From Asheville, North Carolina, Bessie and I had to make a twelve hour drive to Ocean City, Maryland for the Rude Awakening morning show on Irie Radio. The haul was a long one but wasn’t too bad because we cut north to avoid Raleigh/Durham traffic. In South Hill, Virginia, around dinnertime, I saw a sign that said “Home Cookin – Fresh Veg. Daily.” That’s the type of restaurant I’m always looking for and they’re harder to find than you’d think, even in the south. Needless to say, the fried chicken, hushpuppies, squash, and melon were exceptional.
Somewhere right before the Maryland border I crashed at a truckstop then awoke the next morning and headed to the nearest rest stop to shave before arriving at the Seacrets resort that houses Irie Radio. Bulldog and The Dude were in the studio and after Tanya grabbed a cup of coffee for me I headed in and hung out for a couple hours while we talked about ice cream, listened to Eddie Murphy, and did interviews with other guests. I think we’ll try to do a call in to the station every week or two during tour to check in with the crew. You can listen at www.irieradio.com
The annual Ice Screamers Convention was taking place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania the following day so we made our way in that direction without really knowing how we were going to get there or where we’d be staying. The Ice Screamers are a group of ice cream fanatics that collect ice cream memorabilia. This year’s convention was to celebrate their 25th Anniversary and the hall they occupied at the Best Western was full-up with tables of just about all ice cream related things you could think of. There were ice cream scoopers and molds spanning the last century and a half, tons of print material (comics, postcards, menus, +), ice cream boxes, old wooden spoons in their wrappers, and lots of other trinkets and toys. Richard Warren who owns Four Seas Ice Cream in Cape Cod and who wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Homemade Ice Cream had tables full of great stuff and I picked up an Ernie in an ice cream truck toy, some cool old postcards, a couple stickers, and a dinosaur eating and ice cream air freshener.
One of my greatest finds was a sign that says, “YES, We Have ’em – Banana filled with ice cream.” I had asked a gentleman sitting at his table if I could take a picture of it and he said I could have it. I thanked him and told him I’d put it up in my truck and drive it around the country. I’m sure I’ll get a few requests and interesting responses from it.
The area around Lancaster is Amish Country. Since I was heading east from Lancaster towards Philly I decided I might as well stop by Intercourse, Pennsylvania. I think I had passed through there a couple decades ago when our family did an east coast trip but nothing looked that familiar. It’s a lot smaller than I would have thought and I had to make a u-turn to get back to the Immergut Pretzel shop in the middle of town. That might be the best decision I’ve made all trip. I had just had lunch but couldn’t pass up a soft pretzel in an area that seemed to be famous for them. The plain pretzel with a little cheese dip was the best pretzel I’ve ever had. I was sitting on a bench in a big grass area under a tree out back when I glanced over to see an Amish gentleman getting into his buggy. As he was pulling away his little poodle poked his head out of the front window and started barking at the wind as they passed by. It made me smile and remember how the little things in life are the things that can make me so happy. Since the first pretzel was so yummy I headed back and bought a cinnamon one that I saved til I found a coffee shop outside Philly where I camped out before heading into downtown to catch Panda Bear at the First Unitarian Church. I think I’ll write a review for the show soon so I won’t go into too much detail now. After the show I ran to the local corner store and bought them out of drumsticks and sandwiches. I then pulled Bessie up in front of the church and gave away the few dozen treats I had on board. It wasn’t much but… some cream is way better than none. A trip to Philly isn’t complete without a Cheese Steak so I headed south to Pat’s King of Steaks.
I wasn’t sure where I was staying that night so I had to head north in search of a Wal-mart parking lot. The only problem was Bessie’s headlights weren’t working and I had to MacGyver a fix involving a box of matches. The next day I awoke in New Jersey and hung out in a coffee shop in Princeton for a bit before rolling through New Brunswick, NJ to check out one of the oldest soda fountains in Jersey. I ordered up a chocolate shake from the Corner Confectionary. If anyone is interested in owning an old time soda fountain on a main street is a New Jersey suburb, The Corner Confectionary is for sale. You can find out more about it at www.cornerconfectionary.com. Contact me if you’re interested in purchasing and I’ll get you the necessary info.
It took a little while to get to Brooklyn from NJ but nearly as bad as last year when I came up from Philly. The next day I awoke then headed to Kool Man in Williamsburg to pick up a bunch of cream then headed to the first Pool Party of the summer at McCarren Pool where Superchunk, Oakley Hall, and
+/- were playing. We hung out in the back most of the time and slung a couple/few hundred treats. Full review coming soon. Actually… right now we’re off to Kool Man again to pick up treats for the Pool Party today with Illinois, Man Man, and Dengue Fever.. YEY!
