Food!

I'm sure you have all been dying to know about the food I ate as I made my way through god forsaken towns in mid America. I'd say there were two parts of the trip. The parts where I was with friends - and I had little control over my food. And the times I was by myself. When I was with friends, I simply told them that I didn't eat wheat, but otherwise I'd eat whatever. And every meal I was served was awesome!  There was a spaghetti dinner once, but my friend made a spaghetti sauce out of tomatoes, broccoli and chicken that was so filling and delicious there was no need for added pasta. I think they felt guilty, but I was happy as a clam. At the same meal I was served kale from their garden roasted with olive oil and salt - so how could there be any complaining??  In Colorado I was served some amazing meat from happy cows, those Colorado folks are serious about their meat.  

For the times when I was by myself I had big plans pre trip. I was planning on camping. I bought a cooler. I bought a camp stove. I bought a camping knife, a fold up cutting board and some plates!  I was ready. Unfortunately, after spending 8 hours in a car, I couldn't imaging unloading a tent and sleeping on the ground. At one point, I decided that I was going to cook anyhow and figured I'd just go to a park. Well, that didn't really work out so well. That was Wednesday, Wyoming and the worst day of the trip. At lunch time I ended up in the town from hell, aka Rock Springs, WY. I drove up to a couple parks, excited to pull out my stove and whip up some bacon and eggs, and all the parks had signs decreeing 'no animals'. Since it was about 95 degrees, leaving the dog in the car wasn't going to happen. So, I did the thing I only did this once on the trip - I went backwards.  There was a town about 10 miles back that had a sign for a state park. I figured i could hang out in the state park. Well, the state park ended up being 60 miles out of town. 10 miles out of my way was one thing, 60 quite another. Then I had this BRILLIANT idea. there was KOA right in town. Maybe they would let me cook. Well, I drove up to the KOA and it was basically a parking lot with a bunch of big huge camper thingies and way too depressing to produce food in. So I drove (forward this time), getting progressively more hungry and grouchy. I finally pulled over at a rest area. Once again dogs weren't allowed. And it was so windy you didn't really want to be out of the car anyhow. So I sat in the 90 degree car and ate turkey that I wrapped around olives and felt sorry for myself. (There was a lot of feeling sorry for myself that day, and only that day.)


Well, that's what I didn't eat. What I did eat? Well, it turns out with a cooler and a little pre planning, you can actually eat some decent food purchased from places that care about food.

Arugula, olive, broccolini, avocado, turkey, jicama Pendleton OR

I don't know what all was in there or where I was, but I do remember it being delicious. 

Roast beef, roasted yam, breakfast burrito (yes wheat), Missoula MT

         
 I didn't take a picture, but in addition, the first few days for breakfast I had some roasted yams and hard boiled eggs (fresh from the neighbors yard) warmed up in the hotel microwave. It may sound iffy, but it was delicious - all three mornings.

And, lest you think I'm too pure. In the morning there was some 'I need a cafeine hit' chocolate. This was actually a bit problematic, as chocolate wasn't so happy in a 90-100 degree car. Then there was the 'it's late afternoon, I'm sick of driving, I'm falling asleep and I need a treat' snack.  (below are a couple examples of those snacks)

Otto, milkshake and tea, Baker City, OR

Tea and milkshake, Rawlins, WY  

Technically this was a milkshake, but it was tasty way beyond a milkshake, Dillon MT

 Restaurants, I hit a restaurant once. That same Wednesday from hell with no food in my cooler except stuff that needed to be cooked. I went to a ale house type place in Laramie WY.  It was eh. Nice to sit in a restaurant, but the food wasn't as tasty as either my own or my friends. I'm also pretty sure they ruined my salmon burger with wheat. 

Anyhow, that's 3000 miles of delicious food!  Even in small town America!