Mr. T and I have been trying to find a way to beat this brutal Texas heat during the summers. We are lucky in that we get to work remotely and as long as we have a strong enough wiFi & cell signal, could pretty much work from anywhere! So we recently acquired a travel trailer and after a few mini weekend getaways, decided to take it on the road for what we call a “work/play” trip. We wanted something that was easy to get to in a days drive – in about 7 hours and Hot Springs ended up being our destination. We were going to stick to our keto/low carb way of life, so as you can imagine, that takes some effort!
We spent the week prior just gathering things together. To stay keto/low-carb while on our trip takes a lot of planning to get everything just right. Plus, our fridge doesn’t cool until it’s plugged in at the campsite, so we had to make some special provisions so we could keep our food in a cooler for hours. So a few days before we left, I made a turkey/chorizo chili, put it in a ziplock and froze it. Then I also marinated some chicken tenders and froze those. We pre-cooked a pack of bacon on the grill. I pre-made a green chili egg bake for breakfasts or quick lunches.
Then Thursday night, we packed everything we would need in bins and loaded them into bed of the truck (that wouldn’t melt) so we could be ready to leave the house by 7am. For the food, I gathered everything together in plastic shopping bags so in the morning I could just put it in the cooler (hopefully on top of the ice so it wouldn’t get wet) and surrounded everything with the frozen food I had. Everything stayed nice and cool until our destination.
The first day…I hit a learning curve. I would have been better off had I pre-made meat/cheese rollups or something that we could just grab from the back while gassing up. We ended up at a Buc-ee’s where we got brisket (no sauce) and sat in the car and ate that with, cheese, mayo and made Crepini/Cauliflower egg wraps. It hit the spot, but set us for a small delay. Then the next curve was we had planned to go out to dinner with my folks (who were following us on our journey for a couple of days). They said that when you finally arrive at your destination going out is easy and you don’t have to cook – well…by the time we got there and set up our campsite and loaded everything into the camper, it was almost 6 we were sweaty and exhausted. Thankfully, my parents also do keto and Mom had a meal ready to go – taco meat wraps and a broccoli salad.
The days after that were much better – I was prepared and settled in! Saturday, Mom made keto pancakes with peanut butter and sugar-free syrup and we explored the town. It was a cute place with lots of shops and some great history on the Hot Springs (just take the tour at the visitor center and you’ll learn a lot)! For lunch, we went to the Bathhouse Brewery (yes…I had to try a beer) and lunch was deviled eggs, blistered shishitos and a cup of chili. Later that evening, we went out to Back Porch Grill, right off the water. We started off with bacon wrapped scallops and split a steak with mushrooms and a side salad.
Sunday we went to the Garvan Woodland Gardens – beautiful place to see some amazing structures and greenery and we rented a pontoon boat that evening and got to see some awesome waterfalls. Lunch was just ham/cheese lettuce wraps, but for dinner we cooked – my folks were leaving the next day. We grilled up bunless wagyu beef burgers on a grilled portobello with brie & bacon. There is something about cooking on charcoal while camping that can’t be beat!
Monday starts the work/play part of our trip. Mom and Dad headed out early that morning to Branson, MO – and right after they left, we popped up our laptops and did what we do. Monday for lunch we went to this awesome Latin restuarant – Rolando’s. They had an Atkins Plate: Pulled pork, chicken and shrimp with queso flameado and guacamole. Mr. T still reminisces about that meal (I wish I had taken a picture)! Then for dinner that night we grilled up the chicken I’d been marinating and made lettuce cup fajitas with cheese, sour cream, roasted hatch chilis…the works!
Most days we ate in our camper or out on our picnic table. One night we grilled up wagyu chili cheese burgers. Breakfasts were the green chili egg bake, lunches might be leftover fajita lettuce wraps or chili. Snacks were either nuts or chicherones. To make clean up easier I bought things like salsa in a squeeze bottle and anyone from Texas will recognize my HEB paper plates! 😉
On Wednesday, we saw they had $1 oysters on a HH special at a place called The Bourbon Bar, so we ventured out and had a dozen (and a half) oysters and split a lamb shank with veggies for the side. Thursday, Mr. T made new friends and played disc-golf, then we went kayaking after work on the river – right behind our campground and ate the last of the chili for dinner.
On Friday, we both weighed in (yes I bought a small travel scale to help keep us on track). We actually lost a little bit. Nothing to write home about, but still great for being on vacation. We took the day off and decided to treat ourselves to a couples spa treatment at one of the Bathhouses. It was amazing and we felt completely spoiled. We decided to have our one splurge meal at The Ohio Club…which we split – I’ll skirt the details as to not tempt anyone. What a great place, full of rich history – once owned by Al Capone! Then that night for dinner, we went to Steinhouse Keller – a cute German restaurant. We did our research and saw that they had a lot of potential low carb options. We split the beef cabbage rolls (which didn’t have any rice) and for the sides had brussel sprouts with cheese sauce and an awesome cucumber salad.
Then on Saturday, we packed up and headed back home. This time I bundled up my food, like before, but made sure that each ‘bundle’ contained all of the ingredients to make a meal. Like ham, cheese and mayo in one for snacks and lettuce, chicken, salsa and sour cream in the other for fajita wraps. This pre-planning was worth it. We made it home without too much delay.
It was a fun trip, and other than the one splurge meal we feel we had a great plan in place. We were able to have fun, work (but had fun doing it) and enjoy a city we might never had thought to visit.
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