We spent less time at Smokin’ Joe’s Café this year than we ever have in the past! We disappointed ourselves – but more of that in a moment.

We’re off on another adventure! I have told you, I think, of my two main hobbies – barbecue and match cover collecting. If I think about it, there are several more, but one in particular that takes me on the road annually is drum and bugle corps. And that time is now. i used to march back in the 60s and 70s. That’s the Canadian Commanders Sr. Drum & Bugle Corps and I’m in there somewhere. Now, 50+ years later, I still see some of these people and friends from other corps. On Labour Day weekend, a dozen of us get together and travel to the championship of an organization called Drum Corps Associates or DCA. It is effectively the senior or open national championship. We have been doing this for at least a dozen years that I’ve been involved; a few of these guys have been making this annual holiday weekend pilgrimage a lot longer.

Let’s be blunt: there is drinking involved; staying up way too late happens way too often. There are certain other irresponsibilities that do not necessarily go with being an adult male in our 21st-century society.

And we’re fine with that.

So this year, it’s a three-day weekend to Williamsport, Pennsylvania… For the last dozen years or so this event has been held in Rochester New York and we have a couple of time-honoured traditions that we were not prepared to easily surrender. So it was up Friday morning, with a visit to the gravesites of two former members of our group, an early morning Rolling Rock toast, a small libation from each of us for the dearly departed and then on the road to the United States. The duty-free, the beer store, and on to Rochester to do two things-go to a restaurant and go to a bar. This is Dinosaur’s restaurant, part of a smallish New York chain started, I believe, in Troy, New York, with restaurants now in Syracuse, New York city, Rochester, and Buffalo. We’ve been dining here on the Friday night of Labour Day weekend, as I said, for a dozen years-why should this year be any different? The restaurant is in this lovely old building, the former Lehigh Valley Railroad depot, built in 1905. The third picture shows you the bar area; there is a lot more dining space through those doors at the back. And there we are, after dinner, ready to roll on.

For the barbecuers in the crowd, most of us have been told that if we have consumed competition barbecue, restaurant barbeque is going to be hard to take – that is, it will disappoint us more often than not in comparison. As far as I’m concerned, Dinosaurs is one of those restaurants that easily makes the grade. But we have no idea why the fire department showed up; for us, time to move on. But first… I never go to Dinosaurs without checking out their smokers. They use exclusively Hickory wood. Many of the most serious competitors on the barbeque circuit will tell you why they don’t use as much hickory as other woods. These guys seem to get it right. This time, the cook was just taking out the quarter chickens ready to go in for eager diners. He also had ribs in another smoker and asked if I wanted to see them. How could I say no???Then it was off to Smokin’ Joe’s, best described perhaps as “the kind of bar your mother would not want you to be seen in“. Fact of the matter is, this place is not located in what you would call the nicest part of town, populated by hookers and druggies, among others; we’ve seen syringe is in the streets. We used to drive by this place on our way to another bar and just shudder when someone suggested going in. After three or four years, we finally screwed up our courage because the windows were clean and intact, the bar lights were on and in good shape and it looked OK. We’ve never looked back. We love them, and they love us. We’re only in there one weekend a year, but both sides look forward to it. Eagerly. no pretensions! What Dave is holding in his hand is a glass of wine. ‘Nuff said I think…

The thing is, we were out of there by about 10:30 PM. We’ve never left Smokin’ Joe’s so early; we’ve often been in two or three times a day! We love the place. But it just seems like we all collectively hit a wall at the same time, disappointing us, disappointing them. None of us wants to admit that age may be a factor; we are having a weekend of boyish enthusiasm and push such slightly darker thoughts away, at least till Tuesday. You won’t see a lot of Rochester here; we’re leaving after breakfast for Williamsport and drum corps. But, “a river runs through it”. The first shot is the view from my hotel room, the second is a shot downtown, both of the mighty Genesee River. I’m pretty sure if Kodak haven’t been dumping “stuff” into this river for decades, it’s where Genesee Brewery would get the water for its Genesee Cream Ale and other products. As it is, I don’t know where they get the water, and I think it’s a question best left unasked.

Meanwhile, who knows what tomorrow will hold? Tonight was fun. Here’s a clue…l