Food on the Road

A couple of years ago, I had the chance to take a wonderful trip, touring the fantastic national parks of Utah. I’ve been to a few of the parks and really looked forward to returning, this time with Rozi and Faychesca. I asked Rozi if she wanted to plan the trip, or plan it with me, and she said, “It’s your home country, you plan the trip.” At first, I was excited. I began making a list of all the places I wanted to visit. Then I realized that seven days simply wasn’t enough to experience even a small part of what Utah had to offer, and I started slashing possible destinations off of my list. By the time I looked at a map and realistically accounted for the required driving time, I cut a few more destinations off of my list. The resulting itinerary was still ambitious, I thought, but quite doable for the fit Graham family. Only one consideration loomed as potentially daunting. What in the world were we going to do about food?

We flew into Salt Lake City, picked up our rental car, and drove north to Ogden. I’d flown with a bit of dried fruit, and some greens, in case all else failed, but the motel manager directed me to a grocery store just a mile down the road. The Grahams went on a shopping spree, coming out with oranges, loads of melons, and a bunch of organic stuff including grapes, tomatoes, apples, and a wide assortment of greens. I bought a load of organic bananas, even though they were nowhere near ripe. Rozi found all the appropriate plates, glasses, bowls, napkins, and cutlery that we could ever need on the road, and Faychesca discovered that the bulk section even offered some organic raw nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. With a bit of fatherly guidance, I let her get what she wanted, mostly. We drove home, organized, and made a scrumptious dinner. I peeled navel oranges and passed them around, delighting in the aroma as well as the juicy sweetness. Rozi washed grapes and we passed that bowl around as well. I chopped veggies and tomatoes, added some avocado, and we all had salad. Satisfied, tired, and excited to start our trip, we went to bed.

First thing in the morning, realizing that we’d purchased nowhere near enough tomatoes, I drove back to the store and bought a load more. I got some more oranges and apples too, and even more melons. The weather was rainy, windy, and chilly, but we went to Antelope Island State Park (there are no antelope on the island, go figure) anyway, and though we didn’t stay long, it was well worth the trip. The weather had really turned foul, so we enjoyed the visitor’s center, where we learned a lot of history, both human and natural, by reading the signs and studying the displays. We ventured outside just a bit, and even saw some of the six hundred bison that live on the island. We learned how to tell if you are too close to a bison. Apparently, if the bison bother to look at you, you are too close. If they look at you and raise their tail, you are much too close. If they look at you, raise their tail, and start moving towards you, run away as fast as you can. By the way, few humans can run faster than fifteen to twenty miles per hour, and that for only a very short distance, while most bison can run close to forty miles per hour, and can maintain close to that speed for quite a distance. We’re talking about an animal that is roughly the size and weight of a small car, so we chose to maintain a safe distance from these alluring but very wild creatures. Back in the car, we headed toward Moab, a drive that would take most of the day. Apples, oranges, grapes, and even some lettuce circulated around the car as we drove. The scenery was stupendous. We arrived in Moab in time for dinner, which we happily ate in our motel room, enjoying the excellent tomatoes and spring greens with a dressing of tahini and orange.

The next morning we went to Arches National Park, after I’d served breakfast of honeydew melon and citrus. If you’ve never been, all I can say is plan to go. This place is amazing beyond all hyperbole. Words cannot do the place justice, and if I tried, you wouldn’t believe it. Over a mile in elevation, Arches qualifies as “high desert,” meaning that it tends to be very dry, and hot in the summer months. This day was no exception. We hiked for a few miles, got back to the car at midday, and I started cutting watermelon. I’ve never seen melon consumed so quickly. We ate our fill, took another of the amazing walks offered in the park, filled up on melon yet again, and did a few more walks till almost dark. When we finally returned to our room after more than thirteen miles of hiking, most of which I’d done barefoot, Rozi said she’d make dinner while Faychesca and I played in the pool, an offer too good to refuse. We came back to a beautifully spread out salad bar of fruit and veggies, with choice of dressings and various nibbles. How Rozi makes food look so good I’ll never know, but I sure am glad she does. We slept really deeply.

All we had on schedule for the day was a drive to Bryce Canyon City, to visit Bryce Canyon National Park the following day, so we began the day with a short visit to the tourist-friendly town of Moab. The girls went one way and I went another, agreeing to meet in an hour. We all had fun, and each of us found a few mementos and gifts. We stayed another hour then headed for Bryce. I spotted a truck parked on the side of the road with a hand-lettered sign saying, “Organic peaches.” I pulled over and spoke with the woman selling the peaches, who apologized for the quality, saying they were the last of the season and the last of what she had. I tasted them, and was blown away by how good they were, and bought her last two cases. We ate peaches all the way to Bryce, almost finishing an entire case as we traveled. Dinner was simple that night, as we arrived to our motel quite late. We just ate a few veggies, had a few sunflower seeds, and called it a night. We were already full of peaches anyway, and feeling the altitude. Bryce is over 8,000 feet in altitude, and takes a bit of getting used to.

The new day dawned and I did the ritual of peeling citrus and cutting melon. Everyone ate breakfast and off to Bryce we went. We spent a long time in the visitor’s center, learning about the geological forces that had created the wonderland known as Bryce Canyon, and deciding what route we wanted to choose. I settled on an ambitious hike. Rozi and I both love to hike, and Faychesca is a good little athlete. I thought she could make it. We ate yet another meal of peaches in the car, took the park shuttle to our destination, and started our hike. Faychesca brought two dates with her, which she ate along the way. We walked for more than four hours on a point to point trail, covering a fair bit of ground, the first half of which was all downhill and the second half even further uphill. We ended up at almost 9,000 feet, having walked through terrain that exists nowhere else on Earth. Please, check out Bryce. We finished the second case of peaches as we drove the few hours towards Zion National Park. When we got to our motel in St. George, my first duty was to resupply our provisions. We were traveling with Living Tree Community Food's tahini, dates, and dried mango, but were running low on other items. The local grocery store had a huge organic section, and I came home with apples, grapes, tomatoes, and of course a lot of lettuce and cucumber. Faychesca’s favorite salad is tomatoes, cucumbers, and tahini, and she’d earned it. Peeled, chopped, mixed, and eaten; dinner was a hit, and clean up was easy.

We met friends in St. George the next morning, and as our bananas had finally reached ripeness, had banana smoothies at their house and then went to Zion for the day. We had grapes followed by a huge salad that night, and followed roughly the same protocol for the two remaining days of our trip. On the final night, we arrived in Las Vegas in time to go to the Whole Foods that was half a mile from our hotel. Everyone got what they wanted for dinner, and for the day of flying that was to come. Mostly it was cucumbers, lettuce, and grapes, all of which is easy to eat and flies really well. We also purchased incredible heirloom tomatoes and had a superb salad that night.

Overall, food on the road is easy. Our food cost about $10 per day per person and we ate really well. Sure, you have to be flexible, and you have to trust that you will find acceptable options, but I never let food be the discouraging factor on any endeavor.

Eat The 80/10/10 Diet proudly, and go to health!