Being the child of parents who loved to travel via the highways, I’ve no idea how many times I’ve traveled Route 66 over the years. While most of my trips have been in the cab of a pick up truck, I’ve ridden it in the camper on the back of the truck, in the back seat of the family station wagon and, if memory serves, in a relative’s camper van.

The Mother Road is a magical place. Filled with history if you care to look, most places don’t tend to shout in your face about all that has happened wherever you happen to be. The people can be amazing, too.

For those of us who loved Disney’s Cars movies, those films contain more than a bit of the bounty of treasure in those out of the way places.

When you get down to it, travel by vehicle is the only way to truly see and appreciate the out of the way, the quiet, the quaint, the treasure of the open road. It isn’t always easy or even comfortable at times – I’ve ridden across Death Valley in the summertime. Without an air conditioner. Once was more than enough. Thanks… Hey, I’ve been traveling for decades. 😀

One thing has always been certain, every stop along the way will provide you interesting things to see, to eat and enjoy. All you have to do is give them a try.

AllRecipes recently posted an article on How the Mother Road Became America’s Collective Home Kitchen. It is fascinating reading and there are quite a few recipes I’d love to try.

Mandy In The Making over on YouTube has an ongoing series, 50 Plates in 50 States, that has been a pleasure to watch. Mandy is sampling iconic dishes from each state in her own kitchen. Granted not every dish is to everyone’s taste but I know there will be many surprises that could easily become regular entries on the home menu rotation.

Enjoy!

Consumption, conspicuous or not, can be either a good partner or a wicked master depending upon how each of us manages it.

The old phrase, ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’, can, and often is, detrimental not only to the household budget but the household mental state.

I think there is something to be said for shopping seasonally, taking advantage of lower seasonal prices, being very intentional regarding trends – as in do I really need to be doing this or … ? None of us lives in spaces that can hold every thing we could possibly imagine and I would go so far as to say that the majority of us don’t have the financial resources to afford every thing available. Many, however, tend to operate on the idea (?) that those realities don’t apply to them.

Have you noticed that there seems to be this cottage industry around uncluttering? I see that going hand in hand with another cottage industry that tells us we Must Buy This [ fill in blank ]. And while I applaud the idea where when one item comes in another goes out, the reality is often not quite so…accurate.

Stuff, like rabbits, tend to multiply.

On the Other Hand…

Buying seasonal foods is often cheaper and – added bonus – the flavor is better. Couple that with the anticipation of those first of season berries or fruits or veg and the meal could exceed more expectations than you thought it might.

Staycations might sound dull but how many of us look up one day and realize that we have never checked out the local national park or gone to the lake, beach, whatever? Even in smaller towns there are locations easily accessed that could provide a welcome get away – many that out of town/state tourists know all about but somehow were overlooked by us.

As we tackle higher fuel and food prices it behooves us to take stock of what we are spending and look at our options. What have we not been doing? Where have we not been going? What have we been dreaming about but keep putting off? That quiet picnic with all the good food might be more accessible than we thought. Gatherings with friends and family could be even better as huge pot lucks.

While the idea of doing without can be depressing, maybe we need to just adjust our attitude a bit. Find a way to make it more exciting, if not interesting.

The balancing act could be the way we look at what we are doing and why we are doing it and make a change here and there. Just to see what we think. Who knows? It could becomes the best thing we do all Summer!