One empty bag of pre-shelled pistachios, a crumb-less box of Samoas Girl Scout cookies, and a desolate bag of resealable Cheez-its all tossed in the trash can at my brother’s new apartment.
Some of these items were left behind on the car’s floor, but mostly in our stomachs… along with four days of road trip-worthy fast food “restaurants.” Wow, what a glorious idea, all of my favorite snacks PLUS fast food. Well, I might want to rethink that.
Road trips are essential to a proper Summer. Whether you are road-tripping a couple of hours to the beach, or tackling a cross-country road trip like I did with my brother, at least one is necessary.
The map clocked our drive in at 2,763 miles, which translates to 41 hours. We started in Washington D.C, planning to make our stops in Nashville, Dallas, and Flagstaff, and finally L.A. Typically, I would not be found eating fast food, especially on a road trip, but I faced both on this trek.
After driving thousands of miles and eating thousands of calories, I have learned what I would change for next time. Follow along to find out what to eat and what not to eat on your summer road trip.
Before Day 1
I am not entirely sure why I agreed to face this abominable trek. It was the middle of my semester, and I thought to myself, “It’s only a long weekend, it’ll be a breeze.” My travels started before I even stepped in the car, running around Manhattan buying travel-size shampoo bottles, working out at the gym, and attending my eight-hour class.
Finally, I was off to Washington, DC on a 9:05 PM train totaling 3 hours and 23 minutes.
Day 1
Waking up “rested” from my five hours of sleep, I knew I was off to a bad start. Peeling myself out of bed with no clue of what my next four days would look like. I was greeted with a hug from my mother and brother, who I had not seen in over three months. We chugged our honey lavender lattes and said our final goodbyes to my worried mother.
Meal one
After my brother and I stopped for gas, ate his favorite bagel, and had a second coffee we were on the road to L.A. We set the rules early. Whoever was not driving would man the directions – including bathroom breaks, food stops, police alerts, general traffic information, and the necessary road-trip music.
Meal two
The first five hours were smooth with light rain. We started our four-day license plate game to see how many of the states’ license plates we would see. Around hour five we crossed into Tennessee. We already ate half of the bag of pistachios, a row of Samoas. Still hungry, we decided to stop for Chick-fil-a, one of me and my brother’s childhood favorite.
Even five hours away from where we ate Chick-fil-a as kids, we sat down across from each other in the familiar setting of the taupe tables and bustling lunch crowds. We sat and watched the crowd around us as we ate our first road trip meal. One that I instantly regretted; the dense breading and the delicious but gut-wrenching sauce sat heavy in my stomach. I was in desperate need of a vegetable.
We ran through the rain back to the car. I slowly moved backed out of the space and we were back on the highway. To pass the time for we curated playlists, fighting over if we were going to listen to electronic dance music or throwback hits (my pick). We agreed to whoever was driving was able to request songs to ease their experience of having to drive.
Meal three
At hour ten of torrential rain, we peeled our legs out of the car at the hotel in Nashville. We dropped our bags in the room and sought out food that was walking distance. After the typical indecisiveness, we stumbled upon an American restaurant called Scout’s Pub, an oddly empty and bright restaurant for a Friday night. I chose the ‘pear with me’ salad over the ‘let’s taco ‘bout it’ salad. The salad with fruit was more enticing (and necessary) although not amazing.
After slowly eating our dinner and discussing potentially going out to bars, we decided to go head back to the room and be well-rested for out second day of driving. We each got into our beds and turned on one of our favorite shows, The Office. I quickly fell asleep. What we learned from Day 1 is that we need to focus more on vegetables and fruits in our meals, eating a much lighter lunch, and to avoid restaurants with a play on word-named dishes.
Day 2
I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm, spry and ready to venture to Dallas, TX. We were staying with my aunt who lives in Dallas, so I was most excited for this leg of the trip. We had never been to Dallas despite her living there for numerous years.
Meal four
My brother and I cannot do much without coffee so that was our first stop. We left before the seven in the morning and apparently no coffee shops were open. So we searched until seven and made our way to Dunkin. We ordered 25 munchkins and two iced coffees to go. As we ate, the powdered sugar settled on the console one munchkin after another. We finished our “breakfast” with a sugar and caffeine high.
My brother and I never fought growing up, so I knew this trip would be stress free. I would have been more worried if he had done all 41 hours alone. Before he decided to move to Los Angeles, he almost moved to New York with me the year prior, despite fitting the west coast beach life mold.
Meal five
Halfway through Arkansas we needed lunch and to switch drivers. Our options felt like McDonalds, McDonalds, and McDonalds. I was actively trying to avoid Mcdonald’s, while cheap it is heavy like Chick-fil-A (and we’ve learned to avoid heavy food). Alas, we found a Jersey Mikes, my brother’s old stomping grounds. He worked there most of high school and would frequently bring home subs. After reminiscing on home, it felt necessary to get it. Healthy? No. Fried? No. I got fresh turkey and roast beef piled onto a white loaf, accompanied by the regular accouterments, and finished with oil and vinegar.
I felt refueled, and we also refueled the car and set off for the last couple of hours to Dallas, TX eager to have Tex-Mex. We decided at the beginning of the drive neither of us could nap in the car to make sure the driver wouldn’t be alone.
Meal six
As the sun set, we backed into the driveway, rushed out of the car, hugged my relatives, and got directly back into the car to venture to La Hacienda Ranch, a local Tex-Mex restaurant. I sat down and ordered one large margarita which quickly turned into two, chicken flautas, and chips and guacamole for the table.
The four of us sat in a booth discussing my brother’s new job working at a tech startup. There was a nostalgic feeling while discussing leaving home, making a cross country move, and being away from family. What I learned from Day 2, steer away from sugar-filled breakfasts, and don’t drink tequila when you have an early wake-up call and a 15-hour drive the next day.
Day 3
Meal seven
I faced our longest drive day with a pounding headache, two homemade eggs, bacon, cheese sandwiches, and a black coffee. My stomach was now filled with alcohol and six meals.
We got into the car at five in the morning and I broke our rule of not napping, I had to sleep a little more. When I woke up we were in the middle of Texas, the plains. I lost count of the windmills on hour six as they started to multiply for miles ahead of us. The wind blew across the roads into Amarillo.
Meal eight
We pulled into Raising Canes, pushing our doors open against the wind and we turned our faces away from the dust. I asked for the four-piece tender combo. We got the food to go, we only got out to stretch and use the restroom. We ate this meal on the road, focused on getting to our next destination, which was undetermined. All I know is I should have sans the toast, french fries, chicken, and sauce…. everything. This meal made me feel the worst.
We crossed into New Mexico exhausted, we stopped for the restroom and one redbull for my brother, the only item I purchased on the trip. We raced back into the car and my brother chugged his redbull while driving. 20 minutes after the redbull the caffeine kicked in and he got the jitters, we had to switch so I could drive. I was determined to make it to Flagstaff, Arizona, six hours away from the driver switch.
Meal Nine
After the dark unlit highways of New Mexico and Arizona, we had to stop for a late-night dinner. McDonald’s. I was not pleased with this stop but it was necessary, one Oreo McFlurry and french fries. We got back in the car once more until we arrived at the hotel. I inhaled my French fries and tended to the monotonous highway. We arrived a little before midnight.
What I learned from Day 2, home-cooked breakfasts are much better than fast food, and that 15 hours in a car is not an ideal day of driving.
Day 4
Meal ten
After a restless night, we lugged our bags down to the continental breakfast. The smell of stale bacon, D-I-Y waffles, and rubbery eggs lingered in the lobby. I avoided the other hotel guests as I gathered my breakfast: two yogurts, one piece of toast, and a black coffee. My brother and I sat in silence eating our breakfast, excited for the final day.
Once back in the car we put our maps on and we only had seven hours left between us and LA. This was our shortest day with an arrival in LA at three in the afternoon. We were so ready to be out of the car and under the California sun.
Meal eleven
After crossing the last state line of the trip, we decided to stop for lunch. We got Chipotle, a family favorite, and healthier than the rest of our road trip meals. My brother called our friends to tell them we are in the golden state. We finally felt much better than previous days. I’m not sure if it is because we were eating better food or the fact that we were in California.
I drove the last two hours. Palm tree-lined streets greeted us as we pulled into the driveway of my brother’s apartment. We gathered the trash out of the car, including all of our processed snacks. The snacks I wished were bananas, nuts, apples, to-go peanut butter, and celery.
Meal twelve
We unpacked the car and met up with friends for Sugarfish in LA. It was our reward for the long trip, fresh sushi and good company after being only us for the past four days. Sake was poured and stories of our two thousand mile road trip were debriefed. We savoured our courses making up for all of the heavy junk food calories in my body. While sushi was the first meal for my brother in LA, it meant that it was the last of our trip and he is finally a Californian.
