June 2019 – Hot Dog Dot and the Wienermobile!

Kicking off the year at Lake of the Ozarks really set my expectations high for the rest of the year. To be honest, Tailgate Troy and I are a little concerned we might have already peaked with everything that happened this week.

Drive day was a blast. Troy and I drove through MIZ-ZOU and I got the tiger tour from Truman the tiger himself (Troy was Mizzou’s mascot). I got to scream “I love Mizzou” in speakers circle, see the tiger statue, and of course, park the wiene right in front of the columns for a photo opportunity. The best part though was meeting the people who made Troy the great friend and road trip partner that he is. Its nice to be able to put faces to his stories!

Tuesday and Wednesday were off days for us this week. We ended up going to two different state parks called Lake of the Ozarks State Park and Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Ha Ha Tonka definitely stole the show. We saw the remains of a castle house built in 1905 and hiked down to see a natural spring. There was a sign on the spring hike that said not to hike it unless you were in good physical condition… Lets just say Troy and I were overconfident about our current physical state. But in the end, it was all worth it!

Right when we got back from Ha Ha Tonka, a local radio station we passed earlier in the Wiene, called us and said if we could come in RIGHT THEN then they would interview us on air. We hauled our buns over and were able to make it one and a half minutes before the show aired to 50,000 people in the Lake Ozark area. It was a blast and the guys at the station were so excited about the Wiene being out front of their building!

The next day we took our Wiene to get clean. Our sweet Wiene was too large to fit into or even near the regular car wash, so we called the local fire department to see if they might help us out. After several comments along the lines of “This is the weirdest conversation I think I’ve ever had”, the fire department told us to come on over and helped us get the Wiene bright and shiny for our first event in Lake of the Ozarks!

Our events are bright spots in our days. We set up the Wiene and a tent in front of grocery stores and get to spend hours taking pictures for people, handing out whistles, and making everyone smile. We get to “meat” kids 8 to 80 who love hotdogs almost as much as we do. One special person we got to “meat” was Laura! Laura was a previous hotdogger from class 11 (I am class 32). She brought her kids (as well as some freshly baked brownies) by to ketchup with us. Hearing some of her stories, watching her children share her excitement (one of them wants to be a future hotdogger), and knowing that we share that special hotdogger bond was such an incredible experience.

However, Laura wasn’t the only special visitor to attend our event! We also met Birdie! It was her birthday, her best friend/neighbor’s birthday, and her sister’s name was Dorothy. She had come especially to see the Wiene on her big day! Naturally, we had to offer them a ride in the Wiene after work. We drove to their home and found the whole neighborhood of kids waiting outside for us. We took them all on rides in order to celebrate Birdie and her neighbor. Afterward, the family invited us down to their dock on the lake for dinner. It was one of the more memorable nights of our journey so far. To top it off, Birdie’s mom send me a picture of her girls two days later captioned “I couldn’t resist sending this. Birdie just said, ‘Look! I just drew the Wienermobile, Mom!'”. That right there is why I wake up and do this job every day.

But there are more perks than just sweet memories with adorable birthday girls. We had some pretty adventurous moments this week as well. The most exciting for me was our debut on the Lake of the Ozarks Speedway. This guy approached us at one of our events and says “Hey, I own the speedway here. Want to be our half time show?” I mean…. you can’t say no to that! So after work, Troy and I drove over to the Speedway, watched some racing, and when half time rolled around, we actually drove the Wienermobile around the racing track at a solid 20 mph. When we finished we sat out the bun-roof waving the checkered flag while the crowd cheered. Surreal.

But the fun doesn’t end there. Two more guys approached us at a different event offering to take us up in their helicopter. We eagerly excepted the offer and ended up doing a pretty cool photoshoot as well as a ride over the lake and open dam with them. After we were finished, we all ended up getting dinner together. The helicopter guys were a blast and the dinner and Wiene rides that followed were some of the most fun I’ve had so far. If I’m ever back in the area, I know who to call for a fun night and lots of laughs.

There are so many more stories from this week I could share: the countless times we were followed to our hotel, the many moments of alone time that were interrupted with “HEY ITS THE WIENER GIRL”, the stories of significance the Wienermobile has in people’s lives, etc. But I’ll leave it here for now. Thanks for reading and letting me share my adventure. Ketchup with you next week!

Hot Diggity Dot 🙂

Have you ever exited the airport to 23 people and a giant peanut serenading you with the Oscar Mayer jingle? Yea, I hadn’t either… until two weeks ago. Right then, walking out of the Madison, WI airport to a screaming group last years hotdoggers and peanutters, I knew that this year, without a doubt, was going to be great. Not that that fact was in question before…
After endless hugs and running through an arm tunnel, we packed into rental vans and headed off to Hot Dog High.

And then the MOST exhausting and MOST incredible two weeks of my life started. Everyday, we woke up at about 6:30 A.M. and went to bed around 12:00 P.M., sometimes later. We worked tirelessly to memorize a binder of important information, learn PR and marketing skills, and obviously TO DRIVE THE WIENES!

Training to drive the Wienes (or the Bigs as we like to call them) is no joke. Ed and Angela (our bosses) started us out in vans with all of the windows taped up except for the windshield and front windows. You have no rearview mirror…and then they tell you to back up through a tight maze of little cones. This task would have literally been impossible if not for my trusty hotdog husband Troy!

THIS MAN NAVIGATED ME BLIND AND BACKWARD THROUGH THE MOST DIFFICULT OF OBSTACLE COURSES. I would be a lost soul without him. After he navigated me in a van backwards using nothing but hand signals we got to switch to the Bigs! They did not make the cones wider…. we just had to be more careful. To give you an idea of how hard this was, it took us two full days (8 A.M. until 6 P.M.) to successfully complete these obstacle courses twice. And there were only 5. Thats how slow you have to go through them. No road will ever challenge me again.

Now its all worth it because Troy and I are hitting the Hot Dog Highways of America and spreading miles of smiles! But its not just us out here doing a coast to coast wienie roast. We have 5 other incredible teams coming to grocery stores near you. Let me introduce you to my other dogs 🙂

First, my Wiene Queens. These ladies are fierce, fun, and fiery. They so goofy and sure of themselves. You can’t help but smile when you’re around them. Going right to left we have Honey Baked Cam, Miles of Smiles Mandy (we prefer I demanda hot dog Amanda), me (hot diggity dot), AlexanDog, Carly Jean Hot Dog Queen, and Mac-N-Mikayla. If any of them are in your area, go hit them up for a wiener whistle and some wiene queen sass. You won’t be disappointed.

And next to every Wiene Queen you have to have a Hot Dog Hubby! “Meat” the Wienermobile men! From right to left again we have Lunch Meat Luke, Meat Man Mitch, At the Grill Alex, Tailgate Troy, Jake’N Bacon, and Turkey Ty the No Nitrate Guy. These guys are the biggest goofballs and most huggable people you’ve ever met. They are the kind of guys who wear onesies, obsess over Pop2K, and don’t just tolerate my weirdness, but join into it.

Not going to lie, leaving them yesterday was pretty difficult even though I’ve only known them for two weeks. Our boss Ed always says that no one understands what we are going through except each other, so its a pretty special bond. I agree. I know we all look forward to catching up again at Fall Staff.

But until then we will spread ourselves across America to do what we came here to do! Make memories with kids 8 to 80! And boy does the Wienermobile make memories. It seems like every conversation Troy and I have had in our two days on the job is centered around those “I remember when moments”. “I remember when Oscar Mayer used to throw Christmas parties”. “I remember when I got a wiener whistle when I was little”. “I remember when my father worked for Oscar Mayer”. The memories flow our way, and we receive them warmly.

And of course, we love to make new memories too. In the Wienermobile there is no such thing as a “pit stop”. if we stop for gas or for dinner the Wiene is soon flooded by fans of the big dog. Everyone wants a picture with the American Icon. Troy and I have to make sure we allow least 30-45 minutes if we make a stop to say hello to everyone. Its a blast until you’ve stopped because you really have to go to the bathroom…

And with that I’ll leave you until next time!
You can find my schedule below! Please stop by my events if I’m in your city! (The official events will be posted on Oscar Mayer’s Instagram)

Also, Furman wrote an article about me. So, if you want to read that you can click RIGHT HERE!

‘Ketching up’ with Dorothy Spratlin ’19: A year on the road in the Wienermobile

Month: June 2019

A “Wiener” of a week

I’ve Graduated! (Again!)