Orange Crush, Fanta, Mountain Dew, Jack in the Box, Treviglio Italy, Dr. Pepper

"The OC" got me thinking about Orange Crush and Orange Fanta. During my senior year of High School I worked at "Pizza Man," (He Delivers.) It was actually a pretty good job. Thank goodness I didn't have to wear any strange costume like Judge Reinhold in "Fast Times..." It usually made me mad when kids would order a pizza and then pretend not to be home. Occasionally, as compensation, the manager would let us eat the pizza on the drive back to the store. Also, there were times when I had to work way too late on a school night. We had inherited my grandfather's VW Bus and that's what I drove most of the time. I would often drive thru at "Jack in the Box" to get an Orange drink while out on my rounds.

Another soft drink that I have really liked since it had cartoon hillbillies on the glass bottles is mountain Dew. I deeply regret the fact that the Caffeine Free version is very hard to locate and for the most part isolated to Utah County and Southern Idaho. Subway has made a recent change from Pepsi products at the beverage fountain to Coke products. So, Goodbye Mountain Dew and Hello Orange Fanta.

When we went to Italy in 2002, our first full day of sightseeing we took a train from Merone to Cremona where I had served 9 months as a missionary. Our day trip required a change of trains in Treviglio. We had a couple of minutes wait time at the train station there. It was very typical for a smallish town, two or three platforms and a small cafe adjoining the station. While we waited we bought a Lemon Fanta and shared it amongst us to ward off the warmth and humidity of the early June day. Laney (almost two years old at the time) amused herself with the small fountain and the coi fish. Like the rays at the Monterey Aquarium who swim by just out of arm's reach, these fish knew better than to trust Laney and would congregate on the side if the pool opposite her. It was a very pleasant and quaint half hour or so.

I later realized that Treviglio is the seat of all things that are cycling tradition and beauty.... It is the headquarters of Bianchi SpA, the oldest bicycle manufacturer in the world. (I ride a Bianchi.) This would be like a Ferrari owner going to Modena or Maranello without knowing that is where they are Headquartered.

Another soft drink sidelight: I do not like Dr. Pepper in the least. I can remember being very young and going to a family reunion. I was really hot and really bored and the only thing left to drink was Dr. Pepper. I must have opened 3 or 4 bottles thinking I could choke it down. But, I couldn't.