blue artichoke

My drive back home to the Midwest yesterday was much less eventful than my drive to east TN. The only noteworthy event was my bypassing a ghost story. Soon after I got on the road, between Knoxville and Nashville, in a craggy, rocky, wooded section of the interstate, I spotted a little boy with brown hair dressed in shorts and a white t-shirt, sitting cross-legged on a rock set back a bit in an opening in the trees. He was looking down as if he had a book in his lap. There were no cars pulled off on the side of the road, or any sign of anyone else with him. Just a boy on a rock by the road. I thought about pulling over to see what was up, if he needed help, but then I decided that the boy was probably the ghost of a boy who died 20 years ago but still haunts the rock or watches over traffic. I didn't stop. GC has a better explanation, one that doesn't disrupt an entire lifetime built on reason; he supposes the boy lives in a house nearby, shielded from view by the trees, and sits on the rock when he's bored. That sounds more likely.

As I drove, I set small goals for myself. If I can get to Paducah by 2:00, I can stop there for lunch. If I reach Mt. Vernon in the next half hour, I'll stop for gas and a snack. I didn't get my snack and almost ran out of gas on a long stretch of desolate highway, but was able to fill up at an overpriced gas station in the middle of nowhere. No snack. A good road snack has to be something bite-sized that isn't covered in salt or powdered flavoring and won't melt. Ideally, it won't create a lot of crumbs or stain your shirt or pants if you occasionally miss your mouth. On the road trip to Atlanta, I discovered that Honey-Sesame Almonds and Chocolate Cat Cookies for People (both from Trader Joe's) are great road foods. A chocolate protein bar, however, is not. It's rather difficult to lick melted chocolate and marshmallow from a wrapper at 70 mph. Chips aren't great either, especially the cheesy ones like Doritos, because you end up with salty chip dust stuck to your fingers. Chex Mix also isn't great, because the little pieces break and are difficult to get out of the bag without tipping your head back (and taking your eyes off the road) and pouring the broken remains into your mouth. My usual road trip treat is Combos; they don't melt, stick to your fingers, require a napkin or get pulverized into bits.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite road trip snack?