This Weekend: Bicyclists get hotter than Hell in Texas

Everyone knows that airlines make it difficult to redeem frequent-flier miles for free travel. Yet you may not know that they're making it expensive, too. As of October 1, American Airlines will charge customers a fee of at least $50 to use their miles to buy a one-way upgrade on many types of tickets. (AA didn't charge a fee before.) US Airways has chosen to charge a $25 quick-ticketing fee to customers who redeem their frequent-flier miles for travel within 14 days of their departure. Delta isn't charging a fee, but it is watering down the value of its miles by raising the minimum number of miles you need to earn to redeem for tickets for many types of tickets. In light of these changes, are credit cards that promise free flights worth it? Fortunately, long-time personal finance writer Ron Lieber has come up with five quick questions to help you figure out the answer: Do you pay off your balance each month? If so, then a rewards card might be good for you. If you don't, you should cancel your rewards card because it probably charges a high annual fee and a high interest rate. (To find a low rate alternative, visit bankrate.com or kiplinger.com.) Are your kids in school? "If they are, you'll be fighting everyone else who wants to travel at the same time," says Lieber. "The airlines, knowing your desperation to get out of town, may make fewer free seats available during school vacations, since the airline will probably sell all the seats on those flights anyway." Do you have elite status? If yes, you should probably keep your rewards card. The major airlines, such as American and United, make it easier for passengers with elite status to redeem miles, boosting the value of the miles you earn on your card. Do you own your own business? If so, you can probably charge up a lot on your credit card. Once you start charging more than $100,000 a year, you'll be earning enough miles to earn premium-class tickets. The airlines make sure that "miles are worth a lot more if you redeem them for this sort of travel" because they want to retain the loyalty of big spending customers. Do you value upgrades? "It can be easier to get upgrades from coach using miles than it is to book free seats." So if upgrades matter to you, then a rewards card may be the best value way to get upgrades. But watch out for those increasing redemption fees! FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Don't Let Reward Miles Vanish

Roadfood experts Jane and Michael Stern appear weekly on the public radio show "The Splendid Table" as well as run Roadfood.com. Here's what they have to say to BudgetTravel.com readers about roadside eateries: If you could eat only one chicken meal: deep-fried, pan-fried, Broasted, or Cornell? That's like asking Hugh Hefner if he prefers blondes, redheads, or brunettes. But if you held a gun to my head and forced me to choose (oh, what a great dilemma!), I would go for the pan-fried, especially if it was the pan-fried chicken served at Stroud's in Kansas City, where it is presented with crusty skin imbued with the flavor of chicken fat and as rich and savory as bacon. It comes with real, rugged pan-drippin' gravy, fluffy mashed potatoes, buttery-sweet cinnamon rolls and even superb chicken soup with homemade noodles and juicy shreds of thigh meat. Everything comes in big bowls meant for passing among friends and family. What is a region of the country with some of America's most delicious food? The rough triangle between Atlanta, Charleston, and Savannah is one region. In Atlanta, I would start my trip with fried chicken, pot likker (collard greens "liquor"), and plates full of southern style vegetables at Mary Mac's Tea Room. If you prefer classic old-style diners, drop by the Silver Skillet: ham and red eye gravy for breakfast, and some of the best lemon icebox pie anywhere. Of course, who can leave Atlanta without a visit to the Varsity, the world's largest drive-in restaurant, for a slaw dog or two? I don't know the route you are taking to Asheville, but I suggest you plot it so you can stop in Statesville at Keaton's for barbecued chicken—it is fried, then dipped in hot, hot sauce, emerging with a taste like no other. Charleston is an eater's paradise: seafood at Hyman's, great southern food of all kinds at Jestine's, and if you want an upscale version of Southern food, check out Magnolia's. Even more upscale, and pretty pricey (but very, very good) is 82 Queen. Oh, and the Hominy Grill must not be missed—for breakfast, lunch, or supper. In Savannah, be sure to have lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. For many more tips along the way, check out Roadfood.com. There are state-by-state listings and maps showing where the restaurants are, as well as discussion forums where you can ask for suggestions. You can also check out our new blog Imagine a road trip from San Diego to New Jersey taking a Northern route there and a Southern route back. Can you recommend some not to miss, non chain places to experiences local foods Oh, my gosh. You could take 5 years to make that trip and not hit half the great eateries along the way. A small handful of must-not-miss opportunities that come immediately to mind are barbecue in Memphis (at Interstate, A&R;, or Cozy Corner), a green chili cheeseburger in New Mexico (at the Owl Bar in San Antonio) or a full-bore New-Mex meal at the beautiful and romantic Rancho de Chimayo north of Santa Fe. It wouldn't hurt to take a copy of our book Roadfood with you; that's what it's for! What's your advice for travelers looking for tasty food? Probably the biggest mistake is looking for something familiar. For us, the whole point of traveling is to experience the place we are, and that means eating the food people there eat, the way they eat it. That could range from Indian pudding in a Maine diner to carnitas tacos from a truck in South Tucson. In other words, be adventurous! Try new things! Meet new people! MORE FROM BT Answering our call, readers named the best places to eat like a local from sea to shining sea.

If you find yourself near Milford, Conn. this weekend, shuck (pun intended) your plans and attend the free 34th Annual Milford Oyster Festival. Things get started Friday at 5 p.m. and continue until Saturday at 6 p.m. The schedule is still being finalized, but you can expect lots of the usual festival fare—a classic car show, arts and crafts, live music, and canoe and kayak races. Plus, there is an oyster-eating contest (participants have to eat a dozen in record time) and an oyster-shucking contest (first one to shuck two dozen wins). But the pearl of this event (too easy!) is the aptly named "Pearl Trail"—a treasure hunt for 20,000 of the precious orbs, donated by a local jeweler and hidden in downtown buildings. Milford is about 11 miles from New Haven, Conn. The waterfront town is the sixth oldest in Connecticut; oyster farming was once a major industry. The festival attracts about 50,000 people a year. The festival grounds are located in downtown along Milford Harbor; you can map "High St. Milford, Conn. 06460" for directions. Admission to the festival is free, but there is a Wine & Oyster tasting on Friday night that costs $40 per person. Call the festival hotline at 203/878-5363 for more info.

You've probably heard of couchsurfing.com, a network of travelers looking to crash for free on strangers' sofas. Now we learn that an entrepreneur has taken the idea a step further and created Airbedandbreakfast.com, a site that enables anyone with an airbed (or couch or bed) to rent it out for the night. What makes AirBed & Breakfast.com different from couchsurfing.com (and craigslist.org, too) is that it allows you to make reservations online and pay for your stay with a credit card (or via PayPal). The site charges guests a 5 to 12 percent service fee (above the nightly rate, depending on the type of lodging). If you're hosting a guest, you receive the full rate you advertise. Skeptical of the trend? Don't be. Time reported this spring that Couch Surfing has nearly 470,000 users—up 56 percent since last year. On the plus side, AirBed & Breakfast makes it much more convenient for folks to try a cheaper—and far more culturally authentic—alternative to a hotel. On the downside, this website manages to lower the standard for acceptable cheap lodging to something even lower than a couch: the plastic inflatable airbed. Plus, it introduces an annoying new acronym into the language: "AB&B.;" Perhaps none of the above websites are as truly bargain basement as the long-standing one that makes guests work for their beds: helpx.net Trade five hours of manual labor for a place to crash. Have you tried any of these services? Would you? [Story broken by TechCrunch and picked up by HotelChatter and Travel Weekly in the UK.]