February 28th, 2020

Everybody knows this guy, right?  The Good Humor Man!  Woohoo!  Ice Cream Truck!
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!  An image of childhood, innocence
and no worries about cholesterol, fats or calorie intake.

I recently read a newspaper article about some local folks who got the brilliant idea of having not an ice cream truck but an ice cream boat!  Whoa!  Innovators!  

Apparently they have a pontoon boat (so it can be in shallow water too) they wander around the Stump Creek Pass area (which is not all that far from here) selling ice cream!  The good old fashioned stuff you remember from days gone by:  The red, white and blue Bomb Pops, Popsicles and Creamsicles. And some of the newer stuff too such as:  Oreo bars and Choco Tacos.    They even play that jingly music that every knows and some people even like! (personally not a fan though I admit it is distinctive)

They call themselves the Ice Cream Social Boat which is perfect.  They can sell ice creams boat to boat, people can wade out to them, or for special events, they can be on land.   Genius!

I was so entranced by this that we went looking for them.  We drove out to Stump Pass and found a parking lot full beyond capacity (at $3 a pop!).  Tim dropped me (and my camera) off at the first beach cut through and I ran down to the beach, scanned it up and down, did not see them and ran back to the car.  I caught Tim on his way back out.  We were both disappointed but not discouraged.  We will keep looking!

Once we got back home I  re-read the article and found that they post where they are going to be on their facebook page so at next opportunity I will seek them out that way.  Sometimes I scan articles instead of reading them slowly and thoroughly...and see what happens?  I missed important information!

Tim has great childhood memories of the Good Humor Truck coming through his neighborhood.  The tingaling song luring hordes of children to beg for dimes and quarters from their parents and then running into the street to line up for their chilly snack of choice.  It sounds like every TV show, commercial and movie depicting the ice cream truck that I ever saw.  Idyllic.

In all the many many MANY places I've lived in my life, I do not recall ever once seeing or hearing an ice cream truck. What are the odds of that?  Perhaps there was one and I just don't remember it.

I do however recall, the snow cone guy.  When we lived in St. Louis, there was a guy who built himself a snow cone bicycle wagon thingie.  The wagon part was on the front, so it appeared that he was pushing it with his bike.  It was basically a giant ice chest filled with crushed ice.  He had a couple dozen squirty bottles filled with flavoured syrups.  He had masking tape on each one with the flavour written on it.  And those paper cones. You know the ones, they get very wet very fast and then began loosing any structural integrity that they ever had rapidly apace. It encouraged us to gobble up those snowcones in double time. And then drink the watered down flavoured liquid in the bottom. Ahhhhh.  I always got lemon lime.  It was two separate squirty bottles...one lemon, one lime and it was drizzled unevenly over the top so that some bites were more lemon and others more lime but all of it good. Refreshing and delightful.

The Ice Cream Social Boat is a great idea and perfectly timed.  Food Trucks have made a resurgence in popularity in recent years and this is basically the same idea...afloat.  

We are determined.  At some point we will absolutely be in the right place at the right time and we will wadeout to the floating ice cream parlour to buy our favourite goodie that day.  And I already know it will taste extra good, just for the novelty of it all.  This Will Eventually Happen!

​Bulletins as they happen.