A little behind schedule, but probably better for it

Why hello there. I'm writing to you from beautiful (?) Ozona, TX where we crashed after 12 hours of driving on very little sleep. Then we slept through our 5 am alarm after tossing and turning for most of the night to that point and it's now 9 am (TX time, which I suppose means we aren't really that late). Despite missing our morning in Austin, I'm happy to have a well-rested driver. Joe's now outside doing all the hard work (packing the car and doing mechanical stuff) while I drink a cup of coffee and write a blog post. Life is tough.

Okay, so the aim was a little off,
but you get the idea.

Yesterday morning we left Tucson at 6 am and meandered our way through New Mexico and into Texas, stopping off for food, gas and the occasional photo op. I have to say, there is a whole lot of nothing in west Texas. After hours of flat, dry landscape with few signs of life, the scenery changed into rolling hills with red and green shrubs that was quite pretty. We seem to be in the middle of this, so I expect some more this morning. We have 2-3 more hours until we hit Austin, so we should be there just in time for our extended lunch. By 'extended' I mean that we intend to start eating street food as soon as we get there and continue until dinner time. This does not bode well for the amount of BBQ I would like to eat, but I assure you that I will put forth a valiant effort and make Joe eat everything I cannot.

Cacti and popsicles

Lovers or fighters?

My first full day in Tucson turned out to be a resounding success: I ate good food, had fun catching up with Shayna, and managed to avoid a sunburn despite spending most of the day outside in the Arizona sun.

We followed up our breakfast with a trip to the botanical gardens, which were a little short on flowers (not surprising, given the hundred degree temp), but did have some rather impressive cacti. We stopped off at the Circle K afterwards, where I was thrilled to find coconut popsicles and reminded of just how close we are to Mexico. For the record, that popsicle was amazing and I'm going for a repeat today. 

Next we headed out to the San Xavier Mission, a Catholic mission just outside the city that was founded in 1692. The highlight was, of course, the church that was built a hundred years later. Gathered outside the church was a row of vendors, which Shayna claimed would have fresh tamales - half the reason for our trip. As it turned out, there was not a tamale in sight, BUT instead each and every vendor was there selling Indian fry bread. Upon ordering up a serving, my suspicions were confirmed: it was bannock! I find the continuity here interesting, as I inquired about bannock during my time in eastern Canada and generally received only confusion in return. It seems as though a cultural tradition that doesn't pass west to east instead moves north to south, which I suppose isn't that surprising, as it is often the case in BC.

Although the fry bread was delicious, it was not sufficient to fill Shayna's need for protein. I decided that since I'm in the US of A, it was time for a burger. We headed to Zinburger for an early dinner and discovered that this meant happy hour - which included 2 for 1 appies.  The excitement this inspired was probably irrational, as we ordered up a couple burgers, a BLT salad, truffle fries and zucchini fries - all of which Shayna assured me would get eaten. Sadly, they did not, but we made a solid effort. Full to the point of discomfort, we attempted to work off our dinner with a walking tour of downtown Tucson. Highlights: The Hotel Congress, where John Dillinger was killed, and a statue of Pancho Villa, which was presented as a gift to the city of Tucson by Mexican president Lopez-Portillo in 1981. I couldn't help pondering the Mexican sense of humour at this particular gift.

It's now Day 2, and I'm contemplating coffee and a late breakfast as I await the arrival of Dr. Nguyen this afternoon. Our plans after that consist of a trip to Tucson's famous El Guero Canelo for Sonoran hot dogs (yes, I'm going to eat a hot dog) and dinner and drinks with the lovely Kelley Merriam Castro. This will hopefully be followed by a good night's sleep before we hit the road at 5 am tomorrow morning. Dragging me out of bed at such a godforsaken hour will surely be a test of Joe's determination. I trust he's up to the task. 

2 for 1 gringa day, este domingo!

Touched down in Phoenix last night at 6 pm - and 41 degrees celsius. I managed to catch the 6:30 shuttle to Tucson and arrived an hour early without so much as a hiccup. So far, so good on the travel front.

"Mmmmm, Canadian bacon!"

After sleeping in this morning, Shayna and I made our way to the B Line Cafe for a stack of crepe-cakes with pecan butter and a latte. Let the 2-week food binge begin! Tucson is HOT, which unfortunately limits the potential activities for the day. Not to worry though - I'm more interested in catching up than seeing too many sights. There will be plenty of sight-seeing to fill the time in the next two weeks. I'm also trying to avoid kicking off my trip with a severe sunburn.

Since I'm on here, I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate Joseph Nguyen, my partner in crime, on his graduation today. Way to go Doc!

It's not just the food

It's now less than a week from my departure and it feels like an update is long overdue.

Until now I've mostly raved about all the food I'm going to eat, but delicious street food is - of course - my second love. My first is history. And despite having (finally) made a commitment to Latin American history, those who know me well should know that I've been fascinated by the U.S. in the 1960s from a very young age. So you can be sure that my first journey through the Deep South will also involve some key historical landmarks.

Although we plan to see (a little of) Mississippi and (a lot of) Alabama out the window of a moving vehicle, I can't pass up the opportunity to stop at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. A day later, we'll finish off our stop in Atlanta with a visit to the King Center before we head north through the Carolinas. If anyone knows of any other worthwhile stops along our route, feel free to send me your suggestions.

Just for good measure

I've been dreaming about G'Raj Mahal since the first time I saw it on Eat St. a while back. I'm currently suffering some distress because I want to eat there SO bad, but we only have one day in Austin and I suspect this would interfere with my TX BBQ dinner plans. What do you think? Is it humanly possible to do Torchy's Tacos, BBQ brisket and super-spicy Goan Indian food all in a single day?

So much street food, so little time

As our goal for this trip, we're setting out to eat as much street food as we possibly can in eight days. Now, some of the places we'll be stopping probably don't have much to offer in terms of street food, but I've been assured that Austin, TX is street food heaven. I've been scouring the interwebs looking up potential places to eat, but I think we've decided to leave it up to fate and see what we stumble upon. That said, there is one exception to this rule and that is Torchy's Tacos - Joe's one and only street food must in Austin. So, to whet your appetite for what's to come (and to inform those of you who still seem to think that 'street food' means hot dog stands), here's a little preview of Torchy's courtesy of VendrTV.

12 states, 8 days and as much food as we can possibly eat.

So, here we are in May and my thesis defense is just around the corner. After being buried in work for the last few months, I'm taking a vacation. And it has occurred to me that this is a great excuse to get my blog and up and running again.

In case you're wondering
who Joe is.

My upcoming road trip has been mentioned a couple times on FB, eliciting (occasionally rude) questions. (Yes, Julie Pieterse, I'm talking about you!) So, here is the much-anticipated explanation: I'm headed south. Not surprising, since south is usually my direction of choice, but this time I'm going to the south. Joe and I have eight days to drive from California to Pennsylvania, in what is going to be a  fast-paced, tightly-planned, self-control-free street food tour of the southern United States.

At this point, we've sketched out our route, made a few minor and a few major adjustments, and now we're just ironing out the details. I've provided a map for your viewing pleasure (see below). I'll be flying into Arizona for a little Oaxaca reunion before we burn straight through to Austin, TX. After a full day of BBQ and street food in Austin, we'll head to New Orleans for another full day to be spent wandering the streets and indulging in the culinary delights of The Big Easy. Then it's off to Atlanta (with a pit stop in Montgomery, AL for a couple key land marks), where our goals involve fried chicken and MLK. After a night in Durham, NC, enjoying what I've been assured will the best of company, we'll head north through Virginia to arrive in the bustling metropolis of Hershey, Pennsylvania - just in time to (hopefully) get Joe settled into some new digs.

So, that's where things stand for now and we're pretty happy with the plan. Right now I am happily taking suggestions for driving tunes and food we should eat along the way. You can expect sporadic blog posts between now and June 2nd (when I leave for AZ), and after that I've made it my goal to post daily updates. Feel free to harass me relentlessly if I fail to do so.

View Hershey Road Trip in a larger map