Click HERE for the SXSW review.
Left Austin at 7 in the morn on Friday and drove 17 hours til I made it into Arizona. With no cruise control and a lot of flat land I needed something to help pass the time. It just so happened that Jimmy Rags and Lucky Dog were hanging out next to Taco Bell in Fort Stockton and needed a ride to El Paso. I welcomed them aboard and we started heading west. It was a 250 mile jaunt and you can learn a lot about someone when they’re sitting next to you for almost five hours and your stereo is broke. He and Lucky had come from New Orleans where they were helping search for lost souls. Lucky is a service dog and is skilled at finding people and a friend of Jimmy’s had lost some grandkids down there. On their way back, Lucky was getting hassled on the Greyhound by a bunch of kids so they hopped off in Fort Stockton. For three full days they stood at the onramp trying to get a ride but no one would oblige. The little money Jimmy had from FEMA and from Disability/VA was tapped out and he only had eight bucks til he got back home. I had never heard of “Exit Zero” before but that’s where he said his stop was. Sure enough, there is a bridge separating New Mexico and Texas that is Exit 0. The east lane is in Texas, the west in New Mexico.
It was just getting dark and I wanted to push on as far as possible so as to shorten my drive on Saturday. I made it just over the AZ border before pulling off to the side of the road and calling it a night. When I woke up on Saturday morn I took a quick peek at the map and realized I could take the road I was on north for a scenic detour to Phoenix. It would add about an hour to the trip but I was pretty sick of the 10 and it was early enough in the morn that I could climb the steep mountain grades without Bessie overheating. Grabbed some McDonalds coffee (first time in years) in Safford then started heading west. Wish I would’ve stopped to snag a pic of the sign in Globe, Arizona that said $18 hotel rooms. Snapped some photos by some cool rocks before making my way into Mesa/Tempe/Phoenix. Thought about stopping at the Renaissance Fair but knew that would suck me in for hours. Especially because I think I met a girl on the train to Oregon last year that said she was going to be there.
The drive across Texas had been surprisingly cool. It was starting to heat up in western AZ and California though. Bessie had been holding up alright but her temperature was rising and we’d have to slow down and turn on the external fan to regulate her so she wouldn’t overheat. Thank the lord she held tight and got us to Delia’s Grinders in Riverside (yum). Eventually we made it home in one piece and after a shower all I wanted to do was pass out. Especially since I was going to be heading to Anaheim today for the Natural Products/Food Expo.
If anyone out there has made it this far in this update AND has any interest in natural products or food, then you have to make it to this expo/tradeshow when it comes back through next year. Every natural product is represented and the samples are endless. This time around I knew to only focus on the things that mattered. Ice Cream, Chocolate, and the occasional beverage (coffee, maté, beer, and soda). The convention center is HUGE and the show goes on for three days just so people can make it through everything. I headed straight to the back where all the good stuff was. My main goals were to meet with Julie’s Organic, Dagoba Chocolate, and all the new small ice cream companies that were starting up.
Everything was going as planned and I was selling myself like no other. Am I really the most famous ice cream man in the world? Does it even matter? Either people get what we’re doing or they don’t. It’s pretty simple. It’s just weird when you talk to a nationally distributed frozen treat company who says they have no interest in getting their product out there backstage and the largest music festivals in the country. There’s no financial obligation either, only product. Luckily there are cool companies out there like Julie’s Organic, Zambeedo‘s and Mashti Malone’s who dig what we’re doing. The show was closing and I tried to wrap up as many loose ends as possible. Dropped by the Burt’s Bees both but found no Hannah. Looked for the Livity folks but couldn’t find em. I did find some natural gummi bears (
www.mrtumee.com) and snagged some of those for the road. They fit in great with my current collection of gummi treats (Haribo – fizzy colas, pasta, and fruit salad and sour patch fruit salad).
Now that I’m back at Ma’s house, I can get work done. I’ll be filling out the SXSW review with some pics from the Domino Party with Arctic Monkeys as well a TON of pics from the Little Radio Parties. We’re doing what we can over hear. Until we win the lottery, things will take a little longer than we’d all like. We’ve got a ton or reviews in waiting too. Stay tuned for word and pics from Langerado in Florida, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Metric with Islands, Earlimart and Band or Horses and a few more. We’ll be dumping all kinds of good stuff soon. til then, some of us will be sleeping…..sound.
We brought a handful of copies of Off the Wookie back with us. You can pick one up at Fingerprints in Long Beach or you can send $3 for a copy and some ICM stickers. Contact me if interested.
