Day Fifteen - Wheels come off the wagon.

Yesterday was a shameful breakdown of the whole system. I am embarrassed to even write about it. But I am committed to honestly reporting on the project, so I am compelled to tell you about my failures as well as successes.

We drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco yesterday. We left the house about 9am, after a perfectly legal breakfast of buttermilk pancakes. We brought a thermos of coffee, a container of water, a package of dried peaches, a bag of raw almonds, one ripe banana and three leftover pancakes. These provisions got us about 3 hours into the journey. It is our tradition to stop at In n Out burger in Kettleman City on drives to San Francisco. I'm sure this could have been avoided with a little smart planning on my part by packing some more filling homemade food, but the previous day was rather busy, with the squash blossom harvest, Baby J not taking a nap, packing for San Francisco, and generally being disorganized. So my grand plans of a wholesome roadside picnic were dashed. So the In n Out tradition was continued. (Road trips are the only time I eat there, for the record) In an nod to the project, I got my Double Double wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun, forgoing that multitude of ingredients. However, I canceled out that virtue by splitting an order of fries with DR. But we didn't get a drink, as a soda fountain lemonade's ingredient list probably can't be justified.

I would love to say that this cheeseburger escapade was my only transgression of the day. But it just gets worse. Once we arrived, we went to the Ferry Building to meet my brother and sister-in-law who were in town for a seminar. We were starving and it was a beautiful day so we sat outside at a little Mexican spot and had a Dos Eqques Amber and quacamole with chips. I felt particularly bad about the beer, since I made such a big deal about it in the beginning, and it wasn't necessary. But I'm on vacation... Later we went to Tommy's Mexican restaurant, which is famous for their margarita's, so.... I also had a tamale, and split nachos with everyone. After dinner we went to my brother's hotel and had a glass of wine.

Over dinner my sister in law told us that the Act of Contrition has recently been updated, as my nephew had to memorize it at school. I also discovered that I am a little rusty on the originial, so I hope the need to do a perfect Act of Contrition doesn't come up soon. But I do firmly resolve, with the help of thy readership, to confess my sins, to do penance and and amend my eating. Amen.