<p>emerald, you’re making me homesick! Tim’s Cascade jalapeno chips are the best.</p>
<p>I had a 90-mile drive home on Highway 2 after evening classes back in my grad school school days. Pistachios in the shell were my mainstay, but my route out of the city took me by a 24-hour Safeway with a very good bakery, so I would sometimes get a big white chocolate macadamia cookie and eat a little bit of it as I passed through each town on the way home.</p>
<p>Alas, my favorite keep-awake (chewing plus sugar) food for car trips is Milk Duds. Not the kind of thing you are looking for! Clementines are good if you have someone to peel them and hand you sections</p>
<p>I also depend heavily on recorded books–nothing abridged, thank you very much! </p>
<p>Lots of water, coffee, and tea.</p>
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<p>Well, truth be told, I am almost 49, and this ankle thing has only happened twice maybe, and we’re talking about 10+ hours in the car, after eating loads of sunflower seeds, and only in my right foot. I am becoming much more sensitive to salty things and retaining water than I used to be. Whenever I am able to use the cruise control, so that I can rotate my feet around, flex them or whatever, I don’t seem to have a problem. A couple of trips the weather was so bad, there was no way I could use the cruise control… it just didn’t feel safe.</p>
<p>My mother drives 4.5 hours every few months to visit family. She rides with another relative and they take turns driving. She hates to eat fast food so she makes up some sandwiches for the 2 of them, and brings grape sized tomatoes and takes some fruit along. They’ll stop at the fast food places along the highway and then they’ll eat the food that they brought from home. Sometimes they will purchase a drink, but other times they bring soda/water with them too. Nobody seems to notice or care.</p>
<p>I am becoming much more sensitive to salty things and retaining water than I used to be</p>
<p>Its good that you are paying attention. High blood pressure can sneak up on you- and a liking for salty things doesn’t help. ( but I like salty food too- ya know what I used to eat? peanut butter spread on potato chips with dill pickles in the middle)
But just sitting in one position isn’t good. Driving is really hard on your ( my) body. not moving your legs, barely moving your head or arms, concentrating on whats in front of you while trying to keep track of that 18 wheeler who doesn’t seem to see you.</p>
<p>We didn’t go to our annual trip to the mountains this xmas and it wasn’t just that we spent ( thousands) :o dollars on our dogs surgery. It is also a 7 or 8 hr car trip and it is either me driving ( and I get distracted) and my H giving me a bad time because I let someone in front of me- or me having an anxiety attack, because of all his yelling at the other drivers. I suppose I could have let my daughter drive- I didn’t think of that- but she has ADD too, and she forgets she is supposed to be watching the road!
Thank goodness that their colleges are served by Greyhound/Amtrak.</p>
<p>I agree northeast mom that fastfood places don’t care if you have other food. I will eat fast food on occasion, but I hate paying money for something that is inedible so I would rather bring my own and take time out to stop at an overlook or amazing bakery in the back of beyond.
speaking of which- worth the drive
[Anjou</a> Bakery](<a href=“http://www.anjoubakery.com/]Anjou”>http://www.anjoubakery.com/)</p>
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<p>Not Swedish, not Norwegian, but Finnish?!!</p>
<p>Grapes, goldfish…and anything made of pure sugar (sour patch kids, smarties, skittles, etc). We’ve even been known to chow down on Slim Jims (eeeeww)</p>
<p>When I was a kid we NEVER took a trip without a bag of Canada mints (you know, the pink ones?) We called them “pinkies”. We STILL have to have a bag of pinkies. Even my husband is now a pinkie junkie. Funny we never eat them except for on a trip.</p>
<p>Justamom - I LOVE CANADA MINTS! They are not available where I live, but I travel to the Northeast every summer and eat way too many during my stay; I substitute those for the wintergreen lifesavers on the trip back home. (Truth be told, the lifesavers are really a substitute for the canada mints–I guess that’s why I like the occasional powdery ones that melt in the mouth like canada mints…)</p>
<p>Oh, there’s nothing better than a stale pinky on a long car ride. ::):</p>
<p>Stale pinky? New to me, although I always liked the stale Peeps after they’d sat in the easter basket a week or so.</p>
<p>We’re pretty good about not having junk food around, but do like an occasional fix of the Caesar flavored Snap-Pea Crisps. Also sometimes Turkey Jerky, though it’s too expensive. Makes for interesting breath too.</p>
<p>* sometimes Turkey Jerky*</p>
<p>that reminds me.
Salmon jerky.
but it can be kinda greasy- so really better for camping than driving.</p>
<p>[Loki</a> Fish Co.](<a href=“http://www.lokifish.com/]Loki”>http://www.lokifish.com/)</p>
<p>OK… I have to be honest here, I have never eaten jerky before. What am I missing?</p>
<p>Homemade oatmeal cookies with walnuts, raisins, and coconut. They’re sweet but not too sweet, very satisfying, and they don’t mess with your digestion.</p>
<p>Freeze-dried apples from crispygreen.com. Available at Whole Foods, I think. I could eat a bag of 'em in a single sitting. The peaches are pretty good too, and I imagine the apricots are ok if you like apricots. The pineapple is terrible. With any of these, you need to drink some extra water.</p>
<p>Raw, “natural” Blue Diamond almonds (they’re unsalted). Bonus if you can roast them on a cookie sheet before taking them along. Jackpot if you can eat 'em while they’re still hot!</p>
<p>Oat thins or multi-grain wheat thins. Salty but not too salty. They’re amazing with cream cheese.</p>
<p>Fresh Clementines. The skins are so loose, you can peel 'em one-handed while driving.</p>
<p>I went off Diet Coke (cold turkey) a couple months ago. For caffeine and flavor, I like to poke a teabag into a water bottle. Give it a few minutes and it’s a fairly weak tea, flavorful but not strong enough to force extra pit stops.</p>
<p>Oh, and Altoids gum… two pieces of that stuff will wake you up, clear your sinuses, and treat a moderate case of gas. Never travel without the stuff. :)</p>
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<p>Salty and you can chew it forever…makes me think that I am on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.</p>
<p>Wow, you are a great mom! If someone tried to play Finnish metal music while I’m driving, they would be <em>finnish</em>! I mean, toast :)</p>
<p>
Yep his favorite bands are:
Apocolyptica (my fave of the bunch, dreamy in concert four hunks on cellos who started off covering Metallica - try going to youtube and watch quutamo.)
Sonata Arctica - (cute but they don’t play with their shirts off)
Nightwish - (their lead singer was sick so I haven’t seen them in concert)
The Rasmus (their lead singer used to wear feathers in his hair)</p>
<p>Actually the music kind of grows on you. :)</p>
<p>Oh the least sleepy car trip I ever had? Cambridge MA back to New York having had a serving of Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz ice cream from Herrels in Harvard Square. Those coffee beans will perk you right up!</p>
<p>Not a fan of eating in the car–it’s messy and I tend to eat mindlessly, which I’d rather not do. When I drive D2 to school (it’s about a 5.5 hour drive) we’ll stop once for a light meal and then only for gas or potty stops. We make a game of it and try to see if we can get back on the road in 10-12 minutes when we make a gas/potty stop. When gas prices were sky high–it was almost cheaper for D2 to go back and forth by taking Southwest Airlines.</p>
<p>To stay awake–we get books on tape/DVD. I go to our local library and rent them, so they are free. If I’m really tired, I’ll stop for coffee.</p>
<p>I was trying to figure out why I don’t take food on long trips (well, an apple or two and some water bottles)… I <em>do</em> like to stop at McDonald’s for french fries.</p>
<h1>58, Because you don’t like squirrels foraging for your leavings?</h1>
<p>Diet Dr. Pepper, bottled water, Cheez-its, pretzels. Long on caffeine and salty. Oh, and a sweet Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, or Phish show to help pass the time.</p>