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Whenever I do a long highway trip I can't help but notice how often I pass "one of everything". By that I mean when I'm hungry I don't have to wonder where I wi

• pg_is_a_butt 7y ago
  yeah, corporate oligarchy with a compromised food chain is utopia!
• abtinf 7y ago
  This has improved a lot even since the 80s. I remember road trips as a kid and the difficulty of finding vacant lodging. Now, there are groupings of multiple large hotel chains with vacancy at least every couple hours, even in relatively remote parts of the country. Having driven across the US a number of times, I think the last product this isn’t true for is good quality coffee. There are still parts of America where you can travel several hundred miles without seeing a single standalone Starbucks.
  • mikepurvis 7y ago
    In fairness, there probably is good coffee out there, you just don't have the mental shortcut of being able to depend on the Starbucks brand. I suppose this was the problem that Yelp, Foursquare, and friends tried to solve, but we're still not really there— even as a conscientious person who would on balance prefer to support a local, non-chain business, it's still a lot of effort to look up which one to go to. For anyone not willing to put in that effort (or just take a risk), forget about it— that person will just stay on the highway and wait out the next Starbucks.
    • showerst 7y ago
      I'm pretty dedicated to coffee (i'd probably drive 15 minutes each way out of the way on a road trip for decent coffee), and will yelp / google aggressively if i'm the passenger. Parent is right, there are still huge stretches with neither starbucks nor indie shops of any quality, and not just in the empty bits out west.
      • panopticon 7y ago
        Maybe it's because I don't have a very high opinion of Starbucks, but there's a surprising number of those little drive-thru coffee hut things (not sure what you call them) that beat the pants off of Starbucks. Just finished up a road trip the other day that took me through the "empty bits out west" (Wyoming, Montana, Nevada), and I hit up at least 3 of them.
        • lotyrin 7y ago
          Problem is, if I'm low on decision making energy or risk tolerance I will prefer a near-guaranteed acceptable solution over a probably good but potentially awful one.
        • jandrewrogers 7y ago
          Love the espresso shacks! In addition to having very proper coffee, they are also great sources of local information if you need it. I am always astonished at how well-distributed and ubiquitous they are even in the very rural West. Every country road far off the beaten path with any sort of local traffic at all seems to have (at least) one. It is a neat bit of rural West culture. I've always wondered about the economics of espresso shacks. Obviously the fixed costs are very low, a literal shack and bit of nigh worthless rural land. Each one appears to be a unique and creative local business with no underlying corporate chain tying them all together but the sheer pervasiveness of them makes me wonder if there is a well-oiled corporate business model underneath it all.
          • Xcelerate 7y ago
  • dragontamer 7y ago
    Pack your own coffee for long trips. Cold brew is far easier to do than you might expect. Mix ground coffee with lukewarm water in a 1:4 ratio and let it sit for 12 to 24 hours. This creates "coffee concentrate". Mix the concentrate 1:4 with water to make your final coffee. (Tweak final ratio to taste: these ratios are set to my personal taste) Even if you use cheap no-name coffee from grocery stores, the coffee tastes great. Grinding your own beans will result in fresher coffee. The purpose of "concentrate" is that "concentrate" cold brew is easier to process (less to filter), and easier to store. You can pick up bottled water virtually anywhere in the USA. So carrying around the concentrate is easier. You can also do cool things with concentrate: like make espresso (add milk instead of water), or "impromptu hot-brew" (boil some water, add the concentrate. Since you have 4:1 hot water to concentrate, your temperature will be 80% of the hot temperature). With 4:1 final mixing ratio, a quart of concentrate becomes 1.25 gallons of coffee, more than enough for most trips. ----------- "Ball" mason jars are pretty universal in the USA. I'm pretty sure they're sold everywhere (more common than quality coffee at least, lol). So you shouldn't have any issues getting mason-jar equipment for storing liquids. Just don't use their leaky white-plastic caps. Use their gray "leak proof" caps or their steel-caps if you actually want a liquid-tight seal. -------------- Alternatively, drink McDonalds coffee. Its actually not bad. I know plenty of foodies who avoid McDonalds EXCEPT for their coffee.
    • daveslash 7y ago
      >>drink McDonalds coffee. Its actually not bad I'd agree with that, but with the additional comment that it depends on your region of the country. In some area's it's not just "actually not bad", I'd assert "very good". McDonald's often customizes it's menu to the local region. In New England, McDonald's serves Newman's Own coffee, which I quite enjoyed. At least, they did when I lived there a decade ago - who knows now.
    • NoGravitas 7y ago
      Addendum to the "or drink McDonalds". Circle-K has very good coffee these days, and you can generally choose between several different roasts.
  • billfruit 7y ago
    What about tea? Are there places on the American highways where you would get it?
    • mjcohen 7y ago
      Carry your own tea bags or loose with a filter and ask for hot water.
    • abrambleninja 7y ago
      As a big tea drinker, my solution to this when I've been on long road trips has been to use a car-outlet-powered water boiler (the coil kind). You can get them on Amazon for under $10 and they work alright. Though it's hard to do without a passenger unless you're willing to pull over and wait 10 minutes for the water to boil. And where I've driven (up the 15 from Los Angeles to Montana), there are somewhat-frequent Starbucks, though I like my own tea better.
• Bluecobra 7y ago
  Are you the Don Turnbee? Area Man Holding Out Until Next Exit For Better Fast Food Options https://local.theonion.com/area-man-holding-out-until-next-exit-for-better-fast-fo-1819570400 https://local.theonion.com/area-man-holding-out-until-next-e...
• seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Try doing that on a north to south trip from walla walla to Las Vegas. There are still places in the USA where “next services, 150 miles” is common. I love those drives.
  • tristor 7y ago
    Me too. These are the best sort of road trips, where you still need to plan things out and when you do finally stop it's a dusty service station with a local diner next door, not another McDonalds.
    • pkilgore 7y ago
      It definitely takes longer, but this is why I avoid interstate highways if I have the time. I also find pathfinding and turning more fun than passing.
      • seanmcdirmid 7y ago
        You wouldn’t have much choice for most of the route unless you decided to detour onto I15, adding an extra hour to the trip with worse scenery.
  • davidw 7y ago
    Went through the SE corner of Oregon last weekend, camping on Steens mountain. It's amazingly and wonderfully empty, which isn't how I'd like to live, but is great to experience. Had lunch in Fields, Oregon (no, didn't get the milkshake, as I am not a milkshake guy).
  • protomyth 7y ago
    I'm from North Dakota and the last time I drove through Wyoming, I learned very quickly that those signs are no lie. You, wildlife, and other cars is all you will see and not much of the later. ND felt packed compared to WY.
• mikeash 7y ago
  I hate it. You drive a thousand miles and eat at the same friggin’ restaurant you have at home! I might not be so annoyed if I actually liked the common roadside places, but as it is, “McDonald’s next exit” is more of a threat than a promise.
  • protomyth 7y ago
    The local food places are probably better, but one small problem on a big trip can be caused by food that doesn't react will with you. Whatever their faults, most franchises are at least that consistent.
    • rootusrootus 7y ago
      And if you have young kids, McDonalds is very useful on a road trip. Food that I can at least tolerate, is a known quantity, the kids will eat it, and they have a play area (well, not all, but a lot of them). I won't eat McD's when we're in our home city, but I really appreciate it on a trip.
• simonebrunozzi 7y ago
  > I find this tiny bit of Americana comforting. Really? How about you drive in Italy, you still find "service" and food every 10-20 miles, but food completely changes every 40-50 miles. There are chains, but most are mom-and-pap shops, you can call them "trattoria" or "osteria". I grew up in Italy. As much as I like the US, on the food side there's really no comparison. Give it a try.
  • jen20 7y ago
    I fairly regularly drive through Europe from the UK to Italy, and (along with Switzerland) Italy has the best roadside food I've ever seen in the world. Even the crappiest looking gas station has healthy and tasty food!
  • jfengel 7y ago
    Equivalent places do exist in most US towns, though they're a bit further from the highway. The cuisine doesn't change as rapidly, but there are regional differences. Sadly, quality varies considerably. People go to the big chains because they're a known quantity. A fair number of those mom-and-pop restaurants don't make from scratch. They heat up what comes off the Sysco truck or the warehouse club. The Internet makes it a bit easier to find a restaurant with real local character, though reading the reviews is kind of an art form: they'll get a lot of praise for generic, boring food and few reviewers will recognize a gem when they find it. The US can't match the food culture in Italy, but with a bit of knowledge you can eat well here.
• ardit33 7y ago
  Lol, you are the guy that goes to a pub in London and orders a "Budwiser", aren't you? (True story, it happen to one of my former co-workers. They were overwhelmed by the choices, and instead of venturing, went to what they knew) I think it might be better to get out of your comfort zone and find out that 'non-chain' food and drinks are often better. While I get, "I want to try something like home" feeling, but having just that is a bit close minded. As for a fact, Mediterranean Europe tends to have both better coffee and better food in general.
  • macintux 7y ago
    When I’m traveling between destinations on a long trip, it’s non-trivial to find something local. Unless it’s well-advertised on billboards or close to an exit, I’m not going to find it, and I’m more interested in speed than quality. And browsing Yelp while driving is, well, not ideal. I love local dives, but laughing at someone for having different priorities on a long trip is rude.
    • ardit33 7y ago
      I think the culture of generic chains is what makes most of the food in Middle America so bad, and most small local places would be better than MCD. (Also, I am not talking about the coasts, they don't have that problem).