Travelling N on I-85

[MISTICman]

Hello there...
This summer, I'm HOPING to drive north on 85 from NC to hopefully Connecticut. I was hoping some of you could help me by telling me in what cities I could find some beverages. Here's the list:

Sparkling or Carafe Mistics (or Peach Cranberry & Pineapple Orange)
Barq's (preferably in 12-pk cans)
Hansen's soda (and what flavors)
Mello Yello Melon
Jolt
Melon flavored Hawaiian Punch

I don't want to stray much from the highway, but if there are any good grocery stores I'll go there. Thank you for your help.

[DJ Brian]

PBG and Clinton's Ditch seem to be carrying some of the Hawaiian Punch flavors. I saw Regular, Green, Blue, and Mazon Melon. In Wal Mart or Kmart, not in the soda section, but the juice section (near the soda). Not sure when that move took place. It's bottled by Pepsi Ayer, MA (code AE or EA).

[teamtitan512]

Since I-85 ends at Petersburg, VA, you're going to have to use I-95 on your way to CT, and here's what you might find.

You will have no problem finding Barq's in Fridge Packs once you get to Petersburg and Richmond, as CCE Mid-Atlantic features them quite heavily in both regular and diet. I'd just hit any Kroger, Ukrop's or Food Lion in the area, and you'll find Barq's.

As for Hansen's, I believe some Giant-PA stores have some, but my local ones do not. You'll be seeing Giant-MD stores, since they have the same owner, it might be worth a look.

Jolt is out of the question AFAIK in this region. I've never seen it in VA, and I've heard it isn't allowed for sale in MD. I've never seen it here. You might find some around Philly, can't remember if Fusion says it was there or not.

Mello Yello Melon is an extremely unlikely find, and I'd say this is the worst route you could travel to find it. CCE Mid-Atlantic barely produces any, and all they have is regular MY, and very little of that. After Baltimore, you probably won't see any Mello Yello the rest of the way.

Hawaiian Punch I've seen in Fruit Juicy Red, Green Berry Rush, and whatever the Blue one is called from Canada Dry Potomac, as well as Welch's Strawberry. Only interesting 3rd tier stuff around DC.

Overall, I really doubt you'll see much special stuff on this trip, but I wish you the best of luck in finding what you're searching for!

[MISTICman]

Thanks guys...
Teamtitan, I forgot to type in the 95 part...oops!
The closest place to home (brown Summit NC...close to Greensboro) that sells Barq's is a tiny convenience/card store in downtown Roanoke VA. The only sell it by the can for 55 cents each! No grocery stores (even Wal-Mart) sell it. As far as the sparkling Mistics, I KNOW they're sold there because there was a recall last year on them, and it said they were sold there. That's what I really want to find.
On Piggly Wiggly's online shopping website, they have a melon flavored Hawaiian Punch. I wanny try it, but I don't like the idea of getting food by mail especially now when more white powder was found in the mail.

Thank you for your help, but if anyone else has any info, please send it. Thanks!

[fusion]

I think Giant-Landover does sell some sort of Hansens stuff. Since you'll be on 95, you will be close to a lot of their stores. Abindgon and White Marsh (on the east side of Baltimore) are the two I can think of that would be halfway decent.

You should be able to fine Jolt around Philadelphia. Superior Beverages has it there. They come down as far as northern Delaware, and I think they sell it in the 7-11s here. I'll have to check on that. There are a ton of 7-11s around here, and a few are right off of the interstate.

Barq's is all over the place in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and so on.

I don't think I've ever seen the Melon Hawaiian Punch, though. Don't they sell it in the juice aisle, in those big plastic jugs?

[MISTICman]

Well, Fusion,
I haven't seen the melon flavor of Hawaiian Punch in ANY store; juice or soda aisle. The talk about this makes me think of a drink I never got to try....Melon Mania Mistic. It didn't last very long, and wasn't available down here at all. It was made with watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe flavors. Later Carribean Kiwi came along with those flavors plus Kiwi, Raspberry, and I think a couple otehr fruit flavors. I miss that one too.

[fusion]

Ok, I think that Mazin Melon may be sold in the greater NYC area. College Point NY is the DPSU brand production facility in that area.

Honickman owns quite a few DPSU brand franchises, and all of them sell some unique stuff.

Potomac sells 20oz 6pks.. Lots of depth. Welch's flavors, diet Rite, and so on.

Delaware Valley buys 16.9oz from Davis. 20oz are mostly sold loose except in a few chains. They also have the Canada Dry flavors like Lime and Black Cherry.

College Point is where Dr Brown's is produced. The NJ territories buy their 2L from the Elizabeth NJ plant (once Concord Beverages, which was owned by Honickman. He sold both plants plus the Vintage Selter line to Cott). When I lived up there.. and maybe still today, their 2L came 6 in a cardboard box. I don't think they had any off the wall flavors, though. They did sell a canned Tetley tea, which rocked.