Friday, May 16, 2008

Mmm... Road Food


Last night the Future First Man told me he is going through hotdog and donut withdrawal. While on the road, we enjoyed hotdogs and donuts for breakfast with our coffee many days. I marvel at the availability of many things that even eight years ago, at the turn of the century, were not available at gas station convenience stores, and place a free ad for Maverik here on my post.

Maverik: The best condiment bar in the country. I say so. You can put an assortment of relishes and mustards, including horseradish, on your dog; tomato salsa, sauerkraut, the usual ketchup, even hot nacho squeeze cheese from the chili cheese machine. You can choose from an assortment of dogs, from the well-known regular old hotdog, also known as a deli dog, to varieties of Polish dog, including those with cheese or jalapenos (go figure- jalapenos in Poland? Ah, globalism!), to the huge Bahama Mama that inspires thoughts of more than a food feast.

And donuts. I relented and became an eater of the Krispy Kremes. I would not want to eat them every day, but I do like the donuts with the custard inside and a little bit of chocolate frosting on top, as well as the old standby raised glazed and the chocolate cake, which apparently in most places only comes glazed, but that's OK. I will not ever deviate to the evil little things (sometimes called Gems, for some bizarre reason) that come in a cellophane pack of 500- or 6 or so, that the FFM became addicted to, no matter how little they cost and how hungry I am.

And coffee. No longer does a person have only two options: bad caffeinated and bad decaf, at a gas station convenience store. Now you can get (bad) light roast, (bad) medium roast, with tricky names like "mountain blend" to fool you into thinking it's got flavor, or (thanks to the Big Guy Upstairs, or at least someone in a Convenience Store Position of Power who appreciates coffee you can taste) delicious dark roast. And if you want to all-fancify, you can choose from plain creamer, hazelnunt, vanilla, Irish Cream... In some places, you can even rip the paper lid off a little plastic cup and pour some sweet espresso shot into your travel mug. Whoa.

Take a road trip soon. Spend a lot of money on gas to go somewhere far away. Come on, peoples it's time to quit complaining about gas prices and suck it up; lose the SUVs and other Giant Vehicles, switch to a little car that gets decent mileage, ride your bike or walk while around home base, and strike out once in a while for a junk food laced good time on the road. You can find a Maverik location here: http://www.maverik.com/. You could do a whole trip revolving around Maverik locations. Maybe I will.

1 comment:

Tom said...

Yeah, now if only Stuckey's would expand a little more, we'd all be in heaven on the road. I guess the ol' Flying J will have to do, along with the occasional Cracker Barrel for a little "home" cooking. Then, of course, the mighty Iron Skillet (where me and mi hermana both know it's nice to be able to have a huge, fresh salad bar for breakfast after driving for 24 hours straight...) and that great national icon, the Golden Corral, where the buffet can't be beat (but you'd better hope there's a nearby rest room where you can spend a little uninterrupted time immediately following the meal; I think it's the honey-butter they serve to spread on their endless fresh baked bread....)