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DATE: June 8, 2002 High Temperature: 110 Low Temperature: 60 Meat intake: Beef, Chicken, Pork, Pepperoni Source material: Eat Your Way Across America, emails from Tom Welsh & Ed Ward. Miles covered: 600 Altitude: 0 (Los Angeles), 7800 (Lakeside)
Greetings fellow travelers!
The day began in Los Angeles. It was day one for me. Day two for John, who had begun the trip in San Francisco the day before. We started the day with a run knowing that a lot of meat would be eaten today (and the following 6 days). I weighed in at 180, John believes his beginning weight to be around 200, but he didn't weigh in. For the sake of science, we'll leave it at 200. Hopefully (again for the sake of science), we'll find some scales along the way. If so, we'll happily report our findings.
Our first stop was in Palm Springs where we ate at the Original Las Casuela's. Pork tacos for John. A chicken taquito and chicken enchilada for me. John said the tacos were more like mini-burritos (or burrito-itos if there is such a word). We both had refills on our cokes as well as a second serving of the quite yummy chips and salsa.
As we continued on toward Arizona, it got hotter and hotter. When we stopped for gas in Desert Center, CA, it was quite warm. So warm, in fact, that we felt an ice cream treat was in order. Now, when eating ice cream in the desert, there's no time to enjoy it. If you do that, it'll be all over your hands instead of in your belly, where it belongs. John expressed concern about ice cream, saying that it might take up valuable meat space. I pointed out that ice cream will simply melt in our bellies around the meat. Space that would otherwise go unused. Don't be surprised if you read of more ice cream eaten in this hot weather. If you're lucky, you may even read of an Italian Ice shared with Carol Cundiff (formerly Kellogg) in NYC. There are many treats along the way. The high temperature of the day was 110 near Blythe, California.
About 5 hours after our first meal on the road came our second meal on the road. Macky's, in Payson, AZ. By this point, we had climbed high enough for the temperature to go down to a bearable level. Macky's came at the recommendation of the friendly people at the Circle K in Payson. We ate outside. John had The Verde Burger (a local specialty with green chiles, pepper-jack cheese and a healthy dollop of mayonnaise). I had the Western BBQ Burger. It was between that and the Chili Burger. The waiter convinced me that the Western BBQ Burger was the way to go. But I'll never know. I mean, I liked it fine. But what about the chili burger? Was it better? There's no turning back on this road to BBQ redemption. If any of you should ever find yourself hungry in Payson, AZ, please go to Macky's and have the Chili Burger. Then tell me how it is. It pains me to say this, but I hope you don't like it. At least not a lot. Only then will I know I made the right choice.
Our final stop of the day was in Lakeside, AZ. 7800 feet above sea level. About 50 miles short of our arrival in Lakeside, we stopped for two six packs of beer (one of Bud. one of Bud light) to bring to our hosts for the evening (Carlos, his wife, Alex, and their baby, Isabel).John & I were both carded because we each carried beer up to the counter. We were not offended. We were pleasantly surprised. The first of many pleasant surprises, we can only hope.
Today was one of our longest drives. We'll have a couple of doozies ahead, but as long as we get our meat rations, we should be fine.
Here's our list of planned stops: L.A. - Pinetop/Lakeside, AZ (done) Pinetop/Lakeside - Roswell, NM (the plan is to stop in either Lincoln, NM or Valley of Fires, NM, then hit Roswell like so many wayward Martians in the morning) Roswell - Austin Austin - Atlanta, GA Atlanta, GA- Savannah, GA Savannah, GA - Charleston, SC Charleston - Washington, DC Washington, DC - NYC
Well, that's all for tonight. Check back tomorrow for more.
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