The line was over 100 deep at Franklin BBQ on a recent Saturday. (Photo ©Chris Wilkins/Texas BBQ Posse)

Even now, four weeks later, we're still complimenting ourselves for our nifty navigation of the long lines at Franklin Barbecue in Austin during the Posse's Best of Texas Tour. People can begin queuing up two hours before the joint opens and the number can quickly grow to a hundred or more.

We took advantage of Franklin's advance-order service and had Posse members and Austin residents Libby Jacobson and Mike Gagne pick up our food before the place opened for regular business.

"It was a glorious feeling," Libby said of walking past the line and directly inside the restaurant to the pick-up counter. "You feel like you're someone special."

There are restrictions, though. The minimum pre-order is about 5 pounds of meat, to-go only, and the food must be picked up between 10:15 a.m. and 10:35 a.m.

"If you do not make it during this time, you will forfeit your order," Stacy Franklin wrote in her confirming email.  Franklin opens at 11 a.m.

And, we discovered, Franklin limits its pre-orders and can get quickly overbooked even on them. Posse co-founder Chris Wilkins arranged our order almost two weeks before the tour and was told he just made it under the cutoff for that day.

Lucky for us. Otherwise, we never would have been able to eat at Snow's BBQ in Lexington, Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Franklin and three joints in Lockhart on the same day.

Our account of the tour, and our ranking of the top six joints in the state, will run this weekend in The Dallas Morning News, online and in the paper, and on the DMN's iPad application.

By the way, if you, too, want to beat the line at Franklin, you can contact Stacy at: franklinbbq@gmail.com.