Somewhere in Texas, Berck and I realized we were both staying pretty chronically dehydrated. We always made sure we had two big bottles of water with us, but the desert water doesn’t taste good. And since we’re not hot, we forget to drink. We needed to do something about the problem.

So we bought a container of Country Time Lemonade powder and mixed it with in one of the water bottles. Does the sugar content of the lemonade outweigh whatever benefit we gain from drinking more fluid? We don’t know, but we’ve now been drinking a lot more and feel much better.

On our last grocery run, we thought we’d try some variety and get Tang instead. I have a soft spot in my heart for Tang; it saved my life when I got King Tut’s revenge on a trip to Egypt. Plus, it’s what the astronauts drink. We saw some pre-made cartons of Tang in the store. Tell me, what’s the point of that?

We’ve gotten in the habit of emptying our water bottles at night. Otherwise, they freeze, and we can’t refill them, just wait till they thaw. We kept one half-empty bottle in the tent with us last night. It didn’t freeze. I really wanted something to drink in the morning, so I measured the correct amount of Tang for how much water was in our two-and-a-half liter bottle. Then I shook it up good. I tasted it, and it felt chunky. I know Tang always has that bit of gritty taste to it, and maybe I put too much in for the sugar to dissolve? No, the water was just in the process of freezing, so the Tang was full of ice crystals.

Recipe for Road Lemonade:

Fill a well-battered Ozarka water bottle from any available potable water source, be it park pump, water fountain, or service station washroom sink. Measure lemonade powder halfway between one quart and two quart lines. Take a page from a useless brochure you picked up somewhere along the way and roll it up to make a paper funnel. Carefully pour powder into funnel; be patient … if your funnel is narrow, it will take a minute to all fall through. Screw on top. Shake like mad. Drink.