I love to travel, but flying is not my favorite. I do like to travel by car and we have done that a lot, including for our vacation to the Redwoods this past week. My favorite is to stay in rustic cabins, but quite often we tent camp.
Even as a kid, all our vacations were camping vacations, although we had a trailer instead of tent camping. Sitting by the fire this past week my husband and I were talking about camping as kids. I told him about the trip my family took from southern California to Ohio and back when I was about 10. My sister and I rode in the back of the pick-up with just a canopy above us and foam pad to sit on, as we pulled our trailer. Describing the trip, my husband asked, “Are you sure you weren’t homeless?” I laughed. “Yes,” I replied. “We came back to the same house we left so I’m pretty sure we weren’t homeless.”
One thing that car trips now and camping vacations as a kid have in common is what I call Traveling Sandwiches. They make traveling by car much more affordable because you don’t have to stop and pay restaurant prices for lunch every day. There are also many varieties of such sandwiches, so today’s recipe is just one kind.
Traveling Sandwiches
Ingredients:
Bread (whatever kind you like best)
Lunch meat (in sealable packages)
Cheese (in sealable packages)
Mayonnaise (in squirt bottle)
Pickle slices
Tools:
Cooler with ice
Container to carry bread
Paper towels or plates
Butter knife
Directions:
As you drive along and lunch time is approaching, find a nice picnic site along the road. Set up one paper towel or paper plate per sandwich on the picnic table. Place bread on each towel or plate. Squeeze mayo on each slice of bread and spread with butter knife. Put desired amount of meat, cheese, and pickles on each sandwich. Serve with chips, or with fruit or vegetable slices that were also in the cooler. When you are done, toss the garbage in a trash can or pack it with you if there is no trash can. And now you are ready to get back on the road.