Road Eats: Driving from Bay Area to Phoenix & Noshing Healthy Along the Way

  
On Saturday, I drove my car from the Bay Area to Phoenix, my new home. The total trip was about 788 miles which took me 13 hours to drive with 3 pitstops, one stop at Whole Foods to pick up food for the drive, and two stops for gas and potty break.

I’m going to share most of what I noshed on in those 13 hours. Above is a picture of some huge windmills along I-10 which I found utterly amazing as they went out for miles.

Up with the morning birds

I left my folks house at 7:45am, and those of you who know me well, know that it’s nearly a miracle I’m up that early, so here’s a quick video to prove it.  In fact, you can tell I got ready in the wee hours of the morning half awake because my hair & makeup look like I’m going to some late night rock concert…lol! But hey, I was really happy to be going on this trip into my new life in Arizona.

To start, this post is sponsored by Viva Towels. Whenever I go on a road trip paper towels are a MUST because they are multi-purpose. I didn’t know that Viva is made by Kimberley Clark who also makes Kleenex, and that factoid was a bonus to me because I’m a Kleenex girl. I was happy to have both Viva and Kleenex on the road with me. For some fun, fork-free recipes including videos and snappy entertaining ideas, check out the VIVA® Diva Café.

Packed with mom love

 
Road trips are such a temptation to eat greasy fast foods, so I always prepare, and buy healthy foods to take with me. To start, mom packed this for me:

· Fresh fruit chunks: watermelon, cantaloupe, and mango spears. The cantaloupe was so sweet it tasted like candy, heavenly.

· Half an avocado: I had half left from a sandwich I made yesterday, so I figured I’d bring the other half for the cucumber sushi rolls I bought at Whole Foods.

· Red grapes

· A green apple

· A box of Vita Coco coconut water with pineapple

I know. This list sounds obnoxiously healthy for a road trip, but I was gleeful to have this stuff because it was packed with mom love, and made me feel like she was with me on the road because I did do this drive by myself. It’s the first time I have ever driven across states or that kind of distance by my lonesome.

At first I was a bit nervous about traveling alone, but an hour into the trip I was good. In fact, I had plenty of time to just think about my life and all the new and exciting adventures ahead of me. I made a conscious effort to focus on the future rather than the past, my healthy mind practice for the day.

What’s for lunch?

  

I ate lunch during my second pitstop, and ate in my car because I was in one of those small towns out in the middle of nowhere that have only one gas station. From the Whole Foods salad bar, I made this small salad that had fresh spinach, cherry tomatoes, garbanzos, corn, olives, shredded carrots & beets, and on top some roasted butternut squash with sage, and a plantain. You almost never see plantains in a salad bar so that was thrilling because I do love plantains. On my other leg, we have a chunk of organic ciabatta bread and some of the grapes mom packed.

 
Just so you know, I do believe that road trips are times to have fun foods too. I’m not saying ixnay all the junk food because when you got 13 hours to entertain yourself, food is an easy solution. So feast your eyes on one of the fun foods I picked up at the Whole Foods bakery…a vegan donut topped with dark chocolate and coconut. Oh my! This donut was absolutely divine.

 
And whenever I have sweets, at some point later, I gotta have some salt. So, for an afternoon snack I noshed on these corn snacks I found in the bulk food section. I love these things because my favorite part of popcorn is the kernels that sit at the bottom because they didn’t quite pop, but opened slightly so they are really crunchy. This corn snack was like having a whole bag of those kernels.

For my last dinner with the folks, I asked Dad to make his famous ribs which was coupled with asparagus, and baked sweet potatoes topped with brown sugar and marshmallows. I don’t know what kind of magic my dad puts into his ribs because all I can tell you is that the meat falls off the bone and I’m in pure carnivore heaven. Eating these ribs you definitely will go through many a paper towel which I did when I ate some left overs for dinner during my third pitstop at the California-Arizona border.

  

  
I arrived to my hotel room in Phoenix a little after 9pm and ate some of the cucumber rolls with mom’s avocado, along with some iced tea. I was pooped but sure felt very proud of myself for not only driving all that distance, but for also taking the chance at a new life in a new city.

This is the first time I have not lived within a 1 hour drive of my parent’s house. Yes, it’s a big step for me and my family. But, I do believe it’s going to be really good. I have a new clean slate here in Phoenix, and look forward to all the new adventures like learning all about the food scene in Arizona!