On Friday, my three kidlets and I hit the road and drove from Texas to Kansas. My cousin Emily and her family live in Germany, but she was flying in with her kids for a month in the states, and since I want my kids and her kids to have the sort of relationship I have with her, off we drove.
The road trip to Kansas was not bad at all, despite the fact that one of my travel companions was a needy five-month-old nursling who prefers being held by mommy over breathing. I timed our departure just-so so that she fell asleep slightly north of where we live and napped entirely through the state of Oklahoma and through a significant portion of Kansas.
Not having been on this Real Food journey for long, I found eating on the road to be challenging. I thought I was being proactive by packing my usual bag-o-snacks, filling it with organic popcorn and other healthy snacks. I was hopeful we would munch on those all along the way and not need to fill up at McD's or other such places. I was wrong. We ate all the snacks, but snacking for seven hours was just not cutting it. I realize now I should have packed a cooler of sandwiches -- perhaps some made of the already-cooked free-range chicken I'd left behind and hoped the husband would eat.
While there, we ate what we were offered. My aunt is a wonderful cook and she prepares healthful meals that we enjoy. I don't know if I ever see myself turning my nose up at something prepared with love, even if it's also prepared with vegetable oil and/or non-organic produce.
That said, there were two or three times the kids and I were left to fend for ourselves at mealtime, and still, I didn't make positive Real Food choices. Traveling on a budget, I found myself immediately heading for the cheap food-like substances that would leave me with enough money to fill my gas tank for the trip home. I didn't even try to find an alternate source of food -- I just allowed myself to feel stuck in that little town. I prided myself on the fact that I at least drove around to find the closed-on-a-Saturday little vitamin store (with what might have been the town's only source of Real Food locked inside!), but I didn't even bother to get out of my car at the tiny grocery store (which may too have stocked Real Food, perhaps some even local!). I felt out of sorts, out of place, and I found it far easier to rely on those same old food-buying habits while on the road and far from home.
Habits are indeed hard to break, but they are no excuse. We made it home safely and have resumed with moving forward towards a more healthful lifestyle -- more to come on that -- but we have another trip upcoming, one in which we'll be driving from Texas to Georgia for a long-anticipated wedding. This time I'm planning on more planning. I intend to pack both healthy organic snacks and a picnic meal. I'm planning to stop first at the grocery store to explore their Real Food offerings instead of just pulling through the drive-thru -- I've already researched a few retail establishments along our route. I'm also planning to prepare easy and healthful meals in our cabin kitchenette while at the wedding resort property.
The moral of this post: eating Real Food on the road is a challenge, but it's not one that cannot be met. I did not take the initiative to seek out healthy food sources during my most recent travels, but instead, I relied on the same convenience foods that have played a big, big part in robbing me of my health. I believe with some planning and minimal effort, I can feed my body and my family in a healthful way. Finding healthy food can be part of the adventure and can add to the joy of our journey.
photo credit: http://www.goldcar.es/blogs
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