Only one day after coming back home from Comic-Con I was off again. Not for more nerdy adventures, but headed north to reunite with Bessita for the latest stop on the Free Yr Radio tour.

I arrived in Minneapolis at 7 in the morning off of a red eye from LAX. I had to wait until 10:30 before I could pick up our Yaris and my motel was out in the suburbs (and I couldn't check in until the afternoon) so I took the train into downtown to pass some time and find some breakfast. Little did I know that downtown isn't the most happening spot at 7 something am. Eventually I found a weekly paper with a 'Best Of' list and decided The Bad Waitress was the place I needed to eat. Being unfamiliar with the transit system, I charged myself to walk the eighteen blocks to get there. After the long, long trek I arrived and had one of the best omelets I've ever had.

Eventually, I was able to go pick up the car and get some much needed rest. The Yeasayer show at Urban Outfitters didn't happen until the next day, so I had a day to recharge and get to know Minneapolis. After a much needed nap, I explored the city. The Twins were playing the White Sox that night, so I took in the game. Afterwards, I wandered around town, stopped in a couple places for a drink and took a cab back to my motel for a full night's sleep.

The first order of business on Wednesday was to pick up Blue Bunny ice cream at Big Bell. As usual, I got to talking to the other ice cream men there loading up and they were thoroughly charmed by little Bessita. Once I was loaded up to the brim, I set out to The Current radio station to thank them for helping put together the concert. Little did I know that The Current is within the entire Minnesota Public Radio building. More overwhelmed than I expected to be, I thanked myself for loading up as much as I could. While giving away ice cream to the masses, I was interviewed for The Splendid Table on public radio. I was told later that The Go Team was in the building, but I was still the most famous person there. That's fun.

After getting a much needed lunch at White Castle, I made my way over to the show. It wasn't scheduled to start for a few hours, so I waited for everybody else to set up while the line of people looked over forlornly. Once things were ready, they let people come out of the line to get ice cream and take photos in the Good Magazine Yaris, as well as pick up buttons and such from the lovely ladies heading up the Free Yr Radio and Good Mag tables. I was able to get through almost all of my treats by the time the show started. Figuring I could get rid of the rest pretty quickly, I stayed outside for a bit, enticing passersby.

Not getting rid of as much as I thought, due to there being almost no people on the street, I headed inside to check out Yeasayer. I had listened to them on Myspace before I left and liked what I heard. They describe themselves as "Enya with bounce" on their Myspace. I heard a little more Duran Duran. Live, they were a lot more rocking than I expected. The keyboards and synth elements were way more subdued and the guitars and drums were in the forefront. I thought I liked them before, now they've become one of my favorite new live bands. Not to mention, they have damn catchy melodies to go along with their driving beats. Maybe more like Enya rocking the f*ck out.

In no time I was able to get rid of the remainder of my ice cream stock to the sweaty masses leaving the store. I had to give up Bessita so she could travel on to Philadelphia, so I headed to The Bulldog for some cheese curds and a brat and indulged myself in some good old fashioned Premiums before heading back to the motel, satisfied with my Twin Cites getaway.

This is from IceCreamMan.com - there's pictures over there.

Once again, for the geekier side of Ice Cream Man. While Ice Cream Man was busy hanging out with rock stars in Chicago for Pitchfork Music Fest and Lollapalooza, I went down to Comic-Con in San Diego with the Ice Cream B Team for the comic relief portion of the Ice Cream Man adventures (pun only half intended).

Comic-Con is my most anticipated event of the year. You can have your hanging out backstage with rock stars and talking to the "cool" people. Give me people dressed up as storm troopers and selling 20 sided dice.

Phil and I started Thursday morning and had to first head up to Arya ice cream in L.A. to pick up our assortment of treats that were being donated by Blue Bunny for the trip. Unfortunately, they didn't give us any TMNT pops, which a ton of people ended up asking for. We did get tons of other stuff though and actually had to leave behind six boxes of Champ! cones. Once we got loaded up, we made our trek down. On the way, we saw a sign saying that there was an accident in 57 miles. "Ha! I sure hope they got it cleaned up by the time we get there." I said, rather derisively. Ah, the joke was on me. We got to San Juan Capistrano and the freeway was at a standstill. Being the intrepid person that I am, I decided to get off the freeway and take PCH. Of course, I couldn't find PCH and ended up getting stuck in traffic on El Camino Real. The good news was that we ended up giving away six cones from the truck while we were stuck in traffic. Not a bad start. For brevity's sake, lets just say it took us five and a half hours to get from Los Angeles to San Diego.

As soon as we arrived, we headed to the Convention Center to get our badges and then to the motel to prepare for the night. That night we decided we weren't going to sling and instead were going to show the town how you party. We drank beers and waited in the motel room for Matthias to arrive to complete our crew for the night.

The only thing on our agenda that night was the G4 & StrangeCo party. Since G4 was making a huge publicity push this year I thought the party would be packed. Surprisingly, it wasn't that full. Maybe people were calling it an early night. I was surprisingly impressed by the "nerdcore" rappers performing. MC Frontalot, YTCracker and MC Lars had raps about playing video games over remixes of the Super Mario Bros. underworld theme, and made it actually good. The bad news was there were no Olivia Munn sightings. Maybe next year.

After we decided the party had run its course (after a shot of whiskey and a few beers) we decided it'd be a great idea to get even more drunk. Not really knowing where to go, we just dropped in a few bars. The highlight was maybe getting shots of tequila. Phil asked the bartender for three good shots. The bartender came back with offers of $15 shots.
"For all three?"
"No. Each."
"How about $9 each?"
And... scene!

We had to wake up early the next day because we were intent on seeing the Watchmen panel. This was as hard to do as you might expect. Arriving an hour and a half before the panel was set to start, we were sure there was no way we were getting in. In our favor though was that there were other big panels before, so we walked right in. They played some new footage, which was what everybody was waiting for, and it looks amazing. I had really low hopes for this movie when I first heard about it, but I am really excited now. It's looking like against all odds, Zack Snyder is going to make a good Watchmen movie.

The rest of the day was spent walking around checking out booths. I felt tired and hungover, so being bombarded by the sensory overload of the main exhibition hall was too much. We eventually left and headed to the truck to begin the ice cream portion of the fun. Bessie was parked further away than I thought, and the prospect of pushing the push cart into the throng of nerds seemed daunting, so we set up shop across the street from Petco Park and got people as they were walking back to their cars. It ended up that there was an open spot and so I ran back to the truck and pulled her in. Success! We got the push cart cleaned out plus a few more boxes of stuff and decided that the mission was accomplished.

After resting up for a bit and grabbing a bite to eat we went to Subtext gallery for an art opening. Compared to our other events of the weekend, this was really low key. We stopped by last year and made people really happy, so since we had nothing else going on that night, we dropped by again. All went well, except for one poor girl who got a bomb pop stuck to her lip and was dripping blood. I'll say it again people, be careful with your ice cream, it is dangerous! Hopefully she's ok.

Matti I called it an early night at 11 o'clock, meanwhile, Phil went out to the truck to read an Usagi Yojimbo book he bought and ended up getting swarmed by a bunch of people in the motel and had an impromptu party in the parking lot.

Saturday we were just as intent to see the Heroes panel in the morning as we were for Watchmen. Last year we got to it an hour and a half early and still had no chance of getting in. This year, despite our best efforts, we showed up an hour before it was set to start. Being the first panel of the day, we thought it'd be easier to get in, like it was the day before. Oh, we were so wrong. Here is my estimation of the line to get in. It may be a conservative estimate.

So, we didn't get in to that, but the show starts in two months, so I think I can live with it. We decided to hit the main floor again and it was way more manageable not hungover. Camino met up with us in the afternoon and we soon headed out to give out some more ice cream. Outside, we ran into the Eureka ice cream truck. To promote the show, they had a branded ice cream truck heading around giving away free ice cream. Hmm... that sounds awfully familiar, I can't exactly place why...

After another successful round of slinging outside Petco, we headed to the Local for the anniversary of Dr. Sketchy's San Diego. Since it was downtown, there was no place for us to park. I had Phil run in a couple boxes of stuff, but the bar's owner said they couldn't give it out inside. With no other options (I was busy trying to find parking blocks away) Phil just left the boxes with them. Hopefully they were able to take a break and get some.

Next on the agenda was the Jeepers party, sponsored by Yelp. We got there early, so the turnout was pretty low at the time. Some lucky partygoers were able to get some cream though, and the ones that did were pretty excited about the experience. I'm just glad the girl dressed as a lobster got some. I would've never forgiven myself if she didn't.

The last event we had was the biggest. X-Sanguin is the biggest party in San Diego during Comic-Con (aside from the con's own masquerade ball). Hundreds of people head out and dress up in their best latex to celebrate the ever evolving vampire themed extravaganza. I tell you, there is nothing like rolling up to a party full of people dressed in vampire gear dressed normally and driving a big white ice cream truck. Naturally, we got the most pictures out of that. And had a blast. I mean, Chewbacca himself was there! We got him to check out an Off the Wookie which he pointed out was spelled wrong, something being a huge nerd, I already knew and had to apologize for. I used the cop out that it was to throw Lucas off the scent. Shenanigans abounded that night. A girl hit me with a riding crop! It hurt! I really can't wait to hit the party again next year. It's a surprisingly good combination.

There was so much more going on, but I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. Keep an eye out for the steampunk Ghostbusters. Seriously.

Thanks again to Blue Bunny for the ice cream and Comic-Con for the press badges. See you again next year, maybe we'll have girls dressed as sexy ice cream cones.

SXSW – BESSITA – DAVE GOOCH

Late Sunday night Ice Cream Man and I rolled into Austin after a grueling 30+ hour trip in Bessie, the original ice cream truck. Rain, hail and terrifying winds could not stop our mission, plowing past frightened Honda Civics and Mack trucks alike to make our way into town to be able to hand the citizenry some free ice cream. Aaron was good enough to let us crash at his house the first two nights in Austin, so relieving to sleep on a futon rather than milk crates.

Monday we got out to begin the daunting goal of giving away 10,000 frozen treats. My charge was to man one of the two Toyota Yaris Bessitas coming into town; however they wouldn't arrive until Tuesday, so I helped at Bessie. What better place to start than the Nuclear Tacos party. After scarfing down what could indeed be the hottest taco ever made, there is no better way to cool off the poor taste buds than an ice cream sandwich. Mmmm…

That night we made our first of many stops at La Zona Rosa. Local Austin heroes Voxtrot and What Made Milwaukee Famous were playing but I had made the poor decision to eat a Nuclear taco followed by a greasy al pastor torta from La Mexicana, which while both were quite delicious, my stomach wasn't too excited about it. I spent much of the night sprawled on a freezer in back of the truck or wandering around looking for a bar empty enough for me to spend some time in their facilities. I'll not bother with any more details of that adventure. I did feel well enough to make it inside for a "Texas-cold" Lone Star and catch a bit of way too happy Voxtrot. All in all a good start to the week, although I was already getting antsy for my little Bessita.

Tuesday was the day to gather the troops and prepare for the rock star portion of SxSW. Matthias arrived from the airport that morning looking appropriately like he slept very little on the plane. Got Bessie over to the house we were renting for the week and unloaded everything with no regard to organization. Slowly our crew arrived, Craig from the Langerado festival in Florida in Bessita #1. While waiting for everyone else, Craig and I headed over to the Toyota Yaris/Drillteam briefing at the Hilton to dish out some treats to their crew. I think they were pretty stoked on it even though everything was a bit extra frozen. We even gave out some in the elevator on the way back to Bessita, can't beat that.  Jeremiah and Vanessa arrived soon after in Bessita #2, and finally Starr, Gregg, James and Erin in the rental car. Poor Starr, who would be (wo)manning Bessita #1 for the week looked like she had a demoralizing trip from Long Beach. Most of the day was spent greeting guests like some Agatha Christie mystery ("I guess you're wondering why I've gathered you all here tonight…") and then preparing Bessita #2 for action. Starr had called Bessita #1 right away as it was the Toyota Yaris she drove along the East coast last summer as part of the YarisWorks tour. I felt a little jealous, since I've been driving that one around Long Beach quite a bit the last several months and have become quite attached, but I understood. Starr phrased it best in regards to seeing Bessita parked in front of my house in Long Beach, "I'll drive by and see her there and it stings a bit like seeing an ex with someone else." How is this car so easy to get attached to?

Wednesday began the onslaught. Once the ice cream arrived, everybody worked in a madcap rush to get the boxes open and divvied up between the fleet. I was concerned that the cool weather and light rain might be detrimental, but forged ahead anyway; after all, everyone loves free ice cream, right? Once I was loaded up I headed out for my first solo adventure in Austin. Not knowing my way around too well, particularly which streets to avoid because of traffic, it took me longer than it should've to get to Mohawk, my first stop. (Oh, also, Ice Cream Man gave me the wrong cross street for it) When I finally found it, I could find absolutely no parking. After circling a few times I called up Liz, my Yaris crew contact to see if she could use her wiles to open up a parking spot for me. She was on her way there so I picked her up for her first ride in a Bessita. We pulled up and sure enough there was a tiny spot to squeeze into. "Just pull in there, I'll go inside and let them know what's up." BAM! Thanks, Liz. Immediately I was bombarded by people excited by the prospect of free ice cream. See, even in rain people love free ice cream. I wasn't able to make it inside to check out Architecture in Helsinki or any of the other bands playing, but could hear them perfectly well outside, so no big loss. All the bands playing sounded great and I was thankful I got the call to hit that venue. Score! Jeremiah, Vanessa and Gregg came by at various times to help out a bit and take some awesome pictures. Before Architecture in Helsinki hit the stage I heard someone on the mic tell the crowd, "There's free ice cream outside!" Awesome. Second best part: The fire marshal standing outside who didn't realize we were giving away ice cream thought we were making a killing. Vanessa let him know our deal and he immediately got his hands on an ice cream sandwich. Best part: Fifty-something guy who came by and asked what bands were playing, after I told him he paused and said, "Is Jefferson Starship playing here tonight?"

"No man, but they're playing somewhere in town at six, I don't know where though."

"Ah, cool thanks."

While Mohawk was dying down I got a text message from Liz asking if I could hit La Zona Rosa afterwards for The Rapture. But of course, although I was really excited to be at the Jefferson Starship show ("We built this city! We built this city on rock and roll! Built this city!") I cruised over to La Zona just in time for the Pipettes set, although I had no idea they were playing and was quite disappointed to learn after the fact and not get in to see the act. I didn't get in to see the Rapture either, but gave quite a few tasty morsels to their fans. Our spot out front wasn't quite as good as it was in the truck, but there were a lot more people, so can't complain. Best customers: tie between the five separate pedicabs that almost all got Mississippi Muds and then happily slapped our Ice Cream Man sticker on their ride, and the cop that got a Big Dipper while complaining that he'd have to run an extra mile the next day and then came back an hour later for another.

I had heard that pop buzz band Peter, Bjorn and John were playing that night also, but things seemed to die down around midnight so I took off. Of course, afterwards I discovered their set didn't start until 12:30. SxSW, you are a crafty one.

All in all a pretty solid day all things considered.

Ice Cream dispersion: about 500 treats.

Thursday was set to be our most hectic day of the week so I got myself mentally pumped up by getting "Jukebox Hero" stuck in my head ("you're a jukebox hero, you've got stars in your eyes!") After some breakfast tacos and good coffee, which Ice Cream Man made special because he scoffs at Folgers, I was ready for the day.

My first stop was the Yaris sponsored AAM/Brooklyn Vegan show at the Scoot Inn with Mew, Matt & Kim and a bunch of other great bands. This time around I had Gregg in tow to take some pics and help out a bit. Parking was no problem this time around; Liz and her crew were already set up in the lot so I pulled up next to them at the curb and started the day by getting Liz her daily treat. This was probably my favorite event of the week. One, I had Gregg for comic relief and for a little bit of help. Two, the Yaris crew was there, so I had some people to hang out with a bit. Three, I was actually able to get a break and head in to catch a little bit of Mew. The woman at the door was Summer, who I knew from Long Beach. Small world. I was surprised at how small the crowd was for Mew, although Lukas Haas was inside checking them out. I'm not sure if he got an ice cream. Got myself another frosty Lone Star, and tried to figure out how I could buy a t-shirt that said "Jesus loves ice cream" along with a drawing of Jesus holding a big ol' ice cream cone. Seems that they were for sale only through the shop they were from or the website: woodapparel.com

Concerned that Gregg might be getting into trouble outside I headed back out. The Yaris crew was taking Polaroids by their car, so I got a sexy one of myself with Bessita in the background. Hot! With Gregg and me both at Bessita this Lynyrd Skynyrd looking guy with no shirt and a wicked sunburn came by wanting some treats. Without pause, Gregg took care of him, "What do you want, Lobster? How about a Mississippi Mud?" Lobster loved his treat so much he tried to give Gregg a hug, "It's ok, Lobster. Enjoy." He gave me the old Bash Brothers forearm smash though. Rock on, Lobster. Later, a camera crew, presumably from Toyota, began filming the Yarises. While there was a guy at Bessita chatting it up with me, the camera crew began asking him questions, "Would you drive one of these?"

"Yeah, it's a great car."

"What do you look for in a car?"

"Good gas mileage, comfort, and affordability."

"Have you sat in one yet?"

"No, not yet."

"Alright come around…"

At this point I had to interject that our Bessita wasn't for sitting in, which confused interview guy horribly. "Is it dirty?"

"No, it's just not technically part of the Yaris fleet; this car is in Ice Cream Man's name."

More confused looks and he took the guy to the other Yaris.

Once that show wound down, Gregg and I began to head back to the house to reload on ice cream. On the way we stopped by some bar which regrettably I did not catch the name of. Gave out a couple dozen treats to the incredibly appreciative people there and took off. After reloading I headed back to the East side of Austin, since I thought they were getting the short shrift of ice cream. Snake Eyes Records had a pretty big conglomeration of punky looking folks outside, so I stopped in. Becca, who ran the joint helped me park in front and then quickly the ice cream flowed out. I don't know what band was playing, but when I checked out the crowd almost every single person in the audience was eating one of our delights.

Once the Snake Eyes crowd was sated I took off again, keeping my eye out for crowds, which I found at Mrs. Bea's. The people at Mrs. Bea's may have been the most appreciative bunch of people I encountered on my trip. They even announced the free ice cream on stage. I got invited to dozens of parties while there although unfortunately, I wouldn't have time to attend any of them. With a bit of a break, I met up with Ice Cream Man, Craig and James at Sam's BBQ and feasted on various meats. I'm pretty sure I didn't eat a single fruit or vegetable the entire time in Austin. Trés healthy.

The last stop of the night (or so I thought) was La Zona Rosa, once again. I think we must have made an impression on them because this time around I went to park in the spot I was in before and there was a safety cone in it. Figuring I'd just move it and wait to get kicked out, I stopped the car. Immediately, somebody came over, "let me move that for you." That's right, for ME. This is MY spot. Pete Townshend had just played there so the crowd was a bit more generationally mixed than most I'd been to. Once again gave the crew working at La Zona a bunch of ice cream and waiting for the masses to get me. It was surprisingly mellow when I arrived so I figured it probably wouldn't be as busy as the night before. Oh, how I was wrong. Maybe because people were starting to catch on, and it being a milder night than before, I was slammed. The highlight, Dennis Miller walking by as someone said, "Ice Cream Man, you're the best!" Miller replied, "Always has been." Although I couldn't get him to partake, he took a good long look at Bessita, smiling. Dennis Miller, I know you want ice cream, maybe next time.

Things began to wind down around 11:30 and I was beat feet, so I decided to pack it in and head back to the house. As soon as I got home, unloaded everything and cracked open a beer, Ice Cream Man called. "I need you at the Playboy party, we need more stock." Is it bad that I get invited to a Playboy party and I'd rather drink a beer and go to bed? Well, no rest for the weary! James, Gregg and I loaded up Bessita and headed out, even though Ice Cream Man said he could only get one person in. Gregg and James loaded stuff from Bessita to the truck and then didn't return. I told the guard I had to go park the car and get in to help and he accepted that sneak. Inside, I was so tired, that I actually did just stay at the truck and help. I went inside for a bit to check out Ghostland Observatory which had been much ballyhooed by our crew as the band to see. Shortly after I got in, they stopped letting people in, which meant Ice Cream Man was stuck at the truck. The dancy beats of Ghostland weren't really my cup of tea though, especially since it was quite loud and the strobe lights gave me a headache (I am the oldest 29 year old I know). I got back to the truck and Ice Cream Man was shocked that I got in to the super exclusive party and didn't want to stay inside. Just as well, with everybody getting turned away at the door, Bessie needed the extra help. Finally got to bed around 3. So much for calling it an early night.

Ice cream dispersion: about 700-800 treats.

Friday, the sun was shining and people were ready to be cooled off. My spot for the day was the much anticipated Mess With Texas party at Red 7. Hosted by David Cross and featuring a bunch of great comedy acts in addition to the killer lineup of Les Savy Fav, The Black Angels, Dead Meadow, Erase Errata and a bunch more. There was also a discussion with Andrew W.K.! My goal was to give W.K. a high five, but alas, I never ran into him. Although there was someone by Bessita at a point that was dressed like him and had the same hair, but way too short to be the man himself. I was able to give ice cream to comedians Brian Posehn and Eugene Mirman in addition to hundreds of partygoers. Also, although I had been filmed a bunch and already given about five interviews this week, I finally had someone who made me sign a release form. The guy set up a skit where he was eating three ice creams at once and asking me if I could get him in to the show. Unfortunately, I could not.

Almost out of ice cream, I met up with Ice Cream Man and his crew outside the Longbranch Inn for the Vice Magazine day party. He filled Bessita up and I took his spot as he took off to another party. Things went well there and Starr was in the neighborhood so she came by and loaded me up with what she had left in her Bessita. After a bit, I gave a bunch of ice cream to some drunk looking dudes who got into a car and promptly threw their ice cream sandwiches into the crowd, one of them flying back and almost hitting Starr. Demoralized, I packed up soon after and went to look for another party. You ruined it for everyone, drunk guy! Best customer there: Super punk looking guy who broke down the chain link fence and then came over and incredibly politely ordered himself a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (far and away my most popular item).

The next hour and a half I drove all around Austin looking for something happening, unfortunately, it was the dead hour in between day parties and night parties, so there was nothing. As a default I parked myself at La Zona Rosa, where Amy Winehouse would be playing that night. Gave out more ice cream than I expected to a mellow crowd and then headed out when Gregg showed up. Realizing that I hadn't eaten all day, I needed to find a drive-thru. Of course, there were none nearby, but there was the Myspace hotdog bus. Free hotdogs! Gregg and I woofed down a couple dogs each (mustard and onions only please), gave a bunch of ice cream to the people working the bus and the people enjoying their dogs and then, reenergized, shot back over to the second half of the Mess With Texas party after getting a text message from Liz to come over. Upon arrival, I was surprised to see Starr already set up with Bessita #1 handing stuff out to the hordes. I parked in front of the Beauty Bar next door, and asked if she had seen Liz. Nope. Well, might as well double team it, so I set up in front of Beauty Bar while Starr got the Red 7 crowd. Sent a message to Liz saying we were all there and she came out and talked to Starr saying she was done for the day and just wanted someone to come and hang out. Well, as long as there is ice cream to get rid of, we will do so. The double team effect worked incredibly. Even though we were only four car lengths apart from each other, we both got masses of ice cream starved partygoers; many of them didn't even know the other car was right there. Went through almost all of my stock and headed home satisfied with a good day.

Ice cream dispersion: About 1000 treats.

Saturday, the final day (for me at least) and the hottest day yet. Perfect for getting rid of some ice cream quick. The day started out good with Ice Cream man finally ordering me some Spider-Mans. He was down on the Ninja Turtles the whole time even though Starr and I agreed they were far and away the most popular. And he was down on Spider-Mans too, "Nobody likes Spider-Man." Nonsense! Naturally, being St. Patrick's Day, Turtles were once again the most popular. I gave out 100 Turtles alone. Next most popular? Spider-Man. I only got two boxes of those (24 all together) but they were gone in a heartbeat. Due in part to Ice Cream Man's reluctance to get more Ninja Turtles, Starr and I went on protest against his watermelon flavored Bomb Pops. Final tally of Ninja Turtles and Spider-Mans left at the end of the day? 0. Final tally of watermelon Bomb Pops? I don't know, but I know he had a bunch left. TMNT 4-eva!

So pretty much my only assignment today was to hit day two of Mess With Texas. I drove by and saw absolutely no parking, plus Hearts Challenger was in front of Beauty Bar doing their ice cream thing, so at a loss for what to do I headed to Mrs. Bea's again for a bit. Once again uber-appreciative, as soon as I rolled up, the guy (whose name, alas, I never got) who was presumably running things asked if I was giving out ice cream again. When I told him yes, he enthusiastically jumped on stage and made an announcement. There weren't very many people there, but those that were ALL got an ice cream. The special treat of the day was the lemon cup, although I didn't find the spoons for it until later in the day. Oh well. After hitting all those people I figured I'd give Red 7 another chance, since I was supposed to be there anyway. On the way out I got flagged down by some people having a BBQ around the corner. They were excited to get their hands on some free ice cream before I headed out and I was more than happy to oblige.

Back at Red 7, a spot had opened up out front so I swooped in. I figured it'd be busy there, I thought I knew, but I had no idea! I could've sworn I gave away about a million treats. James stopped by for a bit and I sent him to Koriente, the tea shop a couple doors down to give them some ice cream and get my hands on a delicious iced green tea. I ended up with four teas and a couple spring rolls. Aces! The lineup for Mess With Texas this day may have been the best I'd seen: The Walkmen, Apples in Stereo, Sloan, The Black Lips, and a bunch more. That could explain the line around the corner to get in. I even had a line for ice cream that stretched about halfway as long as the line to get into Red 7. Insane! Best customer of the day: homeless guy who came back and ate five Mississippi Muds, that guy must've got sick. Almost completely out of ice cream before five o'clock, Sean Carlson who set up the Mess With Texas show called up asking if I could take him to Kinko's to make copies since I was the only car available. I obliged, happy to get a break. Afterwards I met up with Bessie to fill up ice cream, but they were almost out over there, so I headed back to the house. There were only four boxes of ice cream left there! So I loaded up what I had left and got back to Mess With Texas. This was supposed to be the dead time of the day, but the spot was still jumping. Ice Cream Man texted me to meet up with him and Starr at Cream Vintage and then go to dinner, but I was so close to emptying my entire stock that I had to stick it out. Soon, another line built up and I was going into overdrive. I ended up with only Chipwiches left and just started handing them out to whoever grabbed them. Completely cleaned out I took off to Cream Vintage, quite proud of my accomplishment of emptying more than I had any other day in less time. Finally able to relax a bit, we headed over to Hoover's for some delicious fried chicken. With little ice cream left, it wasn't necessary to split it up between both Yarises so we dropped one off at the house and Starr and I double teamed the stragglers at Mess With Texas. Soon after, Ice Cream Man called and told us we had to bring what we had left to him at the Vice top secret after party. Done and done. Finally, we got to party a bit. As soon as we arrived, we designated Craig to drive Bessita back to the house, since he was photographing the party. Drank a few Dewar's and Gingers and partied it up, and by partied I mean played checkers and charades in the basement of the Elk's Lodge the party was being held at. King me! Of course, somebody had to ruin the party by knocking down the balcony outside and we all had to evacuate. We all went back to the house and celebrated a job well done.

Ice cream dispersion: Over 1200 treats

Sunday was the day to go back home to Long Beach, which was tough since I was up until about five in the morning the night before and had quite a few drinks. I sleepily assembled all of my belongings (where's my mp3 player?), loaded up Bessita #1 which was mine once again and took off. Along the way, we stopped at the Caverns of Sonora figuring to do a little spelunking. The people inside were incredibly interested in the story behind Bessita, although quite disappointed that we didn't have any ice cream. I promised that if I was out that way again, probably for Austin City Limits, I would make sure to save some for them. Then without thinking, I paid for all five people (James and I in Bessita and Starr, Erin and Gregg in the rental) to get in to the caverns at $20 each. Oh, stress. After deliberation, Starr and I decided that was ridiculous to pay and we didn't really have that much time to hit the caves (especially since they'd be about 85 degrees and 98% humidity!) Luckily, the people there were incredibly nice and refunded my money. So I bought a couple little dinosaurs made of stone and some postcards.

Around 9 o'clock (after gaining an hour going into the Mountain Time zone) we rolled into El Paso and decided that to be the place to stay the night. It would be my birthday officially at midnight, so I wanted to celebrate a bit, but was super tired. I decided getting a six pack and bringing it back to the hotel room would be the best decision. Starr and I headed out with nobody else seeming to want anything (at least nobody offered to give us any money to get anything). Once outside we decided instead of finding a store, we'd find a bar and sure enough, right around the corner was a great dive called Kings X. They had mini pitchers of beer and served food! The tab for three mini pitchers and a shot of Jim Beam? $12.50. Cha-ching! A guy walking by tried to get me to buy a rose for $6 and I wasn't having it. Then he showed me a blinking Little Nemo that I had to get, but of course the Nemo came free with a rose purchase. Fine guy, how about I buy the Nemo for $6 and get a free rose? Awesome. Got back to the hotel room, kicked James out of my bed and slept well.

Ice cream dispersion: 0 (although if I had some it would've been much more, and I threw out a melted Chipwich that I found in the cooler, so I guess 1)

Monday, it's my birthday! Yay! Now I have to drive from El Paso to Long Beach! On the way back, we stopped at "The Thing?" in Arizona. I had been there once before when I was in 3^rd grade and was itching to get back. Also, Starr had been told about it from the guys in Against Me! so she had to go as well. When we got through it, who was in the gift shop? Against Me! They were playing in Tucson that night and stopped by. Coincidences abound!

Next stop was the Hotel Congress in Tucson for a lunch that actually had some vegetables in it. We told the waiter all about our story and as many are, he was amazed, confused and interested. After Tucson was a long and boring trip back to Long Beach. My goal was to get back in time to celebrate my birthday, but didn't get back until after midnight. Oh well. My girlfriend Sarah came over and gave me my presents and I went to bed, happy to be home. That night I dreamed of Ninja Turtles and "my" Bessita.