Landscapes Across the USA » Oregon

Food and New Yorkers are spoiled

Jicky — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:18:52 +0000

It has been some time since I blogged about food. Now that I have been on the road for almost six months I have experienced a variety of food issues, mainly the lack of good produce.
Not eating meat and poultry definitely limits my choices at restaurants / diners, especially when I travel through small towns out in nowhere. My standard choice for lunch is a grilled cheese sandwich (GCS) or tuna salad sandwich, not always so easy to get. You would think that it is very difficult to mess up grilled cheese. I guess you live in a larger town. A standard grilled cheese sandwich comes without tomato and most of the time when I ask for it the waitress ask if that would be on the side or on the sandwich it. Not a good start. The last place where I had a GCS was in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. The place could have been named “Greasy Spoon”. The sandwich consisted of two slices of white bread (one piece was the end slice) and ONE slice of Kraft singles cheese. I don’t even know if that qualifies as real cheese or if those are just chemicals mixed with oil. The French fries was still dripping with grease. No wonder people get bigger and bigger. It has happened that I forget to ask for the tomato and I end up with one hell of a dry sandwich. Of course there are exceptions. In Atlanta, Texas at a store with an old fashioned lunch counter the sandwich was dressed up with some pesto sauce, very nice. You ask why I don’t get a salad. Well, again you must live in a larger town. The salads I have had generally are made with iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato and shredded cheese and some sort of dressing. Nutrition value equal zero. Not that the sandwich is any better in that regard, but at least it is filling and tasty.
It is not all bad, I have had some really good grilled veggie sandwiches, but they are rare. The biggest problem in small towns is the availability of fresh foods. The freezer department generally is way bigger than the produce department. Worst case the only vegetables I found in a supermarket were some potatoes, onions, a little broccoli and maybe one other vegetable. How can anyone cook dinner with that? Then again, there is the freezer department. When I do come across a great produce selection I always want to buy everything, but have to remind myself that I can’t eat everything before it spoils. Not every vegetable freezes well. I get excited when I see Portobello mushrooms. There have been fruit and vegetable stands along the road in California, but by far not enough and there selection is often limited to the current harvest.
Another small town problem is that the local market often only carries the basics; for everything else you have to drive 30! miles (one way) to the next town. Having lived most of my life in New York City, I just can’t imagine living in a place where I have to spend an hour driving back and forth to buy food. At home I have at least six supermarkets or grocery stores within a five block radius. Not to mention the corner delis for quick buys when you are too lazy to walk one block or when you realize at midnight that you ran out of milk. The selection and quality of produce we have in the city is just amazing and we do take it for granted. The crazy thing is that every tiny town, no matter how remote has a post office…
Here in Bellingham at my friend’s place I am starting to get a little spoiled. Carol has a great vegetable garden in the front and back of her house. I just walk out and eat string beans right of the vine, the zucchinis are huge and yummy, the mint is plentiful and smells so good, lettuce, garlic and more. Her neighbor has strawberries that are out of this world. Along many streets grow blackberry bushes free to all who want to pick their own.
It is not just special stuff, if you call Portobello mushrooms special that at times is difficult to come by.
I thought it was difficult to find my dark, dark European style Rubschlager bread, but I had no idea it would be just as hard to find my cereal. I wasn’t able to find any from Arizona to Northern California, not even in San Francisco, at least not at the places I looked. I was happy to find it in Mendocino, California. I thought buying five boxes should be fine. I would surely find more along my way to Bellingham, Washington. Well, I didn’t find any and I was at the verge of running out. I am sorry; I don’t just eat any cereal. A word to Kellogg’s – you need more stores which carry Mueslix! I emptied the shelves of a supermarket in Bellingham twice and have a three month supply now. Let’s hope I find my bread soon before I have to have it shipped from New York.
Yesterday I was in haven when I walked into a cheese store, Quel Fromage, in Fairhaven. I am not a snob, but I can’t just eat supermarket cheese. Cheese does not only come in yellow and orange squares. The last time I bought cheese was in New Mexico when a friend brought back some cheese from Whole Foods. At Quel Fromage I bought five different, melt on your tongue, cheeses that should last for some time. I am so glad that I have a refrigerator.
Next time again some travel stuff with photos, maybe even the last installment of my highway one trip.

So, so fortunate

Jicky — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:28:21 +0000

Wow, this morning I woke up surrounded by moss covered trees in the very quiet Milo McIver State Park in Oregon near Mount Hood. Tonight I fixed dinner parked at the edge of the Pacific Ocean watching the sun go down. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Pacific, here I am

I am constantly trying to digest the days gone by, which is not that easy. One day I drive through the desert the next I am looking at vineyards or drive along rushing river through the mountains. The impressions are endless and I have to pinch myself from time to time to make sure everything is real. I can’t believe that I have been on the road now for five months. The time just flew by. Winter is coming soon and I have to figure out where to spend the cold months. I like to say that I am very fortunate, not lucky, that I can go on a trip like this; leave New York City for a year and basically just travel. I distinguish between fortunate and lucky, this trip was not simply handed to me, I had to work hard to get to this point. I am lucky, however, to have a boss who lets me continue to work for him from the road, thank you David.
Not every day is rosy. Yesterday was a hard day and I was completely exhausted by the time I arrived at the campground. A 200 mile drive took six hours! That’s hours of driving against strong head winds along the beautiful Columbia River at about 40 mph, followed by driving up and down mountain roads at 30 mph. No cruise control, just pressing the gas pedal down really hard with my right foot. I don’t enjoy those days. I can’t appreciate the scenery (Mount Hood in front of me and Mount Rainier in the rear view mirror) and my body, especially my right knee, just aches. I was in bed before 9 PM and slept for eleven hours.
Good thing days like today by far out number the hard driving days. Tomorrow I will be in the rain forest, what a country!

A day of repairs

Jicky — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 05:40:02 +0000

It is so nice when everything is back in good working order.
I had decided to stop by my camper manufacturer, Eagle Cap, in La Grande Oregon to have a couple of things checked out and fixed.
I arrived yesterday and instead of spending the night at a campground, I figured I might as well park right outside their shop and save some commuting time. Bill, the sales manager, had no problem with this. All was fine until 5 AM when the first workers arrived! Luckily, I managed to fall back to sleep for a few more hours.
In the morning I went over my little issues list with Moni and Jason, who then put the guys to work.
I had to leave to get the right front tire of the truck fixed. I had noticed a nail in the side of the tire back in northern California, but had not found a Ford dealership to fix it. At my last stop nice RVers had pointed out that it could come to a blow out. Not what you want to hear just before you head out for a 250 mile trip!
The Legacy dealership in La Grande squeezed me into their tight schedule. As it turns out, the tire needed to be replaced. Side wall damage cannot be patched for safety reasons. The good news was that my extended tire warranty covers the new tire. I tell you I was happy to hear that. Not just did I get a new tire, but I also had the tires rotated and the oil changed. As a bonus my truck was also washed! Thank you Lony and Tony! FYI, it wasn’t a nail, but a very pointy piece of wood.
Another thank you is due to the inventor of the internet, thanks Al ,
and the inventor of wi-fi. Thanks to both I could get most of my work done while I was waiting for the truck to be fixed.
When I returned to Eagle Cap my camper was fixed as well. Cracks were patched, a crooked leg and a leaky faucet replaced, a radio antenna attached (I always wondered why I had such crappy reception). The guys also ran extensive tests to figure out why I had water leaking, but couldn’t find anything wrong. Connections were tightened and let’s hope that will do it. Thank you to Bill, Moni, Jason and their crew.
Off I went to my night spot 100 miles north on I-84. Yes, I took the interstate. Didn’t love it, but did not have much of an option.
I love traveling and living in my camper, I totally dislike having to find a camp spot for the next night. I think I am set for tomorrow night.

There is plenty more to write about and hopefully, next week I will have some time while I am staying with my friend Carol in Washington State.