ontheroad's blog

So, I've been on this epic roadtrip, but it's been eerily quiet over here. The one thing I've learned over the past year is that I'm terrible at writing on the road. I'm the type of writer that needs time to let things settle in my brain, shift around, and then emerge in coherent sentences. These past few weeks I've been in a car with these guys and it's been great fun. But, cobbling together a few photos and a few blog posts is about all I can handle. Heck, I'm lucky if I can remember what state I'm in when asked. It'll all come out here, bit by bit, over the next month. Until then, watch some of the video we shot for the Travel Blog Exchange website and laugh. (Episode one and two are after the jump.)

The first night of our TBEX Roadtrip stopped in Sandpoint, Idaho, where we not only got the pleasure of staying at the lovely Sleeps Cabins, but we were also treated to a boat ride, dinner and wine tasting with Lisa Gerber, her husband Patrick, and Julie and Steve Meyer of Pend d'Oreille Winery. When I asked Julie and Steve how they got in the wine business, I wasn't expecting much more than we really loved wine, studied it, and built our business grape by grape. What I got instead was a great travel story of chance meetings, showing up in a small town in France without a plan, and a love for wine that's grown into a family business.

Image: kag2u. I've seen this exact same setup every morning for the past six days. We get up, we hit the road, we stop for breakfast and we get on the twitter.

Image: kag2u.

We've been eating a lot of breakfasts on this trip (some of us *cough* Peter *cough* have been eating two of them.) I've been sampling sausage gravy, because frankly, they can't make sausage gravy in Seattle. This one in Rapid City was probably the best I've had so far.

Image: kag2u.

Just outside of Mt. Rushmore is the town of Rapid City. On every corner there are statues of presidents and we were particularly enamored with Jimmy Carter's pants.

Bikes are big in Sandpoint, Idaho, although we didn't get a chance to ride one. (While we did hear a crazy story about a guy that fell into the lake while riding his bike across the bridge.) We did however, spend a really lovely evening on a boat, with wine and really, we didn't want to leave Sandpoint. Pam wrote a great roundup of our day in Sandpoint...don't forget "there's nothing but trouble in town."

I took some video last night while repacking my bag before I head out on the TBEX roadtrip tomorrow. (We'll be shooting video, blogging and taking a bunch of photographs as we cross this country on the way to Chicago.) This trip, unfortunately in terms of packing, combines roadtripping with a conference, so I tried to cram in two worlds into one bag. I think I succeeded, even though I ended up packing more for two weeks than I did on my trip to Italy in May. I'm having a bit of overpacking guilt, but it all fits and it's in a backpack, and you know what, I should be proud.

Ever wondered how those Italians eat SO much? The truth is, they don't. They don't always order every course (a myth I'm convinced is perpetuated by industrious restauranteurs.) We were at dinner and you wouldn't guess what they ordered...

Beer and pizza, one of the few perfect combinations of food and drink. In the US, it's easy to find a great local brew, but the pizza that comes along with it is subpar at best. In Italy, it's easy to find great pizza, but a Peroni or Moretti (in a bottle) often leaves the beer aficionado's tastebuds disappointed. In wine-centric Italia, it can be difficult to find a good, local microwbrew on tap. In Rome, we've found a place that pleases both the beer-lover and those looking for good food, at Bir e Fud in Trastevere.