Gastro Distress and Midwest Eating

I forgot to tell all of you about our hilarious McDonalds encounter in Missouri. And it's a must, especially for my girls (and Will!) at the CRC.

We've been on the road for weeks and I've become quite the connoisseur of gas station/truck stop cuisine. As many of you know from my last road trip to Annapolis, truck stop food and the like is no good for any stomach, particularly mine. It pretty much equates to any sort of honeymoon being over pretty quickly if you get my drift. There isn't much option for healthy-ness along highways. I tried to buy slightly mushy apples and oranges at gas stations, but other than that, greens were hard to come by. I'm pretty sure putting jalapenos on my nachos doesn't count as veggies!

After a long day of driving in the snow, we pull off the road to a McDonald's. I can already feel my already bloated unhappy stomach starting to rumble in protest. Ok, I decide, I'll get a salad, even if it means stopping and eating in the restaurant. P and I head in, order a couple of their southwest salads with grilled chicken and wait off to the side. Wait and wait. And wait some more. Almost 15 minutes has passed and still no signs of salad! However, it has given me the opportunity to see what others are ordering--including 6 double cheeseburgers, extra mayo please. I know what you're thinking--McDonalds cheeseburgers don't come with mayo, much less EXTRA mayo! Blah! It's like I'm doing a public health survey right in the McDonalds! I feel my public health cogs working in overdrive as I speak!

So we're waiting, and waiting. So far, no trouble for the staff banging out the double cheeseburgers with extra mayo. I think that came out in 15 seconds flat! Finally, I see a manager and let her know we're still waiting for our order. She apologizes (people are really quite nice in the Midwest!) and heads back to to the kitchen. I see her conferring with her food preps guys and them she bellows "Does anyone know how to make a chicken salad?????" Apparently, they aren't ordered too often!!! I almost dreaded getting it--how old was the lettuce REALLY?!?!?!--but it was actually quite tasty (which may have been my body's response to severe vitamin deficiency, but who knows!)