DAY 5 - Oklahoma City to Kansas City

I’ve never seen my Mom move as fast as she did this morning. She was up and out of Oklahoma City's Quality Inn (very misleading name) with the car packed and the dogs loaded by 7am. She couldn’t wait to get out of what she called “the third worst hotel she’s ever stayed in.” I agree it wasn’t the best joint in town, but it was the right location, price and it allowed dogs.

After a stop at Starbucks, we spent the morning walking around the Oklahoma City Memorial. Not that I have extensive memorial expertise, but it was one of the nicest memorials I’ve seen and it really tugged at the heart strings.

Oklahoma City Memorial - They had memorial chair statues for each of the 168 victims

Mama D. standing in front of the Oklahoma City Memorial

Me taking in the Oklahoma City Memorial

After the Oklahoma City Memorial, we hit the highway to Kansas City with a planned lunch stop at Hog-Wild Pit Bar-B-Q in Wichita (see review below). The drive through Oklahoma and Kansas was filled with endless fields and farms. At one point it looked like we were driving through a sea of wheat fields; nothing but brown brush as far as the eye could see. After five hours of endless farms, barns, cows and prairies, we pulled into Kansas City and were pleasantly surprised by the 44 degree weather.

The two pics above show a couple of the farms we saw on our drive from Okla. City to KC

We pretty much had this view for five hours. It looks boring, but it's actually fascinating to see fields go all the way to the horizon.

Our KC hotel is in a nice part of downtown with tons of high-end shopping. Apparently, the boxer breed doesn’t exist in the Midwest because as we walked Zena and Zuma around town people were coming to the store windows to check us out, cars were stopping, and the hotel staff were googly eyed. It was like we had a bullhorn saying, “look at me, look at me.”

Zuma took over dog walking duties and helped walk Zena

A shot of downtown KC with clear skies and 44 degree weather

Monday night we did dinner at a high-end steak house called Plaza III - www.plazaiiisteakhouse.com/countryclub. Plaza III is "recognized as one of the TOP TEN Steakhouses in America" so it was no surprise it was one of the best steaks I've had in a long time. Add in the delicious asparagus, baked potato and a couple glasses of Malbec and I was on cloud nine. It wasn’t technically BBQ so we didn’t do a full review, but if you make it to KC be sure to plan a night at Plaza III.

Tomorrow we'll spend all day in KC hitting a few BBQ joints. We plan to fit in a few city landmarks between BBQ feasts.

THE REVIEW - Hog-Wild Pit BBQ, Wichita, KS

On our way from Oklahoma City to Kansas City we stopped in Wichita, KS at Hog-Wild Pit BBQ – www.hogwildpitbar-b-q.com. Hog-Wild was in a strip mall and had a drive-thru, two indications it might not be worthy...wrong! We parked out back to walk the dogs before going inside and we noticed a large stack of hickory wood logs. We'd later find out how significant those logs were in making Hog-Wild one of the better stops so far. We pulled in around 11am when the place opened and it was packed by 11:30am, a testament to it's quality and popularity. No question they do meat right, but the sides fell flat.

Me outside Hog-Wild Pit BBQ in Wichita, KS

Inside Hog-Wild Pit BBQ in Wichita, KS

Hog-Wild Pit BBQ stood out because of its hickory smoke flavored meat

Sauce – 4 – The highest rated sauce so far and the first sauce we bought. They had a mild and hot. Mild was sweet (not at all spicy) and the hot started sweet and finished slightly spicy, but not over powering.

Sides – 2 – Very commercial. Tasted like KFC’s sides. Standard at best.

Slabs – 3.5 – Although not as meaty as others we’ve had, Hog-Wild’s ribs stood out because of the tremendous hickory smoke flavor. The wood logs out back made all the difference. The ribs tasted like a camp fire smells (in a good way). Along with the smokey flavor, they had a nice crispy glazed skin with tender pink meat.

Pork rib combo - Tremendous hickory smoke flavor

Steaks – 4 – This was the highest rated brisket so far. It had the same hickory smoke flavor as the ribs and it was shredded as opposed to strips of meat, which we really enjoyed. It was moister than other brisket we’ve had. By itself it was very good and with the hot bbq sauce it was spectacular.

Sandwiches – 3.5 – Again, the hickory smoke flavor came out in the pulled pork. It was chunky style, not shredded, which we’ve found to be more flavorful because the chunks have the crispy glazed skin. It was moist and slightly pink making it one of the top pulled porks thus far.

Hog-Wild's two meat combo - pulled pork and brisket with mashed potatoes adn cole slaw