Check out our Heart of Texas BBQ Tour story in today's Dallas Morning News

Here's the lede page from our Heart of Texas BBQ Tour story in Sunday's Dallas Morning News Travel section.

This was the Posse's 14th barbecue tour since we started following the smoke in November 2009. The Heart of Texas BBQ Tour covered 318 miles over ten hours on a recent Friday.

Chick here to see the online package from the tour on dallasnews.com, including Gary Jacobson's story, a slideshow featuring our four tour stops and a video by original Posse member David Guzman.

Heart of Texas BBQ Tour

• 9am:  Leave Dallas
• 10:30am:  Wright’s Bar-B-Q, 123 Martin Luther King Jr Hwy (Hwy 14), Mexia, 254-562-9042. Open Tue-Sat 10am-6pm.
• 11:30am:  Kirby's Barbeque, 4592 Hwy. 14 S, Mexia, 254-562-5076. Open: Wed-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-3pm. 
• 1:30pm:  Whup's Boomerang Bar-B-Q, 1203 Bennett St., Marlin, 254-883-5770. Open Thurs-Sat 10am-8pm.    
• 3 pm:  Miller's Smokehouse, 208 N Penelope, Belton, 254-939-5500. Open Tues-Thurs 10:30am-6:30pm, Fri and Sat 10:30am-9pm or until the meat runs out.  
• 7 pm:  Arrive back in Dallas

See the photos from the Posse's Austin BBQ Tour - The Fantastic Mr. Fox strikes again

Dallas Morning News staff photographer Tom Fox at work on the Austin BBQ Tour.
(Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

When you're on the road with the Texas BBQ Posse, it's kind of like being in the middle of a media storm. The Posse is mainly made up of Dallas Morning News writers, editors, photojournalists and their friends. Yes, we have been accused before of being the BBQ paparazzi.

On the recent Austin BBQ Tour we had nine journalists and artists in the group, including five photographers. One of those was award-winning DMN staff photographer Tom Fox.

Tom has captured numerous major awards in our industry, including being part of DMN team who won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for photo coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Here's a DMN photo blog post he wrote just yesterday about shooting a historic photo of the five living Presidents at the Bush Library dedication on Thursday.

Today in the Dallas Morning News: The BBQ Posse's Best of Texas picks

Here's a look at our three-page spread in today's Dallas Morning News travel section. The Best of Texas BBQ project was published in print and online on dallasnews.com and the DMN iPad app.

Dallas Morning News editor Bob Mong shared his thoughts on the Posse in his weekly note to the readers published in today's paper:

I can always stop by photo editor Chris Wilkins’ desk and catch up on the top visual journalism of the day.

Experience the Posse's Best of Texas Tour on the iPad

Here's a big shout out to The Dallas Morning News iPad team for this amazing interactive multimedia package on the Best of Texas BBQ Tour. This has to be one of the best online presentations ever assembled to feature the top BBQ joints in Texas.

Special thanks to iPad editor Paul O'Donnell, designer Amanda Robinson and multimedia editor David Guzman for their hard work making this all come together. Also, thanks to DMN travel editor Cathy Barber for her support on this project.

Click here to see the DMN iPad package showing our picks for the Best in Texas BBQ.

Click here to see the story and links on the DMN Travel section of dallasnews.com.

The Posse's best of the best BBQ joints in Texas: Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Pecan Lodge in Dallas and Snow's BBQ in Lexington

The faces behind our top six BBQ joints, clockwise from top left: Aaron Franklin of Franklin BBQ, Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge, Tootsie Tomanetz of Snow's BBQ, Roy Perez of Kreuz Market, Wayne Mueller of Louie Mueller Barbecue, Belender Wells & Alan Caldwell of Fargo's Pit BBQ. (Photos by Tom Fox/DMN)  

The Dallas Morning News posted the results of the Posse's Best of Texas BBQ Tour today on its Web site. The results will appear on the paper's iPad's application this weekend and in the newspaper's travel section on Sunday.

It was an exceedingly close finish. With 30 being the best possible score, less than a point separated the top three joints -- Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Pecan Lodge in Dallas and Snow's BBQ in Lexington.

Over 48 hours we ate at 10 top places. Six judges from the Posse rated the brisket, pork ribs and sausage at each on a scale of 1 to 10. We averaged the scores for each meat and then added them to determine the overall winner.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Photographing the Best of Texas BBQ tour

Dallas Morning News staffer Tom Fox works the line at Franklin BBQ. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

We had several firsts for the Posse on our recent Best of Texas BBQ Tour. This was the first tour spanning three days and also our first trip taken to rank the top joints in the state. The results will be published in The Dallas Morning News and online on March 10.

Another first was to have the Morning News assign a staff photographer to travel with us, documenting the 700-mile journey to the best BBQ joints in Texas. The Posse is made up mainly of photographers and writers, but we'd never had someone fully dedicated to shooting the trip. There's a big difference between shooting with your iPhone or happy snapper, as opposed to using full pro gear.