This question was asked of me quite a lot when I ran into friends.  I believe there is an explanation for why this question came up so frequently.  You see, I actually lost weight during these travels.  It isn’t that I had a huge beer belly or anything like that, but it probably was good for me to get a bit more in shape.  I believe that running at the Jersey Shore along the boardwalk with my brother and the tons of hiking that I did in Utah had a lot to do with my getting into better shape.  But everyone assumes it is all about food.  So, for the answer, here goes:

First, before I left, I had a bunch of leftover salad (with no dressing).  So, rather than throw it away (too frugal for that!), I filled 9 small paper bowls with the salad and sealed each of them into a separate ziplock bag.  And, I brought along a bottle of balsamic vinegar.  That way, when I stopped to charge the car, I could grab one salad, sprinkle some vinegar on it, and eat it.  Also in the cooler were some drinks (maybe one six pack of soda, water, and some capri sun juice bags).  Usually, I dilute soda or juice with water since I find it too sweet.  In the front trunk (frunk), I kept a case of V8 which came in handy for taking my daily vitamins which I also stored in the frunk.  For protein, I had some hard boiled eggs, the turkey jerky (East bound only), beef jerky (West bound only), some swiss cheese, liverwurst, saka ika (dried cuttlefish), and a bunch of yogurt (containers as well as some Gogurt tubes).  When craving sweets, I would nosh on dark chocolate covered dried fruits (cherries, blueberries, and cranberries ) from Costco.  There was also a big bag of candy from Costco which I managed to devour on my Eastward trip.  On a healthier note, I also had some amazing avocados from my friends Jim and Vicky.  They have a HUGE avocado tree in their back yard.  And, I enjoyed snacking on cherry tomatoes, carrots, and tortilla chips. I brought some honey oat O’s cereal and granola which I ate with Rice milk, usually for my breakfasts. I feasted on Chinese food with my Aunt and Uncle near Denver, and also ate tons of barbecue and side dishes at a 4th of July party with them.  When visiting relatives in Pennsylvania, we all went out to Dairy Queen for burgers and ice cream cones.  Also,  I did buy one Whopper Jr. at Burger King which has a Supercharger in its parking lot.  And, once I did get a small kid sized cone from Culver’s (also the site of a Supercharger).  Of course, while in NJ visiting with my Mom, I enjoyed all kinds of home cooked meals and went out to dinner too.  But that was all balanced with going running for exercise.  Finally I don’t want to forget to mention once again the amazing gourmet foods that were served up in Beach Haven, NJ during the Tesla test driving event held there on August 1st  (the day that I left to return West).  That certainly got me going on a full stomach!     Frugal Tesla

Life is challenging… and though I really want to check in once a week on this blog, I find that reality prevents me from keeping to that plan. I have no idea how the daily bloggers find the time to type up a blog every day!!  I have too many people that I am trying to connect with regularly and so much to do at home and at work that I am shocked to realize that more than a week has already gone by since my last post. I clearly do NOT live at my computer.  Also, I am happy that I do not carry a mini-computer phone around to prevent me from connecting with the live people around me.

Here are a few things that I have done this past week:  attended a concert by the San Francisco Symphony, partied at a dinner-dance fundraiser event (FAFNET), began a job that will take place every Sunday for 10 hours,  cleared and cleaned half of the garage floor to prep for laying down some flooring (one of the big projects I spoke of in the previous post), assessed my sprinkler system for necessary repairs, attended an amazingly fun potluck barbecue dinner party (Thanks Jim and Vicky!), dropped off a significant donation from a fundraiser to the St. Patrick’s Seminary, and went out to dinner twice (my favorite Indian restaurant = Roti, and my favorite Filipino restaurant = Karilagan) and lunch once (Queen’s Louisiana Po’ Boy).  And, most importantly, I called my Mom to see how she is doing.  Have you called your mother lately?

At the various parties that I attended, many people asked about my trip to New Jersey in the Tesla.  So, in my next post, I will attempt to answer one of the questions that came up repeatedly.  Can you guess what that question was?  Check back again to find out.  Frugal Tesla