DETOURS

The Jamison Lesson: Secrets to Perfect Barbecue Texture and Taste

June 22, 2026 BBQGRAIL Comments Off

NOTE: This is a companion post to Mastering Smoke Profiles with Bill & Cheryl Jamison. Bill and Cheryl Jamison, in their classic Smoke & Spice, let backyard cooks in on a big secret: great barbecue […]

O’Donnell, Texas

June 22, 2026 Larry Gaian Comments Off

O’Donnell, Texas, sits right where Lynn and Dawson counties shake hands on the high plains. Today, it feels like one of those boom towns that shaped West Texas back in the early 1900s. Originally, before […]

Faith Is Not About Having All The Answers

June 21, 2026 Larry Gaian Comments Off

Sacrament meeting talks are often packed with simple, powerful gospel truths. Every so often, the Spirit takes one phrase and presses it gently into your heart—like it was meant just for you. That happened to […]

Pitching Our Tents: Why “Tents” Matter So Much in the Book of Mormon

June 21, 2026 Larry Gaian Comments Off

Tents show up all over the Book of Mormon, and not just because ancient people liked camping. In the record, tents quietly become a symbol of what discipleship often feels like: traveling, gathering, worshipping, enduring, […]

WARNING: OFFICIAL BBQ DOGMA DETOX ZONE

June 21, 2026 BBQGRAIL Comments Off

The articles, guides, and recipes on this site represent a collection of widely accepted, time-tested methods for outdoor cooking. However, we are fully aware that the backyard culinary community contains… highly passionate individuals. If you […]

The Llano Estacado: Navigating the Staked Plains

June 21, 2026 Larry Gaian Comments Off

The Llano Estacado, or “Staked Plains,” stretches out like a giant tabletop across the heart of Texas and New Mexico. Covering about 37,500 square miles, it touches 33 Texas counties and 4 in New Mexico. […]

“Smoke & Spice” by Bill and Cheryl Jamison

June 21, 2026 BBQGRAIL Comments Off

Editor’s Note: You may wonder why I would review a 32-year-old cookbook. The answer is simple. This book changed outdoor cooking for many people, me included. There are multitudes of barbecue/smoking cookbooks, but few can […]

Flat Horizons and Deep Roots: The Story of Dawson County, Texas

June 20, 2026 Larry Gaian Comments Off

Dawson County sits on the southern edge of the Llano Estacado, where the sky seems to stretch forever. Before anyone marked out a boundary, this was a sea of shortgrass prairie. Bison herds thundered across […]