Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

EDIT: I forgot to explain or rather introduce myself as Sfordinarygirl, the guest blogger while the Mapgirl is on vacation during this long holiday. I blog about living in San Francisco on $30K a year and finding my dream job. Thanks to Mapgirl.

And so I wanted to share my crazy dream when I retire - going on a food road trip.

Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler over at the New York Times has the coolest job. He’s spending the summer on a ROADTRIP! How awesome is that and he’s aiming to spend less than $100 a night.

He’s going from New York to Seattle got me daydreaming about my retirement fantasy.

Mines involves food and road trips. First off I’d like to explore the best bbq joints in the South. I’d start out driving from San Francisco to Alabama and sniff out the best places. That’d be one incredible journey!
Bbq used to be the one word I dreaded during the Memorial Day weekend. My parents asked if I wanted bbq chicken, beef or pork. At the time I wasn’t interested in eating slabs of pork chops marinated in Lee Kum Kay bbq sauces. What I really wanted was to eat a hamburger. But for five years straight, that’s what they grilled during the holiday and so I obligingly ate what I was given. By the time year six rolled around I begged my parents not to make any more bbq. It was getting to taste stale.

But Austin, Texas changed my mind. I fell in love with eating bbq. After one bite of those tender dry beef strips at Ruby’s (bbq sauce is served on the side) and I was in heaven - food heaven. And that’s not even including the pulled pork sandwich slow roasted for 14 hours at the Jackalope. Pulled pork was to die for. As I was writing this, I did a little research and came upon the history of bbq.

A road trip to Alabama is going to be expensive. How much money will I need? I’m going to estimate on the conservative side and say $5,000. I do want to be frugal too but not when it comes to food. I plan on sampling as much bbq until I’m satisfied.
After exploring bbq joints, I need to switch up the palates and hunt down the little Chinese restaurants in the small town cities. I”m fascinated by ethnic restaurants in small nowhere towns and wonder how they survive and most importantly how the food compares. I haven’t explored too many Chinese restaurants in small rural towns recently. But I remember one Chinese restaurant on the way back to the Bay from Tahoe. Let’s just say the $8 lemon chicken didn’t taste so good.

That’s my retirement fantasy - explore and eat food all the time. There’s nothing more satisfying than a juicy steak cooked to perfection or a sweet apple pie with a scoop of ice cream.

What’s your ideal retirement life? Would it be rock climbing? Traveling? Hiking Mt. Rainier?