Two Learnings on Day Two and One Very Special Discovery

1. Road trips are much more entertaining than I thought and it's difficult to find the energy two blog out all my witty thoughts at this hour.

2. The Corn Palace is not really made out of corn, but it's still pretty cool.

In leiu of an honest post, two photo albums and news of my greatest discovery to-date: salads with fries as toppings. Only in Rapid City, my friends.

In other news:

• The Missouri river is wondrous, wide and filled with ecoli-free water in SD. Who knew?!
• Rest stop lunch was most pleasant, though I learned that PB&Nanners sandwiches are as lame as they come. Matt and I are having lots of fun on this adventure.
• Badlands were bad-ass.
• Rushmore is small, but magnificent.
• Crazy horse makes me question motives and work ethic.
• Audiobooks rule.
• I might be staying at a Holiday Inn Express tonight so watch out for tomorrow, world!

Day 2 Begins

Day 1 in Photos

Day 1 was our longest drive. We just rolled into Sioux City and are contemplating evening plans. More details later on the drive and amazing BBQ lunch in Kansas City. For now, Day 1 in pictures (tried to snap a shot every 100 miles).

Day 1 Message

It's Time!

Official vacation started 10 minutes ago. YAY!

Celebratory Videos:
 

Vacation Procrastination

I'll share something personal with you. I dislike doing laundry – a lot. So much so that I'll let mounds build up way too high. Then, once I've managed through the laundry-a-thon, I might fold it… or I might not. Rarely does it get put away. It's one of those "homemaker" activities that I fail miserably at yet still give Matt trouble about not separating colors and his disdain for fabric softener.

For some reason, vacation laundry seems even more insurmountable than the typical mound in my basement. It requires selection, too much choice and finite space. A top-notch professor friend of mine has imperial evidence that too much choice is bad and reduces happiness. To me, laundry and clothing planning for an 11-day vacation is like TGI Friday's dinner menu – way too much choice and parody for happiness and a guarantee that I'll be hurting later. So I'm avoiding it!

Who wants to come over Friday night for free beer and packing? In other news, I'm getting legitimately excited about our adventure.

Entertainment Score

I've got three words for you: books on tape. Actually, I think they're called audiobooks these days. At any rate, they're great! ..I think. Never listened to one, but my Dad swears by them.

This evening, as I was pulling together our packing checklist, Matt mentioned getting a couple audiobooks. (I did not take this lightly because Matt talking about audiobooks is like me asking him if we can play video games. I would be crazy not to jump on it!) But here's the rub... audioboooks cost more on iTunes than I care to spend. Solution care of Matt: PUBLIC LIBRARY!

Not only are we lucky enough to live three blocks from a fabulous park but we also live ONE block from an equally fabulous public library. In fact, we're pretty sure my Grandpa built the original structure. Nothing better than American bricklayers.

Long story short – we now have three, free audiobooks. Two suspense books I've never heard of before (one that takes place in the Southwest) and one Western. A collection of plots I thought Matt would love because it's loosely historical and geographically relevant to part of our road trip. All I got in response was a "huh?" 

I try, I really do. :-)

There's this site, aubible.com, where you can download audiobooks for about $8. Thinking about ordering Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Have you read the book? Worth listening to??

Kris, if you're reading this, let me know what's available to borrow.

So Which Is ‘Dem 11 States?

I got a great question today from my friend Barb in Dallas, “Can't wait to read all your adventures. What states are you traveling through?”
 
Minor oversight to the blog about the 11 states we’re traversing – listing the actual states. I’ll first note that by design we’ll narrowly avoid setting foot into both Kansas and Nebraska (a “hats off” to all you Mizzou Tigers fans).
 
Let’s see, we’ll start by bisecting our state – beginning in eastern “Missouri” and ending in a foreign land known as “Missoura.” From there we’ll head north until we reach the western edge of Iowa. And boy, we’ll be within a stone’s throw of Nebraska for hundreds of miles. Next comes the great… err… grand… well, very vast and mostly empty state of South Dakota.
 
I could go on, but you get the picture.  Based on Barb’s question, I took the liberty of creating this interactive Google map of our journey. Might even update it along the way with some of our favorite sites and eats – we’ll see.
 

View Foodie Road Trip - Maiden Voyage! in a larger map
 
On an unrelated note, I had the privilege of grabbing a drink after work with a truly fascinating woman. She’s an executive coach today, but she spent more than 20 years as a ballerina at The Met and discovered opera along the way. She’s headed to Athens next week and I was stuck by the comment she made as her eyes lit up in anticipation of the journey, “I am transposed by antiquity.”
 
Now that’s a way of seeing (and being) I could rally behind! In other news, I need to pack, but I really, really don’t care to.

Pilgrimage to Big Box Mecca

If there's one thing I love to do in life it's planning. I subconsciously selected a career that's deeply rooted in planning and if I had it my way, I'd live a life road map with five-, 15- and 25-year time horizons. (Side note, I have some close friends who actually have one of these. I'm envious.)

So when it comes to getting jazzed about our upcoming journey, my mind immediately goes to supplies. I've been thinking about car food for a while, but there's so much more to consider: a first aid kit, bug spray, special treats for the pets while we're gone... I could go on.

And today is the day. While Matt is out golfing with his brother, I'll be hitting up the big box stores. Additionally, I'll be doing it on a budget armed with about $20 in coupons. To be honest, I'm feeling a little crazed – like those women (and men) who brave the crowds the day after Thanksgiving. Ladies, great deals or not, you know your a little nutz, crazed and consumerized. 

Today, I am proudly part of this nutty clan. Making lists for various stores and planning my route. (I think I'll start at Petco, move on to Target and round out the tour de force at the grocery store.) I will be victorious, so long as I can remember to grab some of the non-drowsy motion sickness meds.

A Week and We'll Be Road Tripping

Morning, road crew! In one week from this morning, Matt and I will be embarking on our epic journey. It's getting so close I can almost taste the road dust.

An update from yesterday's blog, I received a top-notch idea from my Dad, currently in London, that audio books were a must! He even suggested I hit up a family friend for a few of his copies. Will definitely be sending him the blog URL this morning. (Thanks in advance, Kris!)

In other news, I added several gadgets/widgets to the right-hand column of the blog. Interested in your reactions.

On the topic of family and friends... I'm not assuming you're wowed or even minorly fascinated by our road blog – but if you are, feel free to share it with friends. Just do me a favor and don't tell them were we live. Housesitter or not, I am a tiny bit paranoid about advertising our out-of-town status.

 

A Little Help?

Hi there – to all four of you! Yes, we’ve doubled our audience literally overnight. Hope the quorum is enjoying the content ;-).

So the thing is… this blog is a bit of a misnomer. I’m no foodie. I am a wannabe foodie and I have a feeling that this trip is going to be filled with caloric delights the likes of www.roadfood.com. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait for the loose meat sandwiches of Iowa or the Sopapilla Burger of Casa de Benevidez in Albuquerque, but it’s not going to be posh dining.

A couple things are certain. I will love it. My IBS will reappear with a fury. I will be wearing stretch pants. And I will need to plan ahead with tasty, wholesome car food, if I have any hope of getting home sans cholesterol spike.

Here’s where you come in. Thus far I have some drinks for the cooler and a few low-fat munchies. What’s your favorite road trip fare? Looking for product ideas, tips and war stories. Go! 

Time Flies When You're Dreading a Vacation

Hi there. Yes, it's been more than two months since my last post. A couple things contributed to this fact. Firstly, we got a puppy and she's absolutely wonderful. Like older couples yearning to adopt a baby after traditional methods fail, bringing this puppy into our home was both well planned and a long time coming. And she's the tops. And she's very entertaining. And it made the blog - with it's two readers - substantially less interesting to me.

Secondly, I've got to be honest with you, I've been dreading this vacation a bit. It's been a dream of my husband's to do it... and I do want to see all the sites... but I've had this image in my head of the 4,000 miles in Fusion being, well, a nuclear disaster. I had to mourn the fact that there would be no beach and I also had to get on vacation wagon.

Seeing how excited and optimistic Matt is about this trip has turned my frown upside down. We leave in nine days. Super sophisticated robbers, no need to case our place, we've got a house-sitter.

Wine is a Delight

Wine is one of my favorite things. But to be completely honest, I'm a low-class wino. Like many twentysomthings, I've been meaning to take wine-tasting classes for a few years (along with golf lessons, cake-decoration classes and learning a foriegn language at the local community college). Of course, none of these have happened to date.

I may be a cheap wino for life and that's ok with me. One thing's for sure, I'm not going to get any wine class on this road trip. But maybe I can do some regional sampling and describe the flavors and experience in simple terms... Would that be worth reading about?

Transitioning to this video, I'm a communicator by day and I love this video. It's a Flash-based infographic on wine. It's informative, entertaining and strategically clear. In other words, it makes me want to have a glass wine tonight... from my fancy boxed wine. There. I said it. I have $24 boxed wine in my kitchen right now. Why anybody spends $24 for wine in a plastic bag, I have no idea. Will be going back to bottles mostly out of shame.


The Conception of Wine - Infographic from Tiago Cabaco on Vimeo.

A Journey Begins

A few months ago my husband had this idea, "let's go on a road trip." A lot has transpired since that initial idea – I'm sure I'll pull through some of the more entertaining tidbits shortly – but it's on like Donkey Kong, as some would say.

We're set to travel through 12 states in 11 days this July (2010). Nine of the states we're traveling through, I've never even set foot in. For me, a pampered Midwesterner, it's going to be quite the adventure. Not to mention that I have limited love for the open road. But I also have this feeling that it might be just the journey I need.

What I do have great affection for is food – that will be at the center of this site and at the center of my attention as we embark across the Great Plains, West and Southwest. This blog will be our nomadic home-base for our journey, it will serve as my planning warroom and it will all be over by August.

Will I embark on a poor girl's rendition of Eat, Pray, Love? Will my husband and I achieve a togetherness in a more vivid way than before? Or will it be nothing more than a collection of landmarks, digital photos and crappy souvenirs? Come on, what I am really dying to know (and tell) is every detail about the food. From regional favorites, diners and in-car sammies, it's going to be a vacation told through eats. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I will.