It’s been a few years since I’ve been active in the bar scene.

I did some research and this stuff seems to be rather popular. Of course, I live in a black hole of an area where little of the cutting edge stuff happens. So, I took off to the closest spot I could find that hosted a pub quiz. It turned out to be an hour away. According to The Stone Grille’s web site the gig began at 7:00. I got there just a minute or two before as I had several stops to make along the way. When I walked in it was obvious nothing was going on. Sigh . . . the restaurant people thought the guy would be in around 8:00. Ah, I remember this kind of thing from having worked in the industry. The quiz guy was an outside source and the restaurant (really a bar) knew little about it. Grrr . . .

So I perched myself at the bar. I figured I’d eat while I waited. I ordered a Yuengling. I needed to wait for the keg to be changed. Nope, no more Yuengling draught. I took a bottle. I asked for a menu. All the pages stuck together. It was a bigger menu than I expected. Entrees ran $25. WTF? This is a bar. As a matter of fact, all the tables in this joint were booths. There was not a real table anywhere. On top of that this place had 20 flat screen televisions showing sports. Where do they get off charging $25 for their food? I found the sandwiches in the back and ordered a Cuban sandwich. I suspect sandwiches is all anyone eats here.

The food was served some time later. The request for ketchup for the french fries took half the meal. After a couple earlier frustrating things in the day, I was working really hard to remain calm.

I kept scouting the area where they said the quizmaster would set up. There were some booths there, but it didn’t seem like a lot of people were present and it seemed unlikely we were going to migrate back there. I wondered how forming teams was going to work. Eventually the quizmaster arrived. I asked how all this worked when he came around. He explained it and said I would be fine as a one-player team. I explained to him and the bartender my presence. They both thought it interesting. Later when the quizmaster came around to collect the team names he suggested On the Hunt for me. That worked.

We got started with a random round.

Round One Questions:

1. What season do the cherry blossoms bloom in D.C.?
2. What was J.J. Walker’s catch phrase in the show Good Times?
3. What is the third largest national park? It also is the wettest.
4. What actress played Thelma in the movie Thelma and Louise?
5. What does IBM stand for?
6. What do you call a number that is divisible only by one and itself?
7. What’s another name for a book called a lexicon?
8. Of the tin man, scarecrow, and the lion, the character Dorothy met first in The Wizard of Oz?
9. What is the only organic birthstone?
10. What song was popularized by the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?

I thought I had done pretty well with these answers. I kept thinking the cherry blossom question was a trick but kept it to spring. Of course, I picked the wrong answer for Thelma. After I turned in my card I realized I was wrong. I do not agree with the answer to the birthstone question. While pearl is a fine answer, so is diamond. Diamonds are made from organic material. And all of a sudden I was transported back to school where the expected answers rarely included my take on things and thus I had to argue my case. I kept quiet tonight for it wasn’t worth the trouble. The spectacle of College Bowl popped into my head. And had you been there 20 years ago arguing over Joules you would have understood the flashback that was occurring.

The second round was a picture round. All pictures from various Batman movies and television shows. Most of those here were young. I am certain I and the old folks sitting behind me were the only ones to get Cesar Romero. Of course, I didn’t know Aaron Eckhart.

And so it went. I did well on the sports round. I was in third place after the third round. We had I think nine teams. I was the only solo player so I thought that was pretty good.

Then came music in a Name That Tune style. I suck at that and true to form, I sucked. Sure, Mr.. Tambourine Man and You Can’t Always Get What You Want were easy. I recognized the Blind Melon song but couldn’t put a name to it. The rest I hadn’t a clue. The bartender came over and asked how it was going. I explained I had never heard this song before. Someone named Fergie she told me and actually mentioned the song name. I didn’t write it for I knew I didn’t know. I am old.

I rebounded in the geography/history round only to stumble again in entertainment. I guess I just don’t follow these things. Another Batman question: What were the last two words spoken in the current movie? You’re dead was not correct. Do you know the answer?

The final round was a general knowledge round. The final question was to name the 10 movies AFI listed as the top gangster movies of all time. I did not do as well with that as I thought I would have.

In the end team On the Hunt came in third. For my efforts I was given a Captain Morgan T-shirt and drink cooler.

Thanks for the fun.
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