A Glimpse Into the Long Hauls

Yet again, I feel like I have slacked on the writing.  It seems I have all the time in the world and then one thing leads to another and I realize it has been weeks since I posted!  I have many things I want to write about, but the thousands of thoughts and experiences I have are still deciding how they need to come out in written form.

A note about our drives.
Our long hauls on the road is best described with a list and an inside look:

Loud - between the rattling truck, an occasional whistle from the door, the sound of the fan and vent attempting to cool us off and the radio (turned high enough for both driver and passenger to be able to hear) - it can be noisy at times.  Plus, there are some great acoustics, so occasionally we sing (and dance).  If anyone has heard Lucas sing, it can also be described as "loud."  I say this out of love.

Long - When you are jumping cities across the country, no drive in a truck feels short.  Plus, gas station stops aren't quick by any stretch of the imagination.

Iowa Scenery (and a banana pretending to be an ear of corn)

Comfortable vs. Uncomfortable - There is tons of leg and arm room, yet no arm rests.  The seats are quite comfortable, yet they can not recline.  We have our own desk built in to the truck, so that is pretty cool.  Comfort level is also largely dependent on the temperature outside.  We essentially sit in a fish bowl.  Although I love the leg room, I have a thing for arm rests, so it is a touch and go situation whether or not I am comfortable.

Scenic - We have literally seen it all - desert, forests, beaches, lakes, cities, small towns, Mexico (no I am not joking), rivers, neighborhoods, sunrise, sunset, interesting billboards, not so interesting billboards, cornfields, almond and walnut trees, farms, and of course a whole lot of pavement.

 

 

So sometimes we are slap happy, sometimes we are silly, sometimes we are exhausted, and for the most part we think we are crazy.  But the long hauls are really fun and have made me realize how much I truly enjoy simply being with Lucas and making our way across the country together.  Nothing is ever certain or predictable, and the drive can be bumpy at times, BUT the long hauls are awesome, simply because we get to do them together.

Sick of Bananas? Never!!

I haven't blogged recently for reasons I can type about later, but here is a note about my love of bananas and some banana trivia in the meantime:

When I began this journey at the beginning of the summer, I was sitting in the office of the company I work for and waiting to find out what the tour was promoting.  As soon as they said the word "bananas,"  I was tickled with joy!  You must be thinking how strange I am, but I truly love me some bananas.  Prior to the tour I ate a banana nearly every morning - on cereal, over oatmeal, in a smoothie, and the like.  Unless I cooked myself some eggs, you can bet there was a banana with my meal.  I loved bananas so much that I actually became upset with my husband one morning when he ate the last banana before I had a chance to eat breakfast.   "You know I eat bananas every morning and you never eat bananas and NOW you decide to eat the LAST BANANA?!?!"... Looking back I realize how ridiculous this sounds, but at the time I felt like my world was spinning out of control.

So when I began this tour I was thrilled to be promoting something I believe in and love.  Healthy and delicious bananas.  My fear, however, was that this love would fade.  Everyone kept saying, "You are going to be sooooo sick of bananas by the end of the summer."

Compliments of Google Images

Well, I am here to tell you this.  I was denied a banana three days ago when the hotel where we stayed ran out of this beloved fruit.  My oatmeal was not nearly as enjoyable as it would have been.  So no, I am not over bananas, nor will I ever be.  I actually enjoy them just as much, if not more than I did before I left.  Now that is what I call true love (see photo).





And to help you grasp the wonders of this amazing fruit, here is some banana facts for you!!

• Lots of people love bananas!  Over 90% of homes in America buy bananas each week.
• Bananas are the number 1 sold item in stores (not just in produce, but allllllll items).
• The average person eats 28 lbs. of bananas in one year (I probably eat more).
• There are over 1,000 varieties of bananas but only 1/2 of them are edible.
• Are bananas grown on a tree?  No!  They are the fruit of an herbaceous plant.
• A single banana is called a finger and a bunch of them are called a hand.

Coffee Awards - Mudslingers

Photo compliments of the interwebs

     We have had some amazing coffee this summer, and we have had some outrageously terrible coffee this summer.  I suppose we have become coffee snobs, but sometimes the hotel coffee is less than enjoyable.  For whatever reason we always comment on the enjoyability of our Cup of Joe and then think back to our best coffee experiences this summer.

Best coffee awards:

• Kelsey Bartlett - We stayed with The Bartletts in Houston for two nights and the Costa Rican coffee Kelsey had on hand was delicious (Side Note - she picked the coffee up in Costa Rica on a layover...one of many perks of being a flight attendant).  She also had a milk foamer / frother thing-a-ma-jig which I got a kick out of!
• Jean Connolly-Carmalt - Our host in Des Moines made a mean cup of coffee and always made at least two pots.  We realized we had been spoiled, because when they moved (which meant packing up the coffee machine) we had some coffee withdraws and were very critical of any cup of coffee we had for the remainder of our Iowa stay.

 Best coffee experience - a hands down winner:

Mudslingers - Indianola, IA

We were headed to the National Balloon Classic in Indianola, IA and we had hit a wall, experiencing a major energy crash and still needing to work the whole afternoon.  Unfortunately, we were well outside of Des Moines and in the middle of the rolling Iowa countryside.  Using my handy-dandy phone, I looked up where the closest coffee shop would be and we quickly made our way to a coffee drive through in Indianola called "Mudslingers."  I had never had coffee from the small drive through "huts" so I was a bit skeptical, but hopeful this place could solve our energy woes.
     We pulled around the corner at 3:45 and the man inside gave us a sad smile and said, "Sorry, we closed at 3."  Being dramatic, I of course said, "Oh goodness! Where can we get a cup of coffee?  We are exhausted!"  He told us of another place, but said they were likely also closed for the day.  He asked where we were headed, where we were from, what brought us to Iowa from Boulder, and was very, very kind.  I suppose we looked defeated because he said, "Well, I can whip you up something.  Is an Americano okay?"   "Sure!  Anything at this point will be wonderful."
    The whole time he made our coffee we debated if he should be paid in cash or credit, because we wanted to make it easy on him since he had been closed for 45 minutes.  We also wanted to tack on a nice big tip.  We figured cash and had it ready for when he came back, but figured we would ask.
     A couple minutes later he opened the window, handed us our coffee and we asked if he would prefer cash or credit.  He smiled and said, "Neither!  All the way from Boulder, you can have it."  We protested and tried to hand him some cash.  He just grinned at us, smiled and said, " Nope!  I know what it is like to be jones-ing for a cup of coffee."  And with that, he closed the window on us.

On another note - it was a delicious cup of coffee!
   

The Lonestar State

We have been in and out of Texas, Oklahoma, and Des Moines, and I realized I still need to fill everyone in about Texas! I have fallen behind.  Regardless, backtrack a few weeks...

We had a wonderful stay in the Lonestar State for many reasons and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed our time there.  I had been to just about every large metropolitan area in Texas, but had never been to Houston.  I think the city has a bad rep for whatever reason, but I found many reasons why the stay was quite pleasant.

One tangent about why I would never want to permanently live in Texas:
When I was younger, I always loved traveling to Florida because of the smell of the humidity.  While I still enjoy that southern sweet swampy air smell for whatever reason, I have grown up enough to realize how much I desperately dislike humidity.  If Phoenix was our hottest stop, I imagine Houston will win for stickiest. It wasn't too hot (a plus) and it rained (a plus) but I felt gross every time I walked outside (no thanks).

Back to why I enjoyed the stay:

Reunion with Kelsey!
     The number one, greatest, most exciting, and fantastic reason for being in Houston was reuniting with friends!  I was able to see my beautiful friend from elementary school, Kelsey, and had such a wonderful time seeing her.  I was able to finally see where she lives, and I always love seeing where my best friends live.  There is something peaceful and reassuring about knowing and being able to picture where loved ones spend their time.  We swam together in the pool in her neighborhood, played Wii HulaHoop which is hysterical and spent a day together exploring downtown.

Clearly having a good time Hula Hooping

     Our day of exploring may have been the best day in Houston for many reasons!  We started the day off at the Dog Show (see below for more information) which was absolutely amazing and such an exciting way to spend a morning. After the dog show, the three of us had stomach rumbles and were stuck in traffic trying to get to a bar that sounded delicious (since St. Arnolds Brewery was about to close).  We made it to Shepherd Park Draught House which turned out to be one of our best meals while in Houston.  Faced with a too good to be true menu, Lucas, Kelsey and I decided to split a few things:

1. Crispy Goat Cheese Ravioli
2. Sea Salt Pretzels with Honey Butter
3. Shepherd Park Pie
4. Wait for it........A Smoked Gouda and Bacon Burger with caramelized onions and caramelized pears
5. Plentiful samplings of beer

We couldn't have asked for a better meal.

We wasted time the rest of the day visiting an old fashioned bar with quite the urban feel (aka I felt like I needed to have just come from a swanky job to order one of the fancy cocktails).  While we sipped on our tasty drinks, we played Bananagrams (because we just can't get enough of our
bananas).
We finished our day of fun with a walk through a gathering of food trucks (can't get enough of that either) and had ice cream at a local place called The Chocolate Bar.

BEST TIME EVER - mostly because I was spending the whole day with my best friend Kelsey!...and my amazing husband - which I am fortunate enough to get to do every day this summer.

Reunion with W&L Freshman Roommate!
     In addition to spending a few days with Kelsey, I also was able to have dinner with my freshman roommate from Washington and Lee - Alice!  We realized we hadn't seen one another since we had graduated (what!?!?!) and so it was great to have a chance to see her.  How do you catch up on 5 years of not seeing one another?  Very quickly and in a nut shell.

Freshman Roomies!

     We went to a pizza joint in the Galleria where we were staying.  It was called Capones and it had really tasty thin crust pizza with some unique toppings. Ham with Tabasco infused pineapple, cilantro and such; and carmelized onion, prosciutto and truffle oil - it was lip smackin' good!
     Better than the pizza was clearly the company.  Alice told me all about her adventures in law school, working, getting engaged, planning a wedding, and the like.  We explained our summer job to her and she wins for best reaction to what we were doing.  She was so excited about our adventures, and after dinner came by the truck to snap some photos and see what our life was all about!
     It was such a wonderful couple of hours and it made me realize how much I had missed her and how lucky I was to have her as my roommate!  She hadn't changed a bit and it was simply delightful to have a mini-reunion with a friend I had not seen in so long.

Downton Abbey!
In Arizona, my parents brought the first three seasons of Downton Abbey on DVD and we borrowed them for the remainder of the tour.  During our time off in Houston we managed to get through Seasons 1 and 2.  Now we are half way through Season 3.  We are both obsessed.

House Oogleing!

Sometimes finding a hotel willing to host our truck can be tricky, but we did well by picking to stay in the Galleria while in Houston.  It seemed nice enough based on Google Maps and a general understanding of the area; however, we did not realize we would be right down the street from one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in America! 

The River Oaks neighborhood, just down the street from where we stayed included houses ranging in value from a mere $1 to over $20 million dollars.  Yikes!  We knew the area was nice, and I loved gazing out the window as we drove by these ridiculously nice, over the top, but fun to oogle at homes.  It just took us a while to figure out just how nice the area was where we were staying.  We had a pretty good idea the neighborhood was upscale when we parked in a nearby neighborhood to grab some lunch and I thought we would be towed simply for not looking glamorous or mod enough, but we didn't realize the extent of the glamour until Alice told us about the neighborhood and we looked it up on Wikipedia.

I may never live somewhere like those homes (nor would I want to), but it was always a pleasant drive full of house ooohhhing and aaahhhhhing every time we left the hotel.

The Dog Show!

This may go down as one of the best life choices of the summer, and I know it was at the top of the list of fun things we did for both Lucas and myself.  Neither Lucas, Kelsey or I had been to a dog show, yet we are all dog lovers!  We all also want to have our own dogs which made walking around the dog show a bit tough...we wanted to take them all home!  Between the dog shows, the frisbee throwing, agility obstacles, dancing with dogs arena and fly ball competitions...it goes down as one of the best days of the trip so far.  This post is already getting to long or I would go in to more detail, but the photos and video below provide a good taste of what it was all about.  I imagine Lucas will add more about this at some point down the road.

She was beautifying before being shown...hairspray and all.  hehe

AGILITY BALL - MY NEW FAVORITE DOG SHOW COMPETITION

Dives! 

Armadillo Egg - What is Inside??

The BBQ and the local restaurants we tried were all amazing.  The bar mentioned above was a great find that we stumbled upon, and we even just enjoyed some meals from the local HEB (a Texas grocery chain).  We also went by T-bone Tom's - a BBQ join featured on Diner's, Drive-ins and Dives where we ate our largest meal in TX.   Mmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about the smoked sausage we had there!  I also left Texas with a bang when we made our way into a BBQ joint inside of a gas station, in the middle of nowhere Texas, and ordered some bacon wrapped quail for lunch.  We have had plenty of good meals while on the road, and Texas served up some delicious finds!
Lucas ordered an armadillo egg, just to try an armadillo egg - turns out it wasn't an egg at all, but rather a jalapeno stuffed with brisket and deep fried.

Bacon wrapped quail

Days Off!

Last but not least, I can't forget that we had a fair amount of time off in Houston.  It was a welcomed and wonderful break in our schedule as we head in to the last month of our tour.  Who doesn't love a day off, or two, or three every now and then?

More soon...

Just Another Day in the Life

I desperately need to write a few posts about Texas and updates on the summer in general, but yesterday (our first full day in Des Moines) had me laughing out loud (at ourselves and at our current occupation) and I just needed to share this story.

When people hear how we are spending our summer they typically have jaw dropped, look of awe and a comment along the lines of, "You get paid to travel the country?" or "How did you manage to get such a cool job?" or "Sign me up!"  This glorified summer road trip is an awesome opportunity and has been such a fun experience...but with the good comes the, well, interesting? unexpected? insanely frustrating?  Sometimes the behind the scenes isn't quite so glamorous.  For example, washing dishes late at night in our hotel room, pulling up to hotels and scouring through bushes around the whole building to find an electrical outlet so we can plug in our truck, parading around cities in matching outfits everyday, and parking.

Parking actually isn't as bad as you would expect.  We can use "pull through" spots and only take up two spaces, we can easily pull into four spaces in a row, and when parking for events we manage to jump curbs while avoiding obstacles such as cement pillars, propane tanks, flowers, people, etc.  To think I was nervous about driving this truck 2 months ago! HA!  So parking isn't as bad as you would think.

BUT....

Today we received an email from our amazing team back in Colorado that went something like this:
Subject: Truck - MUST MOVE
Body (To Sum Up): The Des Moines Police Department just called and said you are parked in a residential neighborhood and need to move the truck or it will be towed.  Details, details, details...

Let the scramble begin!

Option 1: Try to pull into Luke's cousin's drive way which is essentially on a 45 degree angle - this means scraping the bajeebs out of our back step and their driveway for a few seconds (imagine nails constantly scraping on a chalkboard) and having little to no room to move once we get to the top - aka NOT an option unless we want to be doing 75 point turns like in Austin Powers.  Plus, our cousins are moving next week and trying to show their house to buyers so we thought the hot pink truck may not be the best lawn ornament to have at this point in time.

Option 2: Park at a local Hy-Vee - we are doing some events at Hy-vees after all!  The manager was for it but the property manager in charge of the place wasn't up for it.  Bummer.

Option 3: Drake University!! This is when things really begin to get funny.  After loading the many packages from the house onto the truck (since we now wouldn't be able to park very close and add packages as we need them) Jean (Luke's cousin) suggests getting a week long permit to park at the University right down the street!  Brilliant!  She called over, mentioning she used to be a professor there, and kindly asked, "I was wondering if I could get a week long permit for a banana truck to park in the lots?"  HAHAHA.  Naturally, the security office asked, "What?  A what truck?"  Oh, you don't know about those hot pink and turquoise banana trucks that are all the rage right now?  Needless to say, they needed to see it first.

This looked promising.

So we hop in the truck and head a mile down the street to the security office thinking, "Parking this far away wouldn't be so bad.  We have bikes and the walk would be good exercise and a nice way to start the day."  We pull into the security office and ask about the permit.  The woman asked what the truck was and I just said, "It is a 26' food truck but it is a bit bright.  You need to see it to really understand."  So she walked with me outside, *stunned look*, "Oh. Ok.  Let's see what we can do."

Now my fortunately, unfortunately story begins:
Unfortunately, the woman looked into it and said she could only issue permits to Drake affiliates.
Fortunately, there was a man with her that seemed like he really wanted to help and asked what we were trying to do.
Unfortunately, he says, "Oh, you are that truck they were talking about on the radio.  Apparently it was called in as a suspicious vehicle because it has been in a residential neighborhood for 2 days and has been running the whole time since it has been there."
Fortunately, we can say, "Oh!  That is just our generator!  The truck isn't actually on, it just sounds like it!!  AND we have been here for 16 hours, not 2 days."
Unfortunately, still nothing he can do and he said parking in the area wasn't easy.
Fortunately, he suggested asking a local church to park in their parking lot and there is one right across the street from where we are staying!  Success!!

We left the Drake University and I looked at Lucas, giggling, and through laughter said, "This is our life right now!"

So we head over to the Baptist Church...

Since it was a Wednesday, many people were not around, so we rang the bell with high hopes that someone was around to speak to us.  I had taken a phone call at this point, but Eugene came to the door and introduced himself and asked who we were.  Lucas explained our situation and without hesitation the man said, "Of course you can park here!"  He didn't think twice about it and was so very friendly and helpful.

Before we walked away, an older couple was leaving the church and without hesitation Eugene introduced us to them and told them briefly about what we were doing.  They looked at our truck and said something along the lines of, "Oh yes.  We saw the police over there the other day and wondered what was going on!"  I was stunned.  Less than a day in Des Moines and we already have quite the reputation!  Hopefully that will improve once we get our banana samples on!

The woman then spoke to me and said, "Well we are having a pork loin dinner at the church tonight and you all are more than welcome to come join us!"  AMAZING!  We did have to turn her down due to plans we had with our family, but what a wonderful community this church must be!  They were so welcoming and generous, and just made my heart smile.  I think I may just need to go over there on Sunday morning this week - it isn't easy finding places to go to church when you are a "food trucker." 

After our conversation with the couple, Eugene showed us a nice shaded area off to the side of the church (all the while asking about our lives, telling us a bit about the church and making sure we had everything we needed).  He even let us park right near the wall so we could plug into an electrical outlet rather than run the generator!!  Hooray!  Please refrain from laughing at the excitement I felt about this - having access to electrical outlets these days is like seeing a best friend that you have not seen in months.  Yes, it is that exciting.

Which reminds me - We get to see Amy and Brain in Des Moines this week!!

It was a whirlwind of a day, but ended up working out perfectly.  Sometimes this job of ours can throw us for a loop...but I imagine those "loops" are what will be our fondest memories well after this tour ends in September.

More updates soon.

Phoenix - It's Hot! Realllllll Hot! Were you born on the sun?!?

My blogging has gotten away from me lately!  I know you all have been itching to know how life with bananas has been lately (or not) and I apologize for the delay.  The reason I have not been writing is mostly due to one of the following:

1. Heat.  When it is hot outside, all you want to do is lay around in the a/c and not move.  Once movement occurs, so does sweat.

2. Family!  My parents braved the AZ weather and joined us during our adventures over the 4th of July.  Having them in Arizona was wonderful and I wanted to spend all of my time with them rather than blogging.

Poolside drinks with the rents!

3. Laziness.  We were fortunate enough to have access to some beautiful pools at a resort in Arizona, so when we were not working we were typically poolside, moseying around the lazy river or sitting in the shade napping (why shade?  See number 1).

I could some up our time in Arizona in two words: hot and delightful.  This sounds a bit contradictory, but let me 'splain - no, too much, let me sum up (name that movie)!

Our stay in Arizona was delightful for three main reasons.

1. We were in a house, so we felt like we were leading a somewhat normal life (with the exception of boxes and dishes taking over the hallway).  We were able to cook, make decent coffee, relax on a couch, and go shopping for groceries in a normal fashion.  Not to mention my god parents house is GORGEOUS, it just made us feel at home.  We also just happened to have a pool in the backyard which proved to be quite enjoyable when coming home from a long day in the heat. Much thanks to the Bockraths!!
2. My parents came!  My mom spent five days with us and joined us at some of our banana events, and was super helpful in 1001 ways.  It was fun spending time with someone other than Lucas (I kid. I kid.) and who doesn't love having their Mom around?  We introduced her to life on the banana mobile and also spent some quality time together.  My Dad joined us for our last weekend in Arizona, which happened to be over one of our days off.  He was great per usual and convinced us to see Lone Ranger and then watch old Lone Ranger episodes on YouTube to compare and contrast the old show with the movie.  We also spent a day at the pool with my parents and ended their stay with a dinner celebrating their birthdays which we unfortunately will have to miss while we are on the road.  I would say their visit was the highlight of AZ and we are very fortunate that they were willing to fly into uncomfortable conditions to spend time with us!
3.  The Marriott.  My Godfather let us use his membership card to go to the Marriott down the street from the house.  Complete with 4 pools and a fitness center, this is all we needed to make the stay complete!  Being able to workout and then sit in the lazy river made it almost feel like we were crazy vacationers that chose to be in Arizona in July!  This was the cherry on top of a great place to stay!

Why Arizona was hot:
     Well, just look at the weather forecasts and then consider we were also there when they were breaking records.  Our days ranged from 109 - 119 and at one point the thermometer in our truck registered a little over 120 degrees.  Yikes!  At least it is a dry heat...

It truly was fun to be in Phoenix and we enjoyed experimenting with smoothie flavors at home, cooking meals rather than eating out, having a house to stay in and most importantly seeing my family!  With that said, I think this clip describes Phoenix better than anything else:

Peeling the Heat!

We Can't Escape Them!! - Bananas Everywhere

It is true.  The bananas follow us everywhere we go.

I was in need of some thank you cards, so I was browsing through the greeting cards at the grocery store.  I didn't find anything that was fantastic and was debating between a few mediocre options.  Just as I was about to leave, I glanced down and spotted this card:

Card - Front

Card - Inside

Decision made.  I bought two copies and checked out.

...and I have plans to go back and buy out the store.

I swear, bananas are following us everywhere we go!