Day 107: How We Fuel Ourselves

Diane’s in Spanish to Serpent River Campground

We spent the night in Diane's trailer. There was a bed in the gooseneck. Being aluminum, I heard the rain coming down all night and into the morning. I thought of the horses, and was hoping they went into the shelter. Jewel wanted to wake up to go feed them, but hearing the rain, I thought "Whats the rush?" and layed there a bit longer.

We slowly started packing. Luckily our things were dry in the big garage. My mom texted me, asking if I had a birthday hangover. Yes, yes I did. Not from drinking obviously. But that feeling like that special day is over, all the extra love and attention is now behind you. We ended up going inside and Diane had us for a late breakfast which was really nice. I had my two coffees, and we just took our time.

She told us crazy stories about her experiences with horses. Getting her jaw broken, her shoulder dislocated, trampled! So many insane, near death stories with these beautiful creatures. And you'd never guess looking at Diane. Or most people for that matter, you really never know someones experiences, even if they tell you. I guess it's what makes us different from on another, and what also keeps us so similar.

The rain kept coming down, we met Diane's Daughter and her husband. Dried out our things, and waited some more. We finally left around 2pm. It was just misting, and it didn't look like it was going to stop, so we just decided to suck it up and leave.

Our first stop was the grocery store. We were desperately missing fresh fruit. My stomach didn't feel well after all the bread I'd been eating. I greatly appreciated Connie's homemade soup, and Diane's lunch, but I was missing the produce. I bought a 12 pack of peaches, 4 apples, 4 bananas, 2 mangos. And Jewel and I ate everything. Before we had left, we were talking to Diane about the no-carb diet she was on. One thing that has really stood out to me on this trip is food. Individual's relationship to it, what they love, what is healthy to them, how it's prepared and what is available in the different regions. I've learned my idea of a healthy meal is much different from a lot of people I've met on this trip. And that "health" and food can be a difficult topic of conversation. Food is so intimate. It's based in our culture, our upbringing, our beliefs. I find it can be as touchy as politics or religion. In some cases more so, for the intimate fact we need it to live, we prepare it and put it in our body, give it to our families and children, in some cases it's their livelihood. It's been fascinating learning how others eat and sustain themselves. How similar or different it is to how I've been raised - for the most part I'd say it's different.

We had a great conversation with Diane about health and dieting. How we believe eating healthy is a lifestyle, not a temporary diet. To me, some of her beliefs around health blew my mind, just for the fact mine were completely opposite or different. Nevertheless it was fascinating to learn what she believed was healthy living, compared to my beliefs. Growing up with my mom, I've always had a very informative, read-the-label, know what your eating up bringing. It was always alternative compared to my friends. At once embarrassed for my diet, I am now proud of how I eat. I would never shame someone for what they eat or believe, nor would I force my beliefs on them. But if someone is open to having the conversation, as Diane was, I find it an amazing opportunity for us to learn from each other. I wrote down a bunch of stuff for her to consider trying. When her and Joseph went to the grocery store, she even bought some of my suggestions. Buying popcorn kernels, a great snack which you can add coconut oil to and other seasonings instead of crappy microwave popcorn. (Which I still love). Joseph told me that the grocery store hardly had any produce. Which I found to be the case throughout a lot of the trip. Unless we were in a big town, options were limited. Especially for vegetarians, never mind vegans.

So healthy eating, the way we have been raised, has been extremely difficult. Unless someone is preparing a homemade meal, the extent to fruits and veggies was usually apples and bananas, cucumbers and onions. We met a lot of farmers, who grow their own veggies. We even stopped at a Mennonite farm and bought fresh veggies and they gave us amazing home baked cookies. We've stayed with beef and dairy farmers. Seeing how they live, raise, and respect the animals that provide them their income. That could seem like an awkward situation. Three vegetarians having dinner with some beef farmers. But it's not. And often it will come up in conversations. The common thing we hear from these farmers is they like knowing where their meat comes from. What it eats, and how their quality of life was. They often comment how the meat in grocery store is pumped with antibiotics, steroids and hormones. I have a massive respect for these farmers. They know where the food comes from, know it intimately. On the flip side, in the city, I think people are exposed to different kind of health. Green smoothie bars and clean eating, vegan restaurants. But I also know a lot of people who eat meat don't want to know where it came from, what the animal ate or how it was killed. These farmers know it all. Ignorance is not bliss.