We spend a lot of time in the van, on these shoots. A lot of time driving from Fargo to the rez, from the rez to Grand Forks, from Grand Forks back up to Cando, or, most often, to nowhere in particular at all. (see: “train hunting” posts on Facebook) All this zipping around gets pretty dull, so it’s part of my job to keep the van well-stocked with a variety of boredom snacks. We’ve gotten by fairly well so far with experimental beef jerky, fruit leather, and a variety of raw nuts, but when the crew took a side trip to Scheel’s, home of the giant ferris wheel, I found myself overcome with a near-psychotic craving for sugar.

Watermelon licorice. I hate licorice, normally. Like, I’ll eat a Twizzler if it’s around, but I won’t really enjoy it, and don’t even get me started on that tar-black anise shit. Nasty. Uch. But I was starving and exhausted, so as soon as we got back in the car I started shoving that shit in my mouth like it was free appetizer time at the Last Supper.

Noxious, rubbery, weirdly flavored and completely addictive. I took this picture of specimen A on my pillow at our hotel in Devils Lake, and then I ate it. Then I realized I’d forgot to pack my toothpaste.

On the drive up earlier that morning, we’d stopped at a gas station to put a wire on Robin and rig her car with lights. Gas stations in North Dakota seem to be a haven for strange food of all make and manner, so while the crew was at work doing work stuff, I prowled around in the convenience mart searching out a new taste adventure.

Adventure: found. These things are about the size of skittles, look like diseased microbes, and taste kind of like Skittles. I really don’t like Skittles – I like them even less than Twizzlers – but I ate the whole bag of Chewy Nerds anyway.

This was the only one left by the time we got back to Fargo. And I saved it specifically so I could take this picture and share with you the wonderment of the Chewy Nerd. Then I threw the Chewy Nerd away, because it had been rolling around the bottom of my purse for like two days and truly hadn’t been that appetizing to begin with.

Stay tuned, friends, there’s much much more to come.