I started out in January with a year to do an impossible task: Create five liquor trails covering 10 states in 12 months. Oh, and write a book at the same time. Here it is in the ninth month of the year, and I’ve covered most of six states and more than 30 distilleries. But boy, I still have a long way to go.

Still, the adventures are mounting up. On two long weekends in a row, I covered most of two states, Virginia and West Virginia, and made a quick trip to Columbia and Charleston.

You’ll have to wait until the book comes out (that would be “Distilling The South” from UNC Press, still slated for spring 2018) to get the details on the distilleries. But in the meantime, I’ll catch you up quickly on a few food adventures along the way.

No pictures would capture the spectacular scenery that is Virginia across West Virginia: I wish I could have mounted a Go Pro on the roof of my car. I didn’t dare take my hands off the wheel while I drove it to try to aim a camera. With my trusty GPS mounted on the dash, I occasionally imagined what would happen if I flew off a hairpin curve: The blue line shooting off into space, plunging to the bottom of a valley while Siri repeatedly said, “Return to the route, return to the route.”

The Shenandoah Valley in summer is like driving through a bowl of the Earth.

If you head that way, keep these food finds on your list:

Richmond: After hearing legends of Szechuan cult chef Peter Chang, I found myself in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood, a few blocks from his newest restaurant. I grabbed a small table and immediately ordered his famous Dry Fried Eggplant: Long sticks of crisp-coated eggplant. Sort of like really crisp French fries with soft interiors, in a pile of sauteed greens and dried red chiles, with a powerful hit of Szechuan peppercorns. I love Szechuan peppercorns — they make your mouth so numb, the flavor is as much about sensation as it is taste.

Along with that, I had the Scallion Pancake: Instead of a flat fritter, it comes to your table puffed up like a sea creature, with a sugar/salt coating that makes it sparkly and crisp outside and all air inside. You pull off chunks and dip them in a golden curry sauce. I rounded it out with a platter of double-fried pork belly with cabbages and leeks, in a red oil of sauce so rich, I wanted to just fold myself into it.

Sperryville, Va.: A couple of days later, leaving Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, I found myself in a fix: No cell service at all. My trusty Siri had gotten me there, but then she up and left me.

So no map, and a limited time to reach my next stop at Smooth Ambler in Maxwelton, W.Va., before they closed for the day. I drove a 1/4 mile, checked my phone, drove a 1/4 mile, checked my phone. Still no service. In desperation, I spotted a small bakery with the beloved sign: “Free WiFi.” I dashed in and found myself in the perfect place, a women-run bakery with all my needs: Great iced coffee, a customer with a paper road atlas, and slices of quiche to go. The women all consulted their maps and pooled their West Virginia driving knowledge. “Do you get car sick easily?” one asked. Nope. “Great — we’ll send you on the scenic route.”

That’s how I found myself snaking through the Shenandoah National Forest with one hand gripping the wheel and the other gripping the creamiest slice of bacon quiche I’ve ever eaten. In my panic, I didn’t get the name of the place. But if you ever find yourself in Sperryville, do me a favor: Stop and tell them thanks.

Lewisburg: Finally, I ended that weekend in one of my favorite small towns in the South, Lewisburg, W.Va. As the sign at the town limit proudly announces, “The Coolest Small Town In America.” I had stayed there last in the 1990s, so I was eager to see if the General Lewis Inn still lives up to its history. Built in the 1840s and turned into a hotel in the 1920s, it’s one of those places that just isn’t like anywhere else. I stayed there once on a snowy night on my way to the Greenbrier for a food writing event, and the memory is magical still. The hotel was recently bought by a young couple, Sparrow and Aaron Huffman, and they’re doing a great job keeping the 19th century hotel running well, actually a little spiffed up since my last stop.

Sparrow also runs a little cafe downtown, the Stardust Cafe. I headed there for dinner that night. I was a little puzzled to find out the house specialty is chicken curry. Chicken curry? Yes, actually, and it’s fantastic: A fruity mango curry sauce over chicken served on rice. It was wickedly tasty, especially with housemade sesame-crusted bread and a fruity New Belgian ale.

One thing about these distillery trips: I cover a lot of ground, but I always make sure I build in good dinners along the way. Now, if I could only figure out how they made that quiche so creamy.