Daniel Vaughn, aka: The BBQ Snob, at Snow's BBQ in Lexington. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Running into your “barbecue friends” out in the wild is really a pleasant surprise.

Twice this year I’ve run into Daniel Vaughn, a barbecue blogger and author who’s tireless pursuit of great smoked meat has benefitted us all.

I’m never surprised to run into Daniel at a restaurant, because if I see him, I know I’m in for some good barbecue.

I always look over my shoulder for Daniel when I eat at a new place, like Fargo’s new location in Bryan. I know he’s either been there already or has a trip planned.

It seems my feeling was a day early, as the Posse didn’t run into Daniel until Saturday morning at Snow’s.

We rolled into Snow’s right after 8 a.m. and were wrapping up our time there when Daniel came walking around the corner.

I couldn’t help but smile.

He said he’d seen my Facebook check-in when he was still on the road to Lexington and realized the photo and status was posted just a few minutes earlier.

He was on his way to Houston to a fund-raiser featuring guest pitmaster John Mueller and was making stops at Snow’s and Fargo’s on the way.

Impromptu meetings with barbecue friends are always good to catch up on the latest news and rumors.

Daniel has a book coming out in mid May. I’ve preordered it. If you’re a regular reader of his or ours, you should preorder it too.