Once in a Blue Moon

Friends here in Florida will occasionally hear me mention a craving for Blue Moon ice cream. "What is that? A new brand?", they ask. "No, it's not a brand", I answer. "It's a flavor." "I've never heard of it", they'll say. "What does it taste like" To which I always have to reply, "I...don't know."
Blue Moon ice cream is (or at least was, when I was growing up) a pretty common staple just about anywhere that sells hard ice cream in the midwest. But anywhere else, you won't find it or people who've ever even heard of it. I haven't been back to Michigan in about 20 years so I haven't had Blue Moon since then and I've missed it somnething awful.
I clearly remember the taste but I can't for the life of me describe it to anybody. I found an article on the intenet that says it tastes like Fruit Loops breakfast cereal. I guess I can't say that's wrong but I don't think it's right either. the color certainly doesn't bear any resemblance to the red, orange and yellow you find in Fruit Loops. It's a blue that looks like the color commonly used in the road uniforms of American League baseball teams in the '70s, a time when I accumulated the vast majority of my beloved baseball card collection (which I still have). That might actually be a factor in my fondness for it.

Anyway, if you have a powerful enough childhood memory and access to the internet, you can find anything. And often, what you're looking for is closer than you would have guessed. In this case, I found out that Blue Moon ice cream is available at the Kilwin's on St. Armand's Circle in Sarasota, just over an hour away. They're open until 11pm and the other night I called my friend at 8 o'clock at night.
"Let's go to Sarasota."
"What? Tonight?"
"Yeah, I want ice cream. Let's go."
"Let's just go to Bo's."
"Bo's is great, but Bo's doesn't have Blue Moon. Kilwin's in Sarasota does. Let's go!"
"Dude, is that the ice cream you're always talking about that looks like baseball uniforms?"
"Yes! Come on!"
She convinced me that that was...how did she put it?...crazy, and promised if I'd wait until Saturday, she would ride down with me to get some.
Saturday afternoon we headed down and ate lunch at Yoder's, a great Amish restaurant in Sarasota. This almost proved a critical error in judgment because Amish people apparently think everybody works hard and needs to eat like a farmer to maintain their strength. We waddled out almost too full for ice cream. Not that I would have been deterred; by now I was obsessed with Blue Moon ice cream and nothing as minor as a full-to-bursting stomach was going to keep me from having it.
We headed out to St. Armand's, which was packed, but a car pulled out of a parking space right across the street from Kilwin's just as we pulled up. I took this a sign from above that this was truly meant to be. We got out and my friend was asking me something about what I would do if it didn't live up to my expectations. I didn't hear her as she was in front of me and I had shoved her into some bushes to get her out of my way. Giggling in anticipation, I then ran out into traffic where I may or may not have been hit by a truck (I honestly don't recall). I ran inside and went right to the cooler. I am now convinced that what was in the briefcase in "Pulp Fiction" was some Blue Moon ice cream. I asked for a cup and took a spoon full of that powder blue goodness into my mouth.
And it was just as good as I had built it up to be.
And I still have no idea what it tastes like.