In the Peaches thread I made reference to over-the-road food.

Friend Wife and I used to put on about 40,000 road miles every year. Lunchtime we would picnic on anything from Chef's Salad to Chicken & Zita---stuff we could either make ahead or assemb le out of the cooler.

By the time you reach a motel, after two, or three or a half dozen 500-mile days back to back, the last thing you want is to get back in the car and go look for a restaurant. So we got in the habit of making meals ahead of time that could be frozen in boil-in bags, then heated in simmering water or the motel's microwave.

We still prefer traveling that way, saving restaurant meals for the destination. And have, through the years, developed quite a repertory of these road foods.

But I was wondering if anybody else travels that way, and what you make for your over-the-highway dining pleasure.

The original power bar....pb&j on whole wheat, folded over.

We are similar to Sticky Pirate and do sandwiches, as well as fruit, and cheese & crackers and nuts! We do not travel near as far nor as much as you have Brook. But the restaurant food gets old real fast. Even after just 2 days of skipping homemade meals I begin feeling totally deprived. I just can never understand how so many people I know exist on nothing homemade ever!?!?

When one is in Alaska they road-trip quite a bit, even though it may be unintentional. Towns are SO far apart- and everything is so spread out! Fairbanks and Anchorage are seperated by a 6 hour stretch of road... Homer is 5 hours south of Anchorage... The good part is, every road in AK is scenic, of course. So grubbing with snacks and meals up north isn't just a vacation/trip thang... it's done even on casual drives.

Nan and I have talked of this before- a staple when doing almost anything in Alaska- especially road-tripping is Sailor Boy Pilot Bread (it's sold everywhere up there in the familiar navy-blue box, though I've never seen it in the lower-48 anywhere at all) . They aren't bread at all- in fact they are x-tra large round crackers with perforations like a saltine, but much thicker. There nearly as big around as a music cd and as thick as 2-3 stacked graham crackers. They are stocked all over the far north from remote cabins to fishing boats, because they contain little fat so they don't mold or mildew- plus they repell moisture well so they stay "fresh" a long time. They are delicious, sturdy bases on which to spread peanut-butter, cheese whiz, cream cheese and jam. I also like them with a slice of salami and sharp cheddar. I've munched on them on a bus ride into Denali Park, on a helicopter tour of Mendenhall glacier, on a twin-engine Beaver taking me to work on Admiralty Island, and on the ferry tooling around south-east. YUM! If you ever see these anywhere- you owe it to yourself to snatch'em up and give'em a try! You'll be hooked, I promise!

Garrison Keillor of NPR's 'Prairie Home Companion" and the "Lake Wobegon Days" book-series has a routine where he talks of being out on the road and going from coast-to-coast performing the radio show in all sorts of out of the way places, and he claims to have sampled Chicken Fried Steak at every diner, cafe and roadhouse between Bangor and Death Valley. He compares the virtues of white milk gravy versus brown gravy... weighs whether it's better to ladle the gravy o'er the top- or to smother it in a skillet of gravy on the stove-top before serving... the benefits of double-breading over single breading... whether or not it's more delicious served with mashed spuds or rice... And of course Garrison's wonderful expressive voice and subtle humor makes one smile big...