All the leaves are brown...
and the sky is grey...
We hit the road a couple of days ago, not quite California Dreamin' although we're headed in that general direction.
It's been uncommonly cold at home. I don't remember ever seeing the ditches and ponds freeze up so early.
That gave me a chance to enjoy some cold and snow, although not much in the way of clear skies, before we left. My darling can't take the cold, and was miserable during the packing process. He was also terrified that the Princessmobile's pipes, which froze 3 nights running, would see damage. (Fortunately they thawed every day, and we see no evidence of damage.) He made the most of a bad situation by making a huge batch of chili. Some of it was frozen to make road food, and some of it warmed us during our week of packing. You'll see it sometime along the way.
Packing the Princessmobile had its embarrassing moments. I found this all in a bag on the floor of our pantry:
Note to self: do NOT stock up on herbs or spices on this trip! We'll see whether I manage to stick to that rule. We still have about half the Egyptian feta cheese we bought last spring in Tucson, and it's now in the Princessmobile's refrigerator. We have a lot of meat purchased from a favorite butcher over the Labor Day weekend, and flour I bought in Tucson last spring before I lost the time and motivation for bread-baking. The good news is that our house and garage refrigerator and freezer are mostly empty. The bad news is that I really should be cooking this stuff instead of enjoying local food as we travel! So this trip will no doubt be a hodgepodge of trailer-food cookery and travelogue...much as it has always been.
Here are a couple of road-food breakfasts: nothing fancy, but not bad for eating in the truck as the truck eats the miles.
This croissant sandwich looks like it's sticking its tongue out at me, but it was pretty good.
The next morning's Subway breakfast sandwiches weren't quite as good. I liked my bacon, egg and cheese sandwich - with tomatoes, spinach and mayo added. My darling chose a straight-up sausage and cheese sandwich, and couldn't finish it. "No wonder they named this casino 'Terrible's!" he exclaimed.
The first night out, we ate chili but after 480 miles I was in no mood to photograph or post. Last night, at only 380 miles, we stopped at an Oklahoma Welcome Center and enjoyed the view. The snow and ice are far behind us.
I put (only slightly) more effort into dinner:
These lovely sausages, from that Labor Day weekend shopping expedition, went into a pot of Zatarain's Red Beans and Rice. I seem to have forgotten to take a snap of the finished product.
Tonight we'll be in Texas, and dinner remains to be seen. The fridge is full, but we think we'll have access to good 'cue. We'll see what happens.
