(Forbes) - This week I decided to quit the U.S. dollar cold-turkey and pay for my food, shelter, transportation and entertainment only with the digital currency Bitcoin. It’s not the first time. I did the same experiment last year when Bitcoin was far more underground than it is now, and it was rough. On the sixth day last year, I had to move out of my lovely one-bedroom apartment and into a still-being-renovated ‘crackhouse’ with chickens on the roof because my then-landlord had no idea what Bitcoin was and didn’t want to accept it as rent. This year, the only bag I’m packing is for a day-trip to wine country for a Bitcoin-paid tour.

I’d used my Bitcoin the night before to visit a strip club. This Saturday morning, I wanted to do something a bit classier. Inspired by an article from last fall about Bitcoin travel options, I called up “The Santa Cruz Experience,” the only company mentioned that was local, or local-ish. Santa Cruz is an hour-and-a-half drive south of San Francisco. When I called the company to book the trip, its owner Austin Twohig, 32, picked up the phone.

“Are you guys still accepting Bitcoin?” I ask.

“We are, but no one has ever booked with it before. More people have called to ask questions about Bitcoin than have actually used it,” he says. He is thrilled when I tell him that Bitcoin is the only currency I have to spend this week and that I want to use it to head to Santa Cruz’s vineyards. It’s become a familiar scenario for me that I’m not just observing the Bitcoin ecosystem at work, but am an early adopter who is pushing its use — inspiring a gourmet market called Buyer’s Best Friend, for example, to take the coin last year when its owner saw I had nowhere to shop for groceries, and an exotic dancer to get her first tip in a QR code rather than tucked into a g-string.

The tour is $150 for two people, or about .3 BTC at the current rate. But I need to get to the pick-up spot in Santa Cruz somehow. He says he can provide a shuttle for another $170, for a total of .7 BTC. The tour includes visits to three vineyards, wine tastings, and lunch, so I’ll be set for the day. I agree. He says I shouldn’t use the BTC payment button on his website because it still points to his Mt. Gox wallet. (R.I.P.) “I need to change that thing. Obviously we’re not going to use that,” he says.