Tag Archives: Road trip diary

What I Put in My Road Trip Cooler

I don’t always plan ahead for eating on the road. When I do, I’m rewarded, financially and health wise. Often, during the Wanderslut 1996 Road Trip, I would not plan in advance and be at the mercy of the “food stores” attached to gas stations.

We know at least a couple of things about these stores: 1) they are expensive and 2) they have virtually no fresh food save a bunch of unripe green bananas or heavily waxed apples on the checkout counter. So, do yourself a favor and take some time to plan ahead.

Here’s an ideal list for what I put in my road trip cooler.

If cGMP enzyme becomes effective in the body, it does not allow blood to be in high volume and get flown in the penile body. cialis generic tadalafil The regular Vagifem medication dosage for the treatment of physical dyfunctions and prevention of further impairment of several body parts due to injury, disease, or aging. you can try here cialis generika But as mentioned above, the effects last tadalafil cipla seanamic.com for approximately 4 to 6 hours. Along these buy generic viagra lines, with Kamagra Oral Jelly you get a solid and superbly characteristic erection that makes sex as fun loving activity.

My Ideal List

Water — usually small plastic bottles since they fit better. I always buy whatever the store’s generic brand is. It hasn’t killed me yet.
Baby carrots or pre-cut carrots. I get these pre-washed, pre-cut, whatever the store has. I’m all about making it easier on myself to be healthy – so no, I never buy regular carrots and wash them and cut them up myself. ‘Cause I’m too lazy for that.
Hummus — for me, the ideal dip. For the carrots, but it works for just about anything. Pureed chick pea (garbanzo) and sesame seed mixture, high in flavor, relatively low in calories (and much lower than many salty oily things you could dip your food into).
Cut Up Fruit – When driving, it’s a lot easier to eat small bites you can grab with one hand and pop in your mouth. I choose things like apple slices, melon chunks, grapes, orange wedges (without the rind). Also, if it’s just the edible portion of the fruit, there’s no detritus left over that you to have to get rid of.
Cheese Sticks — I get the kind you can buy in grocery or even places like Starbucks – mozzarellas sticks, or the red Babybel bites. The cheese means there’s some protein to go along with the fat, and I find that they satisfy a hunger craving quite effectively.
Peanut butter — to put on bread, into sandwiches, or to eat on apple slices. High in fat and protein, definitely satisfies my cravings. I cannot live without peanut butter.

Something More Substantial for a Proper Meal

Baguette/baguette sandwiches: sometimes just the bread itself, which is easy to tear into hunks. Also, great for making sandwiches — peanut butter, or cheese, with a little arugula or basil, tomato slices, a dollop of mayo and dijon. I often make a few sandwiches in advance and put them in baggies. Then I know I have a lunch or dinner and won’t need to buy bad expensive, unhealthy “food” on the road.

Caprese sandwich, simple to put together and so delicious. (Baguette slices, mozzarella cheese, tomato, basil, a little olive oil)

Granola — Also something you can eat dry or as a cereal with some kind of liquid. Although eating handfuls of granola while driving will just mess up your car seat and floor (I know from experience).
Almond Milk — I like the chocolate kind. It comes in rectangular cartons which are perfect for cooler storage. Use as an alternative beverage for water and for the aforementioned granola bowl.

I’m guilty of putting this on cereal like granola, drinking it as a beverage, using it in smoothies, etc.

Better Than Chips and Soda

Bananas — ok, so I broke my own rule for no fruit detritus. Yes, you are left with a banana peel. But it’s really something easy to eat while driving.
Energy bars – in an emergency — or not. They’re maybe healthier than regular chocolate candy bars, maybe not — but having a few on hand in the car is good when you need a handy snack. Also good to have these in general in case of an emergency or as in my case sometimes when I exercise, a hypoglycemic episode where I need some carbs quickly.

Three Favorite Smaller Cities from Wanderslut ’96 Road Trip

When I set out to complete my “circumnavigation” of the lower 48 for Wanderslut 1996: A Gay Road Trip Across America, one of the things in the back of my mind was to evaluate stops as possible future places to live.

Not that I was specifically looking to leave L.A. It was more of an answer to a question, “If I were to move someday, where might be a good place to go?”

The criteria were pretty basic back then: a city, a city smaller than Los Angeles (not hard to find), and a city with an arts community that was welcoming to LGBT-type folks. Another thing that was a plus: a warm climate.

These are the three towns that I liked the most in 1996 (listed by order of encounter) :

Tucson

I spent very little time in Tucson but my memory of that particular trip is colored by having a local friend tell me what it was like over dinner. It’s so great to have a familiar face who can show you around a bit when in unfamiliar territory.

I loved the Spanish/Mexican heritage, the pace, the warmth (literal) and the fact there was a major university right in the middle of town.

“A few years older than me, Charlie was primarily in the friend-of-a-friend category, but I knew him tangentially, and liked him. He had a welcoming smile and great big teeth. He picked me up at my motel after the end of his part-time shift at Foley’s (department store), where he shilled furniture. It seemed he was also relieved to see a friendly face.”

Tucson station (from a different trip on Amtrak)

Maybe it was his easy re-entry to his hometown made it seem like a place where I, too, would be welcomed. No real research was done – I just got a very nice vibe from the time spend there.

Austin

It was my first time (first of many now) in Austin and I also had an internet “friend” I was to meet who was going to show me around a bit.

That really helps, when one is a stranger and doesn’t know where to go or even how to get around. The guy showed me Austin’s music scene venues, such as they were in 1996, and the nearby gay bars.

The blogger on 6th Street in Austin back in 1996. (Sorry about the shadows during scanning!)

I guess I was kind of surprised that the gay scene in Texas’s state capital was so big, or at least, bigger than I anticipated.

Also, I remember thinking Austin was a really pretty town. State capitol, another huge university, rivers, lakes, trees. . . even a nude park at Hippie Hollow.

However, when the body runs out of ways to compensate, or the compensating mechanisms finally give up, the white flag goes up in the cheap canadian viagra http://www.heritageihc.com/articles/20/ eyes of their parents. The magic of Kamagra for the users: The medication is similar cheap online levitra to the magic for a man. If order cialis online http://www.heritageihc.com/options they do not work, other solutions include injections, suppositories, vacuum pump usage, and implants. Antidepressants, oral contraceptives usa viagra no prescription and medicines taken for heart or chest relief like amyl nitrite, isosorbide mononitrate, nitroglycerin etc.

I even enjoyed (or didn’t mind too much) getting lost:

“Then I got lost jogging around what they call the “Town Lake” in Austin. It wasn’t a lake, but a wide part of the Colorado River (also, not that Colorado River, i.e., the one that created the Grand Canyon and that forms the border between California and Arizona, this is a different Colorado River). How could one get lost running in what basically was a circle?

“Even though I thought I looked cute in my little black running shorts and nothing else (it was at least 90 degrees and humid) it wasn’t so much fun just having the key to my car but alas, no car. Eventually, I realized I was on the wrong side of the lake/river, and crossed and retraced my steps.“

Though even back then I think Austin had started it’s growth – I remember thinking there was way too much traffic for these narrow two lane streets in town.

Fort Lauderdale

Of the three small cities, Fort Lauderdale was the one most obviously with a substantial LGBT presence. It even had the beginnings of a gayborhood, had a great bathhouse, and of course, world-famous beach and proximity to the excitement of Miami.

From my perspective at the time, I thought of it kind of like a “Palm Springs with a beach.”

Didn’t hurt that frisky fun was had there:

“Finally, after enough swimming, sunning, whirlpooling and working out, it was back to the steam room to see if anything had changed. It had. There I met Eric in one of those little inviting alcoves, emerging from a cloud of steam.

“He was a man of few words. However, what Eric lacked in the verbal department he made up for in the physical presentation: another 30-ish guy, shaved head on top of the most perfect little V-shaped body, dark hairy pecs and a delightful spider tattoo on one shoulder. “

I was sure to have even more fun if I moved there, I thought.

Blogger thinking about the delights of Fort Lauderdale (photo from 1996).

But I didn’t move there, or to either of these other two towns. When I did move, it was to San Francisco – a place I really did enjoy living in for the five years I was there.

Twenty-five years later, the only one of these three towns still left on my internal “maybe move there someday” list is Tucson. Austin’s too big, Fort Lauderdale is, well, in Florida. No thank you. Not that I’ve made any decisions to go anywhere. But I do think about it a lot, and run the numbers.

Five Common Myths About Solo Travel

Honestly, I think of one or another of these common myths regarding solo travel just about every time I’m set to leave on a trip!

I firmly believe that if we don’t take risks in our lives, we’re just stuck on an endless and monotonous treadmill. It’s best to address these myths head-on:

Solo Travel is Dangerous

Crossing the street is dangerous – if you don’t look both ways before you do. I think that while it’s true there is some vulnerability to solo travelers on the road, most of it is mitigated by common sense and trusting your instincts.

Say you turn a corner in a strange city at night and suddenly you’re thrust into the darkness of little to no streetlights. Common sense tells you that it’s safer to go back to the light.

Likewise, if your driving route takes you over a mountain pass and the weather report forecasts a couple of feet of snow, you should probably listen to the experts and go another way.

How often has your gut told you that there’s something off with a person or a situation? Listen to that inner wisdom! It’s there for a reason.

Solo Travel is Expensive

“Two can live as cheaply as one.” A corollary might be that “two can travel as cheaply as one.” Certainly sharing gas and motel fees on a road trip are cheaper if spread among two or more people.

I would argue, however, that you’re bound to save money when you’re on your own. At the very least, you’re only going to pay for exactly what you want. When you travel with others, often you’ll do something on their agenda that you would not likely choose if alone, and thus not pay for it.

So what I’d say is that it probably evens out – solo travel is more expensive in some realms, but you save in others by focusing on yourself and your interests.

It’s not necessarily cheaper, but it’s not wildly more expensive, either.

Solo Travel is Lonely

Being alone is not the same thing as being lonely. While I have had “blue” moments on solo road trips or other travel adventures, they’ve been transitory.

Chiropractors have long been treating patients with headaches with viagra on line great success. This is one of viagra discounts the strongest ingredients which Kamagra have in its composition. buy levitra With the improvement of living standards, people’s demand for quality of life is higher and higher. It can also result in non-performance, unable to maintain or get an commander cialis like this erection.

Feeling alone has always been more than balanced out by meeting strangers and discovering what these new people add to my life-in-the-moment. It could be a sex hookup (as in my almost-memoir, Wanderslut 1996). It could be a motherly waitress in an empty diner on a rainy night. It could be an enthusiastic college-aged tour guide in a museum. It could be a bunch of friendly guys on a dance floor.

Honestly, isn’t that why we venture out alone anyway? To find some answers – which so often come in the form of new people.

When I was a kid I really internalized the parental advice “don’t speak to strangers.” I think the opposite should be advice for adults: “Don’t NOT speak to strangers!”

Solo Travel is Not Fun

“How am I gonna have any fun if my friends aren’t around?”

It’s all about the definition of “fun.” If you limit the definition of fun things to what you are used to doing with friends, relatives, acquaintances, etc., then you’re already handicapping yourself.

Solo travel requires you to get out of your comfort zone and go for the possibility of what might be: Going for a spiritually uplifting hike in the red rocks of Sedona. Taking in a movie on the spur of the moment as the only patron in the theater. Eating lunch at a hole-in-the-wall diner (that your friends would die rather than go to) because it just looks interesting to you.

These few examples are part of a world of experience – fun experience – that you will only know if you push yourself.

People Will Think You’re a Loser

This actually speaks to your own insecurities (or MY own insecurities) more than anything else. (Maybe it’s only my common myth about solo travel!)

I went to school with a young woman whose last name was Campellone (pronounced “camp-alone”). When one of our teachers asked her, during a roll call, if she enjoyed that – camping alone – she replied with (I’m sure a well-rehearsed) “I have no choice.”

It doesn’t feel like anything is lost here.

I remembered that because it was so funny. But that’s the fear – you’re only on this trip by yourself because everyone you know hates you and doesn’t want to travel with you.

The truth is that people will admire you and your “bravery” for venturing out on your own. This goes for the people you meet while on the road as well as the friends and relatives back home, who will often say things like “I could never do that, go on a trip by myself, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

It takes a certain strength to blaze a trail and solo travelers should congratulate themselves every time they do it.

Wanderslut 1996: A Gay Road Trip Across America

Just published November of 2020. Out now!

Wanderslut 1996 is a mostly true, gay nineties road trip diary. After losing his job, Joe Tobin takes his severance money and heads across the country on a solo trip – seeing the sights, getting laid, eating bad food, and perhaps, finding some enlightenment along the way. A snapshot of one American man’s gay life in the mid ‘90s. (Click on book cover or here for link to Amazon page.)

Sick of the creepy, sad fat orange loser tweeting? Sick of the pandemic? Looking for a diversion? Find out just how slutty Jimbolaya was back in the ’90s, at the youthful age of 40! Surprised even myself, actually. “Joe Tobin” is a stand-in for me, Jim Arnold.

Sildenafil is a drug which is used to treat impotence in men. click for more info cialis 40 mg increases the body’s ability to achieve and maintain strong erection for longer period of time. Humans suffer from number of disease in cialis price his lifetime some of which ,may also prove fatal. Nutmeg is a popular herb which is widely used in the tab viagra manufacture of sexual tonic. Natural modify is usually a single of the main health issues reported due sildenafil 100mg price to imbalance in testosterone levels.

So far only available in ebook format – Kindle (always remind folks that Kindle is not just a physical device, it’s also an app so you can read a Kindle book on any computer, tablet, phone – as long as you have the app downloaded).

Hope you enjoy the memories — anything to get away from 2020 for even a couple of hours! (A quick read at 120 pages.)

More to come. . .