Pajia Browning
The semester is almost (mercifully) over. For many of us, that means packing up our worldly possessions and driving back to our hometowns as soon as that last final is over.
The thought of road tripping got me thinking– what does everyone eat on the way back?
My food journalist brain started to whir, knowing that this was undoubtedly the most important question to ask about summer travel.
So, to prepare for the long-awaited journey home, I give you: the must-have snacks and stops for a UT student on the I-35 drive.
Houston
On the way back to Katy, Texas, theatre major Kaylen Drumwright knows exactly where to go.
“My favorite stop is Buc-ee’s in Bastrop, Texas,” she said. “I’ve gone ever since I was a little kid because I would go back and forth to Louisiana all the time. We would always stop at Buc-ee’s on the way.”
When she started at UT, her family tradition soon became her own. Now, in her sophomore year, Drumwright always stops at the Bastrop location to grab her staple snacks:
Barbeque sandwich (the protein varies)
Sweet roasted pecans
Dr. Pepper Icee
Beaver tail
No, I didn’t know what a beaver tail was either, so naturally, I asked. Drumwright said it was a croissant-esque cinnamon roll, and now I’m determined to try it on my next Buc-ee’s stop.
San Antonio (New Braunfels)
Esmeralda Reyes doesn’t have the most daunting drive. Her hometown of New Braunfels, a suburb near San Antonio, is only an hour-and-a-half away from UT with traffic. That doesn’t stop her from grabbing a few key items in very specific places.
“ I always stop in Kyle or Buda once I’m out of the traffic,” she said. “I’ll usually stop at a QuikTrip or the Chick-fil-A in Kyle.”
Her snack picks are down to a science:
Buffalo chicken bite with ketchup (QT)
Watermelon Jolly Rancher slush (QT)
Blue raspberry slush if they’re out of the watermelon (QT)
Spicy pickles (QT)
Spicy chicken sandwich (Chick-fil-A)
When Reyes got her car last spring, she found her go-to pit stops. It soon became a ritual, as she went home nearly every weekend, and it remains a must-stop in her sophomore year.
I didn’t even know QT sold snackable spicy pickles. My pickle-obsessed friends will be very pleased!
Corpus Christi
The drive to Corpus Christi is a little longer than San Antonio, to say the least. Coming in at around three-and-a-half hours, I can already envision how desperate I’d be for a snack to keep me driving after a long semester.
For Carlos Doble, however, that’s not the case.
“ I actually don’t stop. I go straight there,” he said. “I’ll usually have some peanuts or something, but sometimes I actually just eat nothing; just my bottle of water and that’s it.”
This unique reply begged a follow-up question. When I asked what he thinks of people who stop on road trips, Doble’s response was simple.
“ I understand. I mean, you need to go to the bathroom or get gas or something. You wanna stretch your legs, but honestly, I just want to get there,” he said. “My tank gets there, no problems. I’m like, ‘Let me just long shot.’”
So, I guess Doble’s go tos are:
Peanuts
Water bottle
… or nothing
Dallas/Fort Worth
And, now, I will offer my two cents as your Eats writer and Dallas-raised journalism student.
Disclaimer: I am a passenger princess. I do not drive– I usually end up with my road trip bestie, Fort Worth-raised Piper, and we tough it out together.
Second disclaimer: I am a pure-bred road trip child (try 14-hour drives to Atlanta, Georgia, every other year from age six to 16), and a soccer mom in the making. I am always stocked with snacks. Driving home from college is no different– I bring my entire pantry.
Third disclaimer: I get hangry. Fast.
To start, Piper and I always make a coffee run before we leave West Campus. Because I usually empty my fridge of every food item known to man (because who wants a smelly fridge?) I’ll grab breakfast and a drink.
Chai latte with oat milk
Some sort of muffin, tea bread or sandwich
Or subpar oatmeal if I decide to be the gluten-free girl I’m supposed to be
Once we hit the halfway point of our drive, Piper and I are usually sleepy, delirious or a dangerous mix of both.
Enter: Buc-ee’s in Temple, Texas.
That blessed beaver is our saving grace for bathroom breaks and the occasional snack.
After battling every minivan known to man for a parking spot, we drag ourselves inside and the wonderful aroma of roasted nuts, fresh brisket on the board and (thankfully) clean bathrooms hits us.
If the excessive snacks I packed aren’t enough, I’ll grab a few staples:
Sweet roasted pecans
$2 iced coffee (a sign that the exhaustion is dire)
Pulled pork sandwich (a sign that the hangry levels are dire)
I’ll refrain from ranting about how Buc-ee’s used to have the best Texas-shaped ginger snap cookies and how they broke my heart when they discontinued them.
We’re so close to the end of the semester, Longhorns. In your darkest hour, consider how good it will be to stop for your road trip must-haves. I know that’s the only thing keeping me going.