Author: dtspratlin

I don’t know if this will be my last post here… considering I’m technically no longer a hotdogger, but at the same time, if you’ve kept up with me at all, my life will still be filled with many Wienermobile journeys to come.

These past few months have been some of the most insane of my life. I was hotdogging, we were sent off the roads due to an international pandemic, and then I got a new job… AND MOVED! During the midst of the pandemic, one of my bosses moved to another company and they needed the position filled stat. A few other people and I applied for the position, Wienermobile Coordinator, and I was lucky enough to be offered the job.

Despite the fact the job conflicted with all my summer, life, and relationship plans… I took it. Its very hard to say no to the Wienermobile. So now I’ve moved to Madison, WI to hire, train, and care for hotdoggers along with scheduling their 13,000 events a year. Yea…. I said 13,000. Assuming we start having events. I have no friends here. No family. And I’m not a huge fan of the cold, so its going to be a transition.

Why did I do this? Well, thats kinda what I want to get into before I likely leave my blog to be lost to the interweb.

This year has been life changing for me in every way imaginable. My life was really great before this year, but I couldn’t help but feel that something was off. I don’t know if it was the sigh when my alarm went off in the morning, the excessive procrastination and avoiding my work, or just the general glumness I felt myself starting to sink into.

But with the Wienermobile, everything was different. Yea, I still had those days where I felt sad and lonely or only or just wanted to sleep in and rest, but most days I was popping out of bed with a smile in my heart even if I wasn’t awake enough to smile on my face (I’m not a morning person). I felt this feeling of satisfaction with the way I was spending my days. I felt truly for the first time that my days had meaning and my time was valuable. I wasn’t just going through the motions because it was what I was supposed to do. I was living and changing the lives of others because it was what I was meant to do.

Every single day on the job I talked to an average of 300 Americans. I talked to poor people, homeless people, sick people. I talked to rich people, CEO’s, and people who just had everything going right in their lives. I talked to brand new babies and 90 year olds trying to complete their bucket list before they passed. I talked to people I’d never met before and people who I’d had a previous connection with. I talked to people in the south and people in the north…people in the east and people in the west. No one was above me. No one was beneath me. My only job was to make them smile.

I like to think I left an effect on most of these people, but I know they left an effect on me. After a few days…only a few days… I noticed a trend. Everywhere I went people would say, “Gosh you’re so lucky to have this job. What a cool job to have at your age. I wish I did something like this.” Or even more so, “One day I’m going to travel like this. One day I’ll make it out to New Orleans. One day…”

One of my most influential conversations was actually with my 8th grade science teacher. I’d just finished telling him about skydiving and driving up to New York in a day when he stopped me. He said “You know what I got excited about today?” I said, “No sir?”. He continued, “I got excited that I found an extra 5 minutes in my day to run to McDonalds down the street and get some McNuggets. I want you to think about that.”

I don’t know if this is even making sense or if its just a train of thoughts out of my mind, but the jist is this. I have to do what excites me in the morning. I have to wake up with a smile in my heart. I truly believe there is something out there for everyone that could make them feel this way. Success isn’t about your PhD, awards, money, and accomplishments. It doesn’t matter if you graduated from a good college or even college at all. If you’ve done those things and they don’t put a smile in your heart… what does it matter.

I think my schools have drilled that image of success into me for a long time. This year changed everything because it changed my opinion of success. While I am doing pretty well in terms of all of those things, they don’t matter the way they used to. I’m thankful I have them and they make my life easier, but what I’m most thankful for is the smile I feel in my heart and the knowledge that I get to wake up every day and have an effect on people’s lives in a way I believe matters.

I think its different for everyone. Some people are driven by moving up in the workplace or making a lot of money. For them thats success. Some people are only happy if their family is happy and taken care of, so they work 3 jobs and never sleep. That is success. Some people are only happy if they can spend their days spreading miles of smiles with a giant hot dog…. That is my success.

You have to figure out what success is for you and then don’t wait for it. Its something you can have right now. You can live your days successfully. You can feel like you’ve made a difference every night when you crawl into bed. You gotta do what you love. You can’t think about what other people might say, only about how you feel when your alarm goes off in the morning.

So I guess I just want everyone to think about what success means to them. If you aren’t waking up with a smile in your heart then whatever you are doing is not worth your time and energy. We have a limited amount of years. I don’t want to be the 90 year old with a full bucket list rushing to live a life I’m just starting. I want to be the 90 year old thats checking off their final box by seeing the Wienermobile one last time. I am so thankful for this year and all of its experiences. Its changed my opinions about relationships, friendships, happiness, confidence, etc. I am a new person because of it and now I will spend my days working to give that same experience to others.

So if you need me, I’ll be up in the cold freezing my butt off for the love of Oscar Mayer hot dogs.

As always,
“Franks” for coming to “Ketchup” with me,

Hot Diggity Dot 🙂

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I’ll go back and fill in the blanks soon, but thought I’d start by writing my most recent update covering the past three weeks. Obviously, its been a crazy March and everyone’s lives have kinda gone topsy turvy. Being in event planning, I know mine has.

A few weeks ago, I remember Mitch and I had a drive day. It was a longer one, and we wanted to listen to something besides our typical playlists. Mitch turned on a news podcast, which was talking about this outbreak of a “coronavirus.” We listened to the whole podcast. When it finished, Mitch turned and said, “Dot, I think this is going to be super serious and be a world wide outbreak.” I nodded, but in my head thought, “…. nah. We good.” And for a while we were!

We continued to go to events, set out props for everyone to touch and take pictures with, head out to dinner with random new friends we met that day, and meet and have conversations with about 150-600 people every single day. I went to museums and explored cities on my off days, striking up conversations with people who I thought might be locals. Just as I thought before, nothing had changed for me.

Then we hit Wednesday, March 11, when WHO declared Coronavirus was now a worldwide pandemic. Still not much had changed in my small bubble though. Mitch and I talked about the virus a lot, we cleaned our props constantly, and listened to the news. Then Thursday rolled around. I drove an hour away from my hotel to my Walmart event in small town Illinois. Mitch stayed outside with the Wienermobile, while I went to go talk to the store manager like we normally do before setting up. The store manager quickly and politely told me I had to go ASAP and that Walmart was no longer doing any promotions because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

Walking back to the vehicle, I called my boss Angela and she told me just to head back to the hotel and hold tight until a conference call that night. We then found out that all our St. Patrick’s Day parades for the week in Chicago were cancelled and that we had no work until Wednesday. When the conference call rolled around, they told us we wouldn’t be doing any events until next week, but we’d have another conference call on Monday.

I headed home wanting to see my family for the first time in a few weeks and because flights were so cheap. My plane to Atlanta was completely full. A decent amount of people dawned masks and gloves before boarding. When I got home, I spent my time scrapbooking, visiting the Hotdoggers and Peanutters near Atlanta in Hilton Head, and just lounging around with family and pets. The Monday conference call wasn’t informative and left me with a lot of confusion about what was happening.

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My parents, who were starting to get worried about me heading back to Chicago, made me promise I’d wear a mask and gloves the whole flight back. So, I joined the squad. But the flight back was very different. The plane was empty save for about 10 people. All 10 of us wore masks, all 10 of us wiped down our seats, and all 10 of us refused snacks or drinks during the flight. It was a strange new world. Completely different from just 5 days ago.

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It continued to change. Arriving back in Chicago, Mitch and I stayed cooped up in a friends apartment with Luke. We passed a few days there playing board games, doing in door workouts, and cooking. Then our boss called again.

It was time to go home… all events through mid April were to be cancelled, we were to all go home as fast as we could, and the Wienermobiles were to come of the road for the “foreseeable future.” It didn’t really hit me that my dream job might be over until I was pulling away from my Wienermobile and Mitch in a rental car.

For the time being, I am quarantining with Luke and his family in Delafield, Wisconsin. Luke got to keep his Wienermobile for the time being, so I still get to look at one every day and can go inside if I so desire.

Its been hard to give up my work and my dream, but I also feel incredibly lucky for so many reasons. I’m quarantined and safe with people that I care about and with whom I have a blast. My family is safe and following CDC suggestions. I am for the time being, still being paid. My family has so far not been financially challenged and is doing their best to help those who are. There are plenty of creative ways I can keep myself occupied over the next few weeks. I’m also thankful that Luke and his family LOVE board games, which I, myself, have a particular affinity towards (We’ve played an ungodly amount of Catan). So, I’m in an amazing place during a bad situation.

I am hoping and praying every day that we are able to safely navigate this virus as a country. I also hope that people are able to return to their jobs and businesses soon, and that the Wienermobiles can once again hit the hot dog highways of America and spread smiles. We need those smiles right now, and I know I am very ready to get back to my once in a lifetime experience before its time to pass it onto someone else.

Fingers crossed. Stay safe! Stay inside! Social Distance! And as always, thanks for coming to “ketchup” with me.

Hot Diggity Dot

You’ve all heard about it. You’ve all see it. In this blog post, you’ll find out what really went down in Waukesha county that fateful day. First we gotta start where we left off… Davenport.

We were only in Davenport and Milwaukee for a hot second, so I’ll hit the highlights. Davenport was where I saw my first northern snow. Not the icy inch or two we get down south, but some real powder. Of course, Mitch and I had to be spontaneous and run outside to play. We drive a 27 foot hot dog for goodness sake! We are kids at heart.

Snow angels were made, snowballs were thrown, and lots of pictures were taken. Then we ran inside to get on our jammies. As I prepared myself for sleep, I came to terms with the fact that I would drive the Wienermobile in some real snow for the first time. However, I was wrong. By the time I woke up, every road was plowed and there was nothing to worry about. In fact, in my entire time in the midwest, I’ve yet to drive in any snow! They get out there and plow all night and there isn’t anything left. I truly feel as if I’m being deprived of a good life experience! But hey, we are given what we can handle, so maybe its all for the best.

Milwaukee was quick. Mostly grocery stores and visiting several friends and family of Mitch. We did meet two hotdoggers from previous classes and that was about that. Nothing too crazy. Then…. it happened.

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After surprising several families with rides in Wisconsin, we headed to our next stop in Madison. On the way we noticed several cop cars to the right. Mitch, who was driving, tried to get over for them, but a car was hovering on our left taking pictures. By the time we realized we couldn’t get over, we were already closing in on the cop cars. We passed on by. Suddenly, one was behind us. Sirens blaring. “Dot, we are being pulled over,” Mitch warned. We glided our giant hot dog onto the side of the interstate. The police officer approached the vehicle and asked us why we didn’t get over for the emergency vehicle. We kindly replied that there had been a vehicle next to us and moving over was not a possibility. After kindly reminding us about the move over law, the police officer let us off with a verbal warning and noted that next time we should slow all the way down if possible. She also explained they had set a trap that day specifically for that law and were pulling people over to reinforce the law and make sure it got attention (side note: the law is created to bring attention to the fact that its dangerous for people to be on the side of the interstate… so doesn’t it seem slightly dangerous to be setting up traps so that you can pull more people over on the side of the interstate which you’ve already declared a hazardous thing to be doing? Just a thought, but hey, I’m just a Wienermobile driver.) Anyway, cue the random man on the bridge that took a picture of us. I turn to Mitch and say, “hey… that man is taking our picture.” Then we leave. Surely that random side of the road man doesn’t have enough influence for that photo to go anywhere right? Wrong.

That man shares his photo with a popular pub, who shares it with the Waukesha police, which causes the local news to pick up on it, which spreads to the Milwaukee news, then onto several other small town broadcasts, then several city broadcasts, then national news. So yea, thats how our Wienermobile made national news in under 24 hours. There is no bad press???

However, Oscar Mayer handled it beautifully. They created t-shirts with the famed photo and the words “Road Hog” underneath it. If Mitch and I don’t receive one, there will be an outcry of the greatest of sorts. But yes, Mitch and I will spent the entirety of our Wienermobile tour answering the question, “HEY!!! Was that you guys that got pulled over the other week?!?” Why yes…. yes it was.

So now we head to Madison, because its time to recruit the 33 class of Wienie drivers!!! Yayyyyy!!! I got to run around campus and be very happy about finding people to take my dream job away from me…. hmmm. I’m sort of kidding…. I’m very excited to get to share the job with a new group. Just wish sharing it didn’t require me to become irrelevant.

Recruiting was awesome. Mitch went to UW Madison, so he was back in his element. His college roommate and someone who I tend to like to see frequently, Luke Pitzo, also showed up for some shenanigans. We had super fancy hotel rooms with robes, and I spent an absurd amount of time in bathroom stalls taping flyers to the backs of doors.

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Ultimately it was a fantastic week. I got to meet Oscar Mayer’s grandson, and we had some promising recruits for the job (one of which is only 3 seconds away from the world record of running on all fours). Our time quickly came to a close and we headed onward to Minneapolis, Minnesota. I’ll let Minneapolis be its own post since it was a packed 2 weeks.

But per usual, “franks” for coming to “ketchup” with me,

Hot Diggity Dot

P.S. I got this fortune cookie and I thought it was cool how accurate it was!

“Meat” the Meat Man….. Mitch McMahon.

This is my new partner Mitch. A little overview: Mitch is from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He used to be the East team with Carly! Mitch is amazing at making videos and is a very funny, smart, and friendly guy. If you walk into a party, Mitch is your favorite dude right off the bat. Thats Mitch.

Obviously, you’ll learn a lot about him in the upcoming months so I don’t need to go into crazy detail right off the bat. Right now, we’ve had almost 2 weeks on the road together! We’ve been in Cape Girardeau, Nashville, Columbia, Kirksville, and now Davenport so far.

For our first few days in Cape Girardeau, there wasn’t a crazy amount of stuff to do. It’s small town Missouri for goodness sakes. The calm was welcome after the craziness that was winter staff. It also allowed Mitch and I to settle into our new routine a bit.

During one of our events in Cape Girardeau, a man came up and told us all about this truck that he had transformed into Mater from Cars! We nodded and looked at his pictures and told him how great the truck was and then he left. Well, sure enough… later that day we were driving down the road and what do we see!!! MATER! So of course we pull over and take lots of pictures.

Mitch and I also had women who had finished her last chemotherapy treatment THAT DAY and found out she was cancer free drive 100 miles to come see us. She could not even get out of the car to go inside the Wienermobile, but just wanted to see it from her window. Mitch and I of course loaded her up with every goodie we have and she started crying. Truly a memorable on the road experience.

Mitch and I soon headed to Nashville, aka the Dirty Nash, aka Nashvegas. Nashville was SO FUN! My goodness. Some of my best friends in the world live in Nashville, so it was bound to be a party. Night one, we met Eferg at a place called the goat and had what was easily the best wings I’ve ever had in my life. We ended up going back to eat more 3 more times? They were fantastic.

The next day, Luke came to visit! He got there late at night and we went out to dinner with Rachel and Jamison at a Thai place. I was very happy to have him visit. Then we had eferg over for the first of many #BESTFRIENDDOUBLEDATES. For those of you who don’t know, Mitch and Luke are college roommates and best friends. So they were together as a couple and me and eferg were together as a couple. We all hung out in our rooms until late.

The next day, Mitch, Luke and I all went to breakfast at Sky Blue Cafe (#thirdwheeling). They had a lovely breakfast date, and I was also there. We got super cool stickers and read off trivia to each other, before Mitch and I had to leave for our event (Thank goodness because I don’t like sharing Mitch).

After work, we met up with Luke and Eferg and got more wings at GOAT (this becomes a theme) before we met Rachel for dance class…. Now you’re thinking, gosh… what fun friends you have that they would all sacrifice their nights to attend a dance class with you and Rachel. Oh no. This was some mastermind manipulation. You see…. I told Luke that Mitch was in on dance class. Then Luke was in on dance class. Then I told Mitch, Luke was in on dance class and he being the good friend he is, assumed Luke was only going to make me happy. So naturally, Mitch was in for bro support. Then I went to eferg and told her she should come because EVERYONE was going and if she didn’t she’d be the odd man out. So then I had eferg in on it too. However, then they all talked to each other, discovered my master plan, but decided I’d worked too hard and it was too late and they’d go anyway. Muhahaha.

But I do think they had a lot of fun. So there.

Then that night, we all went out on the dirty Nash (minus Elizabeth and Rach) and had a grand ole time dancing and exploring. Luke left early in the morning and we went to work. Back on the grind.

Thursday was really fun though. We had a slower event, but my parents came afterward and we had a full afternoon. Mitch and I took the Wienermobile to Rachel’s after school program and got to be a surprise for her kids. One kid straight up ran into the Wiene with her razor scooter, but the Wiene was fine.

Shortly after that, we gave some family friends rides in the Wienermobile then headed to dinner at a pizza place. Mitch and I (okay… me…. I did it) ended up getting the Wienermobile wedged pretty tightly into the parking lot, but magically with our hotdogger skills we got it out. It was like a three point turn, but 500 points. I’m just glad the owner of the Tesla did not come out until we were done.

Friday night, we went to trivia with Rachel, Jamison, Eferg, and friends. We followed it up with someone dancing at Eferg’s place. The dancing continued into the weekend when Mitch invited me to a Saturday night wedding! Awwww our first wedding together ❤ Why are we so cute. The wedding was adorable, we killed it on the dance floor, nuff said.

Sunday we hit up the Nashville Parthenon for some photographs and to film our team recruitment video and then we met up with the squad for more wings after.

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Sadly, while getting wings, Eferg had an allergic reaction to God knows what and I had to take her to the ER. She spent the night with me in my hotel and then I took her back in the morning when she had her rebound reaction. The dirty nash….it gets you every time.

What a note to end on. Mitch and I headed out, and thus begun our trip to Columbia, Kirksville, and Davenport. So, we were technically supposed to be in Kirksville for three days, but I wasn’t really about that so I schedules us to go to three different places in three days. It makes sense, I swear. That way we got to spend our off days in Columbia, which has way more stuff to do, but we weren’t wasting gas money.

During our off day, Mitch and I went on a super cool hike (suggested by Troy) called Devil’s Icebox. It had cool caves, natural bridges, and fresh air. Just what we needed. We tried spelunking a little, but it was very dark and the water was cold. We decided on a longer hike instead. Oh, also there was a zebra (don’t ask).

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Later that night, we met up with some of Troy’s friends and played trivia at Mizzou.

MIZ-ZOU.

Early the next day, we drove to Kirksville for an interview, which was special on all accounts. We got to go to the Oscar Mayer plant and see one of the older wienes. We had a little photoshoot and got asked about our opinions of geopolitical affairs. We had no opinion. Then we finished our drive and are now relaxing in the great Davenport, Iowa.

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So thats the dealio. Much more to come with my new meat man 🙂
Per usual, “franks” for coming to “ketchup” with me,
Hot Diggity Dot

Oh and if you’re barbecurious about where we will be the next few weeks:

• January 23 – January 26: Milwaukee, WI
• January 26 – January 31: Madison, WI
• January 31 – February 14: Minneapolis, MN
• February 14 – February 17: St. Cloud, MN

So its been quite the whirl wind since getting back on the road. A lot has changed. New year, new partner, new region. The ball has been thrown up in the air and its time to make some new memories.

Before we left each other forever, Troy and I got a final few days on the road together in January. I flew back into Baltimore first (January 3) and met up with my good friend Scott Finney. We hung out in the Wienermobile for a few hours because the hotel wouldn’t let me in without Troy. The next day, we drove back to Columbia, SC (where we went skydiving and celebrated Troy’s birthday back in August). We had a full day of driving before we happily settled into our little 1425 Inn. If you ever go to Columbia, stay there! They take care of you and it is home.

The next two days were working the same ole same ole events and enjoying our last moments together. We got dinner at the same place we went for Troy’s birthday (Troy told me to get spicy chicken and it almost killed me) and cried over our favorite lunch spot being closed. Our last night was spent eating pizza in the Inn and working on our Christmas sweaters for winter staff.

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My parents also came to visit and took us out to dinner. I know it was hard for them to say goodbye to Troy too. He is our family and we love him. Troy gave me a frame with photos of us as a parting gift and I made him a video:

The next day we took our Wiene to Penske and boarded our flight to Madison, WI…. I’m truly heart broken to leave Troy. Its hard to describe what its like to spend every waking moment with someone for seven months and then not see them at all after that. We made so many memories together, worked through conflicts, come up with brilliant ideas, made peoples’ days, and went on the greatest of adventures together…. and then he’s just not here anymore. I get that he is a short phone call away and of course we text frequently, but its hard. I cried a ton when I had to leave him, and I’d be lying if I said I don’t still cry about every other day or even right now as I’m writing this. But you get it, you’ve read the blogs, you know what he means to me…. continuing on.

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Now its time for one of the most awaited times of the year: WINTER STAFF! Winter staff is like Fall Staff, but in the winter (surprise). Basically, all the teams (and the nuts) come back to Verona, WI and meet up for staff meetings. Seeing as we are all highly energetic and relatively positive people, its always a blast. The goofing around is endless.

Winter staff was filled with all sorts of fun things both work related and not. For work, we had our final ceremony for Hot Dogger Challenge. I filled you in a little bit on this in a previous post, so I won’t go back into it too much. Basically, we all presented on our weeks (shoutout to Luke and Amanda for doing their presentation as a spoken word based off of the movie 22 Jump Street). At the end, Troy and I were pronounced the TOP DOGS and got a super cool trophy, our name on a plaque, and the satisfaction of a job well done!

Also for work, we had a savage white elephant and a very fun Ugly Christmas Sweater Runway. We all made our own Ugly Christmas Sweaters and had a whole runway/dance off thing while eating absurd amounts of pizza.

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In our own time, we had our own secret Santa. It was so incredible to watch the gifts our crew gave each other. Never have I seen a secret Santa so creatively and successfully catered to its participants. We all must really know each other. People low key cried over the gift they got. My personal favorite was the gift Alex gave to Amanda. Amanda has a barbie tree she sets up at Christmas every year. She collects really cool barbies and hangs them from this tree. She had maybe mentioned it once in the span of seven months, but Alex remembered and got her a Vanna White barbie doll. Why Vanna? Because Amanda had gone on the wheel of fortune during her time on the road. Tell me thats not an incredible gift!

I gave my gift to Cameron. I wood burned her the license plate of her Wienermobile. I wasn’t sure if she would like it, but as it turns out, she’d been trying to order a copy of her license plate all Christmas and had been unsuccessful. We ended up having all the nuts and dogs and our bosses sign the back of it. My gift was from Sarah and she got me a purple speaker, notebook, and chapstick. Some of my favorite items. All in all, very successful secret Santa.

Our last big activity over Winter Staff was our EDNA MODE PARTY BUS. We all bought the same black wig off of Amazon (Amazon was probably very confused by there was such a high demand for black wigs all of a sudden) and dressed up as our favorite movie character, Edna Mode….. and guest. Mitch rented us a sick party bus and we spent our last night together driving around Madison dancing, singing, and “relishing” in each other’s company. Dan said it best in his party bus speech, “LETS MAKE MORE MEMORIES AND HAVE THE BEST LAST 5 MONTHS OF OUR ENTIRE LIVES.” All of you out there who are team Dan in life (aka everyone) please raise your hand.

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And just like that, winter staff was over, we told our old wienes and old partners goodbye, and set off on a new journey…. but I’m trying to keep my blog posts shorter these days, so you’ll just have to wait for me to write the next one.

As always, “franks” for coming to ketchup with me,
Hot Diggity Dot

After Hotdogger Challenge week, Troy and I headed to Charlotte, NC. I don’t know if you have noticed, but every single time Troy and I go to Charlotte the Wienermobile breaks down. So naturally, when I saw Charlotte on the schedule I was worried. In addition to being on the schedule, I also had three off days there. I don’t like Charlotte (because of all the breakdowns), so I wanted to leave. Therefore, I bought a plane ticket to Phoenix, AZ to go visit Luke during his week in Tucson.

Well, as luck would have it, the Wienermobile broke down in Charlotte an hour and a half away from the airport and so I missed my flight. Just ruin my life some more please Charlotte. However, the airline (after some teary eyes) got my butt a seat on the next flight out for free. So I found myself in Arizona.

Because of the flight time change, Luke had to rent a car and come get me from Phoenix (rather than just picking me on on his way to Tucson in the Wienermobile). I got lucky and realized a team of nuts was residing in Phoenix, so I spent the evening hanging out with them and exploring this light festival thing. Then Luke retrieved me and we headed to Tucson.

Tucson was filled with lots of fun adventures. Luke and I signed up for a mini astronomy class at Kitt Peak National Observatory. IT WAS SO COOL. We drove the Wienermobile (yes, the Wienermobile) way up on this mountain with all these observatories and research facilities. We were able to use the telescopes as well as take a lesson on star gazing. The views, the sunset, and the stars were pretty incredible.

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Luke and I also went on a hike up Tumamoc Hill. It was steep and hot and I was horribly out of shape and Luke was not and the whole thing was a sad look for me. But it was awesome and had great views…. so, worth it.

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The rest of the time was filled with good food, exploration, and quality Luke Pitzo time 🙂 It was a trip for the books.

Once I was back in Charlotte, very little happened. We did “meat up” with the parents of our Nutmobile friend and go to dinner. Troy and her parents all wore panthers jerseys and I proudly sported by Falcons jersey (Falcons had beaten the panthers that day IN CHARLOTTE). No one at the dinner place liked me, but thats okay.

The week after Charlotte was pretty wonky. So, there are two Wienermobiles in the southeast: WNRMBLE and OHIWISH. OHIWISH is a reserve vehicle. Our boss wanted the reserve vehicle back up in Wisconsin, so Troy and I were asked to drive it back up. However, once we dropped it off we would still need another vehicle to keep driving around in. Therefore, we were asked to drive both vehicles up from Charlotte, NC to Madison, WI.

Driving from Charlotte to Madison (using the route we were supposed to take) takes about 16 hours. Thats with no traffic, no stops, and no people asking questions about your giant hot dog. The whole trip ended up taking about twenty hours split up into two days, and Troy and I were each driving a Wienermobile alone.

It was a lot, but we are always down for an adventure. I was able to stop by my friend Jake’s house along the way too, which definitely made the drive worth it! But Troy and I were both pretty relieved when we got to Madison and were back in the Wiene together.

Sadly, WNRMBLE did not survive the journey… we had to leave her, rather than the reserve Wiene, at the shop and say our final goodbyes to our sweet wiene. I’m not going to lie, I cried. We just have so many good memories with her and she is family. But she needed a long trip to the spa, and who am I to deny her that. We wrote our final message to her in the closet wall and kissed her goodbye. WNRMBLE, you’re in my heart forever.

Our next destination was Milwaukee! My best friend and college roommate, Paris, was actually in Milwaukee while I was there. I was so excited, because as you know, its always great to see best friends on the road. Troy left for our off days, so we had a bunch of quality girl time. Paris showed me around Milwaukee, took me to a Christmas market, fed me home cooked meals, introduced me to her friends, and provided lots of hugs. It was heaven ❤

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At the Christmas market, I discovered my new favorite brand: POOK. I bought myself a sock hat from them and its still my favorite item of clothing. I’ve since purchased a sweatshirt, pants, sock monkeys, and presents for family.

Paris and I were also able to stop by Luke’s house for a home cooked meal with his mom and dad. This was of course, fantastic, and a great way to end our time together in Milwaukee. Before we left, however, we had one more stop.

The folk fair in Milwaukee….ahhh the folk fair. A fantastic time. Truly. Until the 16 bus loads of kids unloaded all at once while Troy was on his lunch break. I struggled, but came out on top after showing a few kids firm no messing around Dot. It was a relief of the greatest sort when I saw Troy sprinting down the street with his lunch in a to go box. God bless that boy.

Oh, another fun tid bit about Milwaukee. The day I left they had found a body in the house next to the inn where I was staying. Forensic investigations was there and everything. Pretty crazy. ANYWAY, ONTO CHICAGO!

Chicago was brief, but crazy. Troy and I got to go for the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (Chi-Tag if you’re cool…. we are). It was a two day crazy fair where all sorts of game and toy venders showed up: Medieval Times, Bicycle, Yoyo, etc…. the basics you know? If your kid came dressed as a Frozen character, they got in for free. That kind of vibe. So fun, very long hours, but worth it.

Troy and I also got the honor of participating in a Kraft Heinz Podcast. So Kraft Heinz is coming out with a podcast highlighting some of the super cool jobs people do in their company. Each episode will be about one of those jobs. Well, guess who they picked to interview for the first episode? You got it! Me and Troy! It won’t be out for a while, but I’m sure everyone will listen when the release day arrives 😉 Some of the other stories they will tell are pretty cool too. Example? The guy who designs and makes the noodle shapes for the Kraft Mac N Cheese. Oh baby, you know that one will be exciting. I’m going to be enthralled when it comes out. Not being sarcastic. Not joking. I’m pumped. How would you like to be the noodle master?

Other good parts of Chicago? I got to meet and eat dinner with Troy’s family. I LOVED them. Such great people, and they were very patient when Troy ruined the front lawn by driving the Wienermobile through it. I also got to meet Luke’s sister and best friend when the 3 of us when out for drinks! Also a pleasure.

Oh, did I also mention that Troy and I got to sleep on the top floor of the corn cob buildings that overlook the city/river in Chicago? Well, we did. Here was our view:

Not too shabby, huh? And to think, I was just sleeping next to a dead body in Milwaukee. Well, shout out to Jake Campbell for letting us sleep in his family’s apartment. You’re the bomb.

After Chicago, I flew back home for “Franksgiving”. Luke also came with me back to Atlanta! We headed straight for the lake went the rents and spent a relaxing day there. We played with all the animals, went for boat rides, went to the range, and even made some pizzas (#pizzapitzo). Then we came back to Atlanta to meet up with some high school friends and see the botanical gardens. When Luke left (sad), Genevieve came (happy!) with Liza!!! We spent the next few days celebrating and being thankful as a family for all that we have and boy do we have a lot! A healthy baby, a dream job, and lots of love. Not much more you could want. Of course this time was also spent visiting extended family and close friends. We also decorated the Christmas tree. It passed quickly, but I can’t stay away from the Wienermobile for too long. You know that.

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So I headed back to work Where did I head to next? Check the next recap to find out!

As always, “franks” for coming to “ketchup” with me,
Hot Diggity Dot

Soooo… its been a while. I’ve decided to break all this crazy up into little chunks in order to make it manageable for anyone reading as well as myself. So in this post I’ll go back and tackle Halloweenie and Hotdogger Challenge weeks.

After Goldsboro, NC, we headed to Gainesville, FL. Gainesville was pretty amazing. Off days were dedicated to planning for Hotdogger Challenge and vegging out. Once the work days started it was all about Halloweenie.

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The night before Halloweenie, we participated in a trunk-or-treat. The Wienermobile of course gave out GLOW IN THE DARK whistles instead of candy and we had the whole inside decorated as a spooky hot dog lair! All the kiddos were running around collecting their candy. At one point, I had like 14 kids inside the Wienermobile with me. It was chaos, but so fun.

The next two days we spent at different Hitchcock’s grocery stores in the area. These stores were amazing. They had bounce houses, a cook out, and all employees were dressed in hot dog suits. Of course I had to join some new friends in the bounce house!

We also made a stop in Jacksonville for the FL/GA tailgate! Yea, thats right. The world’s largest cocktail party. This event was so fun and so stressful all at once. There. Were. So. Many. People. In. One. Place. Many of them running out in front of a MOVING Wienermobile to take pictures. For those of you who haven’t taken physics…. AN OBJECT IN MOTION WILL STAY IN MOTION UNLESS IMPEDED BY ANOTHER FORCE. I can promise you, your body is not a big enough force to impede the Wienermobile’s inertia.

However, we did get to spend a couple hours chucking Wienermobile footballs out of the bunroof to screaming masses which was pretty incredible.

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After we left Gainesville, it was time for the biggest week of the hotdogger year…. HOTDOGGER CHALLENGE WEEK. Hotdogger challenge week is the ultimate week where a hotdogging pair gets to show what they’re made of. At the end of the week, we have some time to compile a report for our bosses, and come January, only one team reigns supreme as TOP DOG. Our current boss was Top Dog and all Troy and I could hope for was that one day we might be Top Dogs too. So we got to work.

Normally, our weeks are scheduled by our boss Angela. She tells us where to go, and we arrange all the details and go there. But Hotdogger Challenge Week is different. You get a city, and thats it. The rest is up to you. We spent the week prior to Challenge Week throwing out ideas, lining up events, discussing plans with our bosses, shooting down ideas, coming up with better ones, and calling contacts. By the time we rolled into Augusta on Monday, we were ready.

We started off by printing of tons of flyers with our events. We went around Augusta posting flyers everywhere we went. If you went to a store? You were gonna know we were there. Next we hit up the media. We landed two TV interviews, radio interviews, and a newspaper article by driving up to places and sitting outside until someone noticed us. I also had some friends in the TV industry (shout out to Jersey Mike), so that helped too. If you lived in Augusta… you would have heard about us. Next we scheduled a full day of private events (gave the media time to keep sharing the story with the public), and then the rest of the week we had our public events! This was what our week looked like:

Wednesday: we started off the day trying the Popeye’s chicken sandwich (better than chickfila TBH, but not worth it bc the service is so bad). Then we did our first round of King of the Grill. Similar to cash cab, King of the Grill is a video game show that Troy and I came up with! We surprise people with a ride in the Wienermobile and then once they get in, we tell them its so much more than that. Instead of just riding around, they are about to compete for Wienermobilia by answering Wienermobile trivia questions! Troy and I filmed all our rides and created a video using our favorite footage for our final report. If you’re interested, here is the link to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVANupi2FIQ&feature=youtu.be
When we were done with King of the Grill, we went and participated in a special needs golf clinic. Every kid participating got a whistle, sticker, and chance to sit inside a Wienermobile seat! Finally, we headed back to our hotel for our final event: A cookout! We provided 100 Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs to the hotel for cooking and opened up the Wienermobile for guests. All of the hot dogs were gone before we even got back, so I guess that means it was a success.

Thursday: We started the day off with more King of the Grill, then headed to the Children’s Hospital of Augusta. This event was incredible. Not only did countless children make their way down to see the Wienermobile despite IVs and other obstacles, but the Wienermobile brightened the day of staff, family, and visitors. We had coloring out, which ended up being great because the kids could take coloring sheets back up to their rooms. Soon after the hospital event, we headed to Pendleton King Park for our first public event! Yay!!! We called it coloring with the Wienermobile (we had bought an absurd amount of craft supplies for this event). Despite the media talking about our events consistently, Troy and I weren’t quite sure if people would show up or not. We were delighted when we pulled into the park 20 minutes early to find a huge crowd waiting for our arrival. Not long after the start of the event, it started to rain on the huge line waiting to see inside the Wienermobile. Rather than leave, they stood in line in the rain and continued to be so grateful for our presence. More news showed up to cover the event. It was honestly incredible to look at the sea of people and know that Troy and I had done all of this by ourselves.

Friday: Our first event Friday was a blast. Troy and I called bingo at the senior center and also provided some Wienermobile prizes! One lady kept winning and started hoarding Wienermobile banks. She had me and Troy laughing. After the game, we took everyone outside to see the 27 foot long hot dog. More media showed up and the event ended with all of us dancing and singing around the Wienermobile.
We then did some more King of the Grill rides followed by a short event at the Augusta fire station! We ended the day at the Harvest on the Hill festival. The festival had bounce houses, food trucks, and live music! It was the perfect family friendly event.

Saturday: In the morning, the Wienermobile made an appearance at the Jacob Cooter Memory run. We cheered on runners and handed out whistles. We even had some groups show up just to see the Wienermobile. The afternoon was spent at an event close to my heart. We attended the National Pet Adoption at PetsMart, which I used to work throughout middle and high school. We had at least 700 people show up to this event. The line to see the inside never died down. While it was pretty overwhelming, it was still so incredible to see a turnout like that at an event you planned. My Grand Big even showed up and surprised me! We got some Starbucks after to decompress.

Monday: Sunday was a well needed off day, but Monday morning we were back at it. Along with King of the Grill, the day was also filled with different post card writing events! People showed up from all over Augusta to write a post card thanking their veterans. After everyone was finished and our event was over, Troy and I dropped the cards off at the local VA and mailed the ones that were specifically addressed.

All in all, it was a pretty incredible week. Here is the link to the recap video Troy put together! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz6fIWI5Geo&feature=youtu.be

And I’ll also include the link to one of my favorite interviews I’ve done on the road: https://www.wrdw.com/content/news/Its-a-27-foot-hotdog-on-wheels-Oscar-Mayer-Wienermobile-makes-its-trek-to-Augusta-564548921.html

During my off day, I was also able to see meet up with a friend for birthday bunch, some extended family members, and a Wienermobile driver from class 3!

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I suppose I’ll go ahead and stick it all in this post. The winners of Hotdogger Challenge Week were announced at our Winter Staff Meeting in January. Troy and I were somehow able to come out on top and win this year’s TOP DOG award. I could not be more proud of our work. Challenge week left me with a lot of new skills and much more confidence in myself and became one of my favorite weeks on the job.

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We will end this post there, and I’ll continue to ketchup in the next one 🙂

As always, “franks” for reading and coming to ketchup with me,
Hot Diggity Dot

BOO! I have some scary news. Its officially the end of October. That means its the end of my 5th month as a hotdogger. Ah! NO! Now lets completely ignore that, live in denial, and talk about this past month (also sorry again for the length).

October has been a BUSY one. There have been lots of friends, lots of excitement, and lots of fun. So lets start from the beginning because its been awhile: Knoxville!

So you heard about the month of maintenance. Lets talk about some good stuff. Knoxville was a new city for me and Troy. Neither of us had really explored it before. On my first off day I took a rental car out of the city and headed for Burgess falls. I was feeling the need for a little mother nature, and when I arrived I was very satisfied.

At first I was a little disappointed because the waterfall wasn’t quite as big as I was expecting, but then I realized that was because it wasn’t THE waterfall. When I finally got to Burgess Falls it literally took my breath away. Absolutely worth driving out of the city for a day.

The next day, Troy and I went downtown and explored a little. We got to see the sunsphere, walk around UT, and explore the market square in Knoxville. Knoxville is very quaint and exciting. At one point, all these people were out in the park. Troy and I ran over all excited and asked, “Is this a party!!!” to which they replied “No. This is an evacuation. But you can make it a party if you want to.” Market square was so hopping we thought an evacuation was a party… Slightly off, but I did buy some great plums from the market.

We also ate at this amazing place on the square called Myrtles’ Chicken. One of the best meals of my life. Troy suggested it and I will be forever grateful. If you go to Knoxville, get this chicken.

The next night, Troy ditched me for a concert. I didn’t want to sit in the hotel, so I decided to go eat alone downtown. Parking the Wiene downtown in any city isn’t always the easiest, but that night I got lucky. A fire department waved me in, let me park the wienermobile at their station, and offered to walk me to dinner. THANK YOU FIRE DEPARTMENT. You guys are the best.

I ended up eating at this place called soccer taco. They probably thought I was weird, because I just sat there by myself eating tacos and reading a book for three hours. Whatever. Thanks for keeping me company soccer taco.

We also got to see friends in Knoxville. We went to Trivia night with a few of Troy’s friends one night and got ice cream with my friend Nick another night! Nick is so awesome and a large reason of why I have this job. He showed me a different style of leadership and encouraged me to take on more responsibility. So round of applause for Nick 👏!

The last main point of Knoxville was the FRIED PICKLE FESTIVAL. So. Much. Fun. Okay, so we roll in and they have snakes, pitt puppies, porcupines, and CAMELS! They literally had a camel at this place. They have fried pickles, cotton candy, fried oreos, and popcorn. It was heaven in a field. Take me back to the fried pickle festival. Troy and I got to pose for lots of photos with Mr. Pickle, which was an honor. The whole event was FUN FUN FUN…. and did I mention they had a camel?

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Okay, lets keep ‘er movin’ (I hang out with too many wisconsinites (@LukePitzo @ParisKarstedt)). After Knoxville, we headed on home to good ole Atlanta, GA. But going home was even sweeter because we were joined by none other than THE NUTS! Oh yes, ladies and gents. The nutmobile graced us with its presence and it did not go unappreciated.

This is mostly very exciting, because this means Troy and I get to see other people our age! YAY! On our off day, we explored centennial olympic park, ponce city market, went for trivia at Mellow Mushroom, the battery, and then dessert at my house. Ponce was a blast because we ended up taking the scooters along the Beltline and participating in a free wine tasting.

The next day, we attended the NACS convention downtown at the Georgia World Conference Center. For those of you who don’t know, NACS stands for National Association of Convenience Stores. This means that any product you would find in a convenience store was present….any… product. There was roomfuls of candy companies, meat companies, alcohol companies, gas companies, energy drink companies, bread companies, slushi companies. IF YOU HAVE SEEN IT IN A CONVENIENCE STORE, IT WAS THERE. Get that through your mind how massive this event was. Okay, we good? Good. It was massive.

Another thing, they basically just wanted the Wienermobile. They didn’t so much want me and Troy, so we spent the day wandering and raking in all the free stuff they had there. It was wild. I now have a light up baseball cap that is super stupid looking and I am not ashamed.

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Also the event was just extra as all get out. So know that too.

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The next day was all about chores, seeing family, seeing friends in town (@samfowler) and work. Troy and I went out with the nuts to one of my favorite spots, the Painted Duck after they finished work, but the whole day was pretty low key.

However, the day after… a magical day. We not only attended the concert of, but also met MASON RAMSEY. You might also know him as yodel boy. He is 12, and he is a star. We offered him a ride in the Wienermobile and Nutmobile, but he had no idea what they were. Sweet little nug. Mason, know you have huge fans in us. Also, I’d just like to say, that he signed a Wiener Whistle for me. He was confused, but he did it.

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Saturday was also an exciting day. Troy and I got to surprise tailgaters at GA Tech! We literally just spent the day driving up to tailgates, passing out free hot dog goodie bags to people with a grill, and making memories. At one point the whole GA Tech band came and played music next to the Wienermobile. It was fairly iconic.

THEN WE WERE OFF! New week, new city. We drove up to St. Louis, but I didn’t really see it because I left on my three off days for VEGAS! And what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…. so onto the next city.

Just kidding. I arrived in Vegas and was greeted by none other than the Luke Pitzo. Luke Pitzo had a game plan, as Luke Pitzos often do. First we explored the sites: Bellagio, Eiffel Tower, Casinos… an amazing ramen place (note, food will become a key component of this trip). After the ramen place, we met Luke’s hotdogger partner, Amanda, and her boyfriend (also Luke) at a place called flights for more food (told you).

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This place was awesome. They had a plane hanging from the ceiling, the waiters and waitresses were called flight attendants, you pressed a button to get their attention, all the food and drinks came in flights, and they had clever names. I was very amused.

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After flights, we got drinks at the chandelier bar and then headed to dinner. Yes… we did just eat twice and then go to eat again. ITS VEGAS BABY! and they have great food. After dinner, Luke and I went on a gondola ride. They gondola dude told us some pretty weird stories, which I don’t think I should share here. But if you’re curious, feel free to call me.

Post gondola, we explored the underground mall in Cesar’s Palace and then watched the Bellagio fountain show. Nothing. Beats. That. Its so cool. Whoever programs those fountains…. props to you.

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The next morning, we attended a time share meeting…. Hilton told us if we attended this meeting then they would give us our rooms for like $25 dollars and give us $150 of spending money. So yea, worth it for the rooms. I was low key kind of sold on the time share though. They are very good sales people. Luke was not amused with me entertaining the idea 🙂

Once we’d gotten our spending money, we hit up the hotel pool and spent it all on more food! Everything in Vegas is extremely over priced. We spent a few hours chilling pool side before dinner (more food) and seeing the VEGAS sign! Luke also took me to this really cool rooftop bar with an amazing view of the strip. We did not fit in, but I loved it.

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After that it was back home to the wiene and to Troy (don’t worry. He was at Mizzou the whole week with all his college friends while I was gone). We took the Wiene down to Mizzou and got to be a part of Mizzou Homecoming. “Hey idk if you knew, but Mizzou was the first school to have homecoming.” If another Mizzou person says that to me….. Ugh shake it off.

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But in all seriousness, it was cool to see Troy in his natural habitat, plus we had a different group of nuts with us too, which always adds to the fun! We did the huge homecoming parade and Troy got to sit on the bunroof with Truman the tiger (who he used to be). Later, We passed out hot dogs at the tailgate again and chauffeured Truman around. It was a pretty amazing weekend.

To add to the fun, I got to spend a night tailgating and cheering for the Tigers with my best friend from home, Cole. We are about as different as two people can get, but man, I love every second I spend with that guy. He is truly an amazing person down to the core. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, so the quality time was appreciated. Love you Cole Loco.

Before we left Missouri, we had a final stop to make. The Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival! Woot woot! For a town that small, Hartsburg sure knows how to put on a festival. There was some pretty amazing food, including the tornado potato, which I shoved down my throat in the span of a minute. Thanks for the invite Hartsburg.

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Then we were off to Atlanta again! But another adventure was on the horizon!

On my off days in Atlanta, I decided to take another vacation to go see the wonderful Mikayla. Another hotdogger/best friend who I have mentioned before. We both decided to fly out of our markets and meet up in LA to drive up the coast on Pacific Coast Hwy 1.

I arrived in L.A. pretty late on my off day and was surprised at the airport by none other than Mikayla and Luke Pitzo!!! And of course, they came riding up in our sweet mustang convertible that we had rented.

We dropped Luke off at his hotel and started girls trip. Mik and I covered a ton in 2 days. Like a ton. We drove up the coast of California from LA to San Jose, stopping at a variety of places along the way. The brief version is this:

The first night we stayed in an adorable RV air bnb where the woman customized all these signs for us and went and got us groceries. When we woke up we hit all the major spots in LA: Hollywood sign, observatory, palm tree street, and walk of fame. Then we headed to the coast and Santa Monica Pier.

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Next we hit up Pepperdine outside of Malibu, one thousand steps and Stearns wharf in Santa Barbara, and the beaches of Gaviota for the sunset. We drove through the Santa Ynez valley at dusk and then went to sleep in a new air bnb up in Cambria.

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When we woke up the next day, we started by viewing the elephant seals at the vista point. They were so gross sounding and hilarious. I think its safe to say the seals were one of our favorite stops.

From there we drove up to Big Sur. The morning had some of the worse fog I’d ever seen, so the drive was very different from the previous day. It was still incredibly gorgeous in an entirely different way, but the sun soon came out and the ocean view returned. We made a quick stop at McWay Falls and a secret cove the guide app we were using told us about (long live Steve).

Next up was Pfeiffer Beach. We were worried about making it to Pfeiffer because we had heard it was always full and people were blocked from seeing the beach. However, the guy at the gate told us we were lucky and the beach was fairly empty. It was probably one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen. The sand was tinted slightly purple and the rock formations jutting out of the icy ocean were astounding. Definitely another one of our favorite stops.

Next we made it to Bixby Creek Bridge, which was a moment Mikayla and I had been dreaming about. Bixby Creek is the iconic Highway 1 bridge that you see pictures of everywhere. We spent a while appreciating the bridge and the surrounding view before heading on up to Monterey where we did a section of the 17 mile drive before having to leave to get me to the airport.

The trip was absolutely incredible, and doing it with Mik made it even better. I know its something we will both remember for the rest of our lives. If you want to see more, I posted a video I made on my Facebook and Instagram.

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Back in Atlanta, the week was pretty standard save for a very cold, rainy, and windy event and a sandwich I made into a Wienermobile. Nothing too crazy. I have to say, going from driving a mustang down the coast of California to standing in the cold rain outside a Kroger was a bit of a shock, but lucky for me the Wienermobile has blue skies always so everything was fine. Plus, when I got home to the airport this guy was waiting for me, and he always puts a smile on my face.

And here is the Wienermobile sandwich….. mmmm appetizing.
Troy almost vomited watching me make it. I’m clearly showcasing the meat product in a desirable way.

I was able to spend a few nights at home thought, as well as go to the haunted house in Atlanta with my sister. Friday night me and papa Sprat also made the drive up to Greenville, SC for Furman Homecoming. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time there, but it was worth it to see my people.

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Onto our last city! You’re almost to the end, I promise. After Atlanta, we headed to Goldsboro, NC. Its tiny and not near much. The days here were LAZY and AMAZING. Troy and I vegged out and did nothing. At one point I left the hotel to get my phone fixed and to see a friend, Colleen, from Furman. But beyond that, nothing.

I think Troy and I were both pretty exhausted from the previous weeks, so it was just time to crash and we were both very okay with that. Now we are in Gainsville, FL celebrating Halloweenie! I’ll leave the details of Gainsville for the next post, but I appreciate those who have stuck it through to this point. You probably feel like this:

Per usual, Franks for coming to ketchup with me!
Hot Diggity Dot

And if you’re wondering… here is my schedule over the next few weeks:

• Oct 28th – Nov 4th: Gainsville, FL
• Nov 4th – Nov 12th: Augusta, GA (this is an exciting week!!!)
• Nov 12th – Nov 18th: Charlotte, NC
• Nov 18th – Nov 19th: Dayton, OH
• Nov 19th – Nov 22nd: Milwaukee, WI
• Nov 22nd – Nov 24th: Chicago, IL
• And then home for Franksgiving!!!

September has been a blast in so many ways, but its also been pretty trying. Troy and I have enjoyed a pretty flawless three months, so we were due for some hiccups. They were inevitable, but I think we are on the uphill after it all.

Our first week of September, we were in Darlington, SC for the Bojangles Southern 500 (ITS BO TIME). Most hotels in Darlington were pretty booked so we decided to stay nearby in a little inn in Columbia, SC. Our first day in town was Troy’s birthday! I surprised him with a bday video of all his friends from home/college and the other hotdoggers saying happy birthday. We spent the first half of the day exploring USC and walking around Columbia. It was pretty cool. Weird being back on a college campus during the school year. Oh! and we saw a giant fire hydrant (which is funny because we have a giant dog).

For the second half of the day, Troy decided he wanted to go big or go home, so we drove and hour outside Columbia and went skydiving.

Thats right… We jumped 14,000 feet out of a plane. I’m not going to say I didn’t panic a little. I definitely sent several goodbye messages to friends and family. However, it ended up being a blast. The guy I was strapped to was calm and assuring, so my nerves were kept as low as they could be considering.

When it came time to jump, we scooted toward the door, rolled out, and before I knew it we were falling 9,000 feet in 60 seconds. It was incredible. To be honest, it was over before I really knew what was happening, but its something I’ll never forget. I’m glad Troy wanted to go, because I don’t know if I would have ever done something like that by myself.

The NASCAR races were a blast. It was a different group of people than Troy and I were used to at events, but they were so fun. We had free hotdogs for everyone and spent the day letting people play cornhole in front of the Wiene. We had cool Ryan Newman (Oscar Mayer’s nascar driver) themed giveaways, made friends with the Geico tent across from us, and got to ride in a huge parade. We were even able to get into the race for free, but right before it started a rain delay happened. By the looks of the radar, the race wouldn’t start until 9 or 10 at night, so Troy and I sadly hit the road after a desperate sprint through the rain to the Wiene.

Now starts the month of maintenance and issues. After the race, we were supposed to switch back to our Wienermobile from the Oscar 6 racecar Wienermobile. However, when we arrived to switch, the door to our Wienermobile was completely broken. It would not shut and was consistently cracked open. We had originally dropped it off because of some brake issues, but to our dismay, more things had broken in our absence. So we were forced to leave it there longer and stay with Oscar 6. Oscar 6 is great and all, but the A.C. doesn’t really work…. and we are in the Southeast…. in the summer….

But we kept smiles on our faces and were ready for a drive day. However, then Dorian was predicted to hit florida (our destination was Orlando). We figured it out and rebooked all our hotels and things in Savannah, GA. Then Dorian changed paths… to Savannah. So we rebooked again for Atlanta, Ga. We also had another hotdogger, Luke Pitzo, flying in to see us these days. So he had to rebook his flight as many times as we did our hotels. We love flexibility.

But thanks to several miracles and Troy’s dad working at a Hilton, all three of us were able to stay safe and sound in an Atlanta Hilton. Whew. I got to see my family and dogs and show Luke around Atlanta, which was a blast. We hit up Ponce City Market, Henris, Taqueria, etc. and I got to show him Westminster 🙂 (my high school).

Once the storm passed, the three of us road tripped down to Orlando, dropped Luke off at the airport, and went to our events. Orlando was pretty average except for some beautiful sunsets. We were in a large Spanish speaking community, so Troy and I had a blast brushing up on some of our terminology. We did have one random guy walk up to us and just give us two free park hopper passes to Disney World, which was incredible. Shout out to that guy. We worked with our boss to reschedule one of our off days so we could go!

Disney was so fun. We were able to hit up animal kingdom, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom all in one day. Troy and I made it to all the major rides in each park. Epcot was having the food and wine festival, so we also spent a few hours there walking around and trying all the different foods from the countries. We finished the day watching the firework and light show at the castle, and I cried a little because I forgot how great Disney is.

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The next day we headed to Dothan, AL (National Peanut Capital). We LOVED our events in Dothan. They were so excited to have us. Every store cooked out free hotdogs and every media outlet in the city came to talk to us. We made the front page of the newspaper, made it on the news twice, and Troy was broadcasted on the radio throughout the week. It was awesome. A man came and made me a free hotdog and wiener dog out of balloons. I had a small child draw me a picture and another one give me the biggest hug ever. Troy and I got completely attacked at a Fazoli’s after dinner. So yea, it was a pretty good week.

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The only downside was Dothan hotels did NOT come down on their prices at all… so Troy and I had to stay in an Econo lodge. It was fine, but we both agreed to never do that again (*shivers*).

Post Dothan, Troy and I drove to Tallahassee and flew out for FALL STAFF in the morning!!! Ah yay! Fall staff is when all the hotdoggers come back from all their regions and we roll out our fall marketing plan. Its also filled with crazy fun activities, challenges, and friend time.

Mikayla, my best friend on the team, had the same layover and flight as me so we got extra time together. I was so happy to see her <3. We got to the hotel and waited for people to trickle in from their areas of the country. All of us had a bunch of loose ends to tie up. Luke and I went to the University of Madison and got dinner with his family. I got to see the campus more and spend time with the Pitzos. It was a party 🙂 They are such a fun and goofy group of people. Later that night I sent in my vet school application officially, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

The next day was largely business. Each team presented a summer marketing idea for next year (Troy and I rolled out Wienermolympics… from lighting the torch to lighting the grill, Oscar Mayer is on your team). We discussed challenges and future progress with the brand and marketing teams, as well as got a look into what was expected of us over the next three months and how the job might change a little. We also got our winter gear (keep me away from the snow for as long as possible, please).

That night we all went out to dinner with our bosses and then sat around and waited for the planters peanuts to get to the hotel. If you don’t already know, we do a lot of our training with the guys and gals who drive the planters nutmobile. They are amazing. They finally got there and we had a huge reunion.

The next day was more business followed by a trip out to a park where we had the fall staff games. I don’t know if you’ve heard of sixty second games, but thats what we played (google it if you haven’t). We split up into teams and had a big competition. Our bosses participated, because they are the best. It was such a goofy afternoon with a gorgeous view of the mountains and a lake. When we finished the competition, the dogs and our bosses went out to a picnic table and we played the newly wed game. Each partner pair had to answer questions about their partner and whoever got the most right won. It was pretty hysterical and also creepy at times to see how well Troy and I know each other. We are basically a married couple, except we work together and are isolated from other people our age. So I’d say we are a married couple on steroids.

That night we all drove to Kalahari, a waterpark in Wisconsin. We spent the next day there just enjoying the waterslides and a day off with our friends (there were also one on one meetings regarding our performance going on between us and our bosses, but it was only 30 minutes each). Time with the dogs and nuts is always appreciated because no body gets our job but us. We all have a certain respect and understanding for what we do, because while it is a dream job, it can be hard emotionally sometimes. Isolation isn’t always easy.

The next day most teams left in the morning, but me, Troy, Mikayla, Luke, Amanda, and Alex had until the evening to enjoy each others’ company. We got lunch at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and had a spotted cow out on the terrace. Because of the flooding in Houston, a lot of planes were delayed including ours. So Troy and I dropped everyone else off at the airport, while we stayed in Madison another night. Luckily, we were able to crash with Luke’s friend Johnny until 3:50 A.M. when we headed out to return the rental car and make our flight.

After a full day of traveling, we finally arrived back in Tallahassee. Where we enjoyed two pretty uneventful work days. Our hotel had a lake and fishing gear, so that was a plus. Come Monday, we headed back to Charlotte, NC to finally pick up our Wienermobile. Well, wouldn’t you know it! The breaks in Oscar 6 gave out along the way, so we sat in the boonies for 3 hours and waited for a tow truck. When we finally made it to the Penske to switch out the Wienermobiles at around 10 P.M. we walked back and the door was still broken on the Wiene. Now we had two Wienermobiles and two hotdoggers with thin patience, but we kept our cool.

We stayed another night in Charlotte. By mid afternoon the next day, the door was fixed. So we went to go pick up our Wienermobile. We switched all the event supplies and luggage into her and were about to head out when we realized she wouldn’t start…. originally we thought it was the battery. Penske was able to get her running so we headed out and began our drive to Knoxville.

About three hours in, I pull over to get gas. When I go to turn the Wienermobile back on, nothing. People try to jump start us. Nothing. Finally, a guy from the gas station comes out and tells us our starter is fried so the motor can’t turn over. Troy and I call Penske SOS and they send Tracy out to save us, and after several hours and him finding and installing a new starter, the Wiene is finally up and running. Not all heroes wear capes.

Our time at the gas station was a blast though. I played football with a random man for 30 minutes, Troy basically held an event for the town, I sang karaoke on the side of the road, and a nice man ordered us some pizza on him. So even though we were broken down, it was still a good day. The only big bummer was I had my friend Jake Campbell coming to visit, so plans fell through.

Later, we finally make it to our hotel in Knoxville and realize the Wienermobile won’t lock because of what they did to the door. So basically we got more maintenance done and I think now, after 4 consecutive days of different Penskes we finally have a fully functional Wienermobile. But I think I’ll talk more about my time in Knoxville in my next post and leave it here for now.

Hopefully the month of maintenance is finally over and we can continue about our days.

But per usual, franks for coming to ketchup with me,
Hot Diggity Dot

And if you’re wondering, here is my schedule for the next few weeks:

• Sept 30th – Oct 7: Atlanta, GA (hello :))
• Oct 7 – Oct 14: St. Louis, MI
• Oct 14 -Oct 21: Atlanta, GA (hello again)
• Oct 21 – Oct 22: Mooresville, NC
• Oct 22 – Oct 28: Goldsboro, NC
• Oct 28 – Nov 4: Gainesville, FL

Also here are some of our media hits if you are interested and want to check them out:

• Dothan News: https://www.wtvy.com/content/news/Come-one-come-allcatch-the-Wienermobile-560171831.html
• Dothan Front Page Article: https://www.dothaneagle.com/news/business/oscar-mayer-wienermobile-begins–day-visit-to-dothan-area/article_35f6a8d6-d589-11e9-9ace-8ffb926f3221.html

Also Mikayla took this picture and I thought it was cool…. so enjoy that too:

and heres an entertaining photo of Troy

Thats all 🙂

What is an Ice Dog? Is it good? Why were you in NYC as the Southeast team? IM CONFUSED! All the answers are in this blog post, so read on!

These past few weeks have been absolutely insane. Troy and I haven’t stopped moving and are just finally settling back down into a routine (thank goodness!). So lets pick up where we left off, shall we?

I was leaving Greenville for Charleston when I last updated this blog. Boy does that seem like forever ago. Charleston was a blast! We had one off day in the city which we spent exploring the Charleston city market and learning about the USS Yorktown. The USS Yorktown was such a good experience. Troy and I got to run around through the whole ship, learn about what life was like during the war, re-experience the landing of Apollo 8, and listen to the stories of Medal of Honor recipients. We even got to spend time walking around a reconstruction of a Vietnam War camp. The entire exhibit was so educational and entertaining.

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The day after our off day was my birthday 🙂 I was expecting to be a little sad all day because I was away from friends and family, but this was not the case. At midnight I had friends calling me, sending me videos, and making me feel loved. I woke up in the morning to a bouquet of balloons at the front desk from papa sprat and a package and letters from my friends. The rest of the day was great as well. An ice cream truck showed up at our event, Troy took me out to an amazing rooftop dinner downtown, and then we came back and ate cookie dough and watched The Illusionist. It was a birthday for the record books and I’m so thankful to all my friends and family for making me feel so loved from so far away. A couple of my friends also sent Troy on missions to buy things for me, so extra props to Troy for being a little errand boy for them 🙂

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After Charleston we headed to Winston Salem for several days. I cherished this time because the whole week the one and only Mary Kate Frey came to stay in my hotel with me. It just so worked out that her apartment wasn’t ready for move in and I was craving some one on one girl time. We had a very fun few nights! Night 1 we went out for a late birthday dinner, night 2 was axe throwing and Mexican food, night 3 I cooked dinner for MK and Troy, night 4 we had a total girls night veg out and eat junk food and cookie dough and anything else we can get our hands on while watching a chick flick night. So one might say it was a pretty great week 🙂

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During our time in Winston Salem, Troy and I also spent some time exploring Wake Forest, which allowed me to get to see my O-staff partner and friend Patrick MacDonald. AND we got our ICE DOG UNIFORMS!!! And now we get to the good stuff… 

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So, Oscar Mayer came up with this crazy idea that they wanted to revolutionize the better Oscar Mayer Dog and turn it into something else entirely! Thus… the creation of the temporary ice dog sandwich! Now what is an ice dog sandwich? Well, glad you asked! Its two shortbread type cookies put together with ice cream in the middle. Now this isn’t just any ice cream… its hot dog themed ice cream: Half of the ice dog sandwich has mustard flavored ice cream and the other half has candied hot dogs in a cream ice cream. 

Once Oscar Mayer came up with this idea, they had to debut it in a grand way. And what better city to do a grand debut in than NEW YORK CITY! They found an ice cream shop in NYC that would create this ice cream and now they just needed to figure out a way to make the debut special. Well, the Wienermobile is pretty dang special, so it absolutely has to be involved in the debut…. but… this isn’t just any old ice cream. THIS IS HOT DOG ICE CREAM. Its different. Its new. Its creative. So the Wienermobile delivering it can’t just be any old Wienermobile. And if the Wienermobile isn’t just any old Wienermobile, than the hotdoggers can’t just be any old hotdogger. Are you catching my drift here? 

And so, Oscar Mayer created the very first Ice Dog Sandwichmobile and re-outfitted their Hotdoggers into Ice Doggers. Now, we have something special. But there was one last problem. The Ice Dog Sandwichmobile was created down in Mooresville, North Carolina, and Mooresville, North Carolina is exactly 621 miles away from the heart of New York City. Well…. we send our new southeast Ice Doggers who are already near Mooresville, NC on a crazy 621 mile adventure up to New York City. Boom. Now we have a plan.

So now Troy and I come in. We get the call. We are going to New York City in the Ice Dog Sandwichmobile. Its happening. So we take our Wienermobile and switch it out for the Ice Dog Sandwichmobile after our event and hit the road around 6:00 P.M.. We decide to drive as far as we can and then stop around midnight in Richmond, VA to sleep. 

Our brand team realized how many cool cities we would be passing through and decided they wanted us to stop wherever we could and record our adventures up the east coast. Well, Troy and I never like to disappoint, so challenge accepted. We woke up at 5:30 A.M. the next day and hit the road to maximize adventuring. 

Four major cities in one day. Thats what we decided to do. After getting coffee at dunkin donuts we started our trek. The first city we hit was our nation’s capital, Washington D.C.! We passed so many cool things: Quantico, the Pentagon, memorials galore. However, we had to pick out the highlights for the brand team, so we chose to stop at the Washington Monument with the Ice Dog Sandwichmobile. We had a good amount of people taking pictures and asking questions about the new mobile, but we were on a tight schedule. We got the content we needed, answered the questions we could, and we were off to Baltimore!

Baltimore was all about the views. It had a beautiful cityscape and Troy and I took advantage of it. We also found a fun wall that said “O Say Can You See” on it, so we capitalized on that as well. And then (this becomes a theme over the next few days…) we were off!

Next on the docket, Philly! Here we stopped to see the city hall and the Liberty Bell! Troy and I got a little frustrated in Philly because everyone kept cutting us off and then trying to take pictures. We were like “Um… you can’t be rude and then get a picture” but of course, we still smiled and let them take pictures because thats the job. And then….. WE WERE OFF!

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Finally, we could see the city in the distance. The Empire State Building and One World Trade Center stood tall calling out to our tired, burning, exhausted bodies (did I mention the Ice Dog Sandwichmobile did not have AC). We trucked on… now it was time for the ultimate challenge: Driving in New York City. 

To be fair, Troy and I did not have the take the Ice Dog Sandwichmobile into New York, but it was a bucket list item… I mean, how many people can say they drove the Wienermobile through Times Square, New York. Very few. So we decided to rely on each other and on our training and do it. The first challenge was getting into the city and the Lincoln Tunnel. During Hot Dog High, they actually construct a fake Lincoln Tunnel for us to practice in. That was definitely appreciated. We had to take it slow, but we made it through. Then we were on the streets of New York. People ran in front of us, cars came out of no where, police officers tried to have full blown conversations with us in the middle of intersections, but we eventually made it to Times Square. We took pictures, we celebrated, we switched drivers, and we got the heck out as fast as we could.

That night Troy and I met our friends for dinner in the city (my college roommate and his friend work together, and drove down to see us. My other roommate just got a job WITH LOREAL in the city too!) We got to spend time with them and catch up which is always nice and then Troy and I went to explore Times Square and get drinks with another one of my college friends who was in New York for business. It was a great first night in the city and the moment we got back to our rooms we crashed. 

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The next day was an off day in New York, so naturally, Troy and I did everything. I will just list our stops, because its too much to get into: 911 memorial and One World Trade center, Oculus, St. Paul’s Chapel, Trinity Church and Alexander Hamilton’s grave, Wall Street and the stock market, Federal Hall (the first capital and where Washington was sworn in), City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, Chelsea Market, Central Park, The Ritz, Grand Central Station (or my aunt’s constipation), St. Patricks Cathedral, The New York Public Library, Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, and of course Cupcakes by Melissa (my favorite cupcakes ever). So yea, we hit a lot in a day.

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We ended the day in the city by going to the ice cream shop to try the Ice Dog Sandwich. Our verdict was that the candied hot dog half was good and the mustard half was not the best. Overall, not my favorite thing I’ve ever tasted, but I’m glad I at least got to try it. The rest of the night was special because we got to see Mitch and Carly (two other hotdoggers) and get dinner with them. They were taking over the Ice Dog Sandwichmobile from there. 

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In the morning, we flew out of New York and back down to the Southeast, specifically Charlotte, NC. We only stayed two nights in Charlotte, but our day there was pretty fun. We got to do a NASCAR parade and drive Ryan Newman (our Oscar Mayer 6 driver) around, and in the afternoon the branding team paid for us to go play putt putt so we could get content for national mini golf day! 

Then, in a blink of an eye, we were off to Marion, Illinois (there was a slight miscommunication, hence why we left our region again.). There is very little to do in Marion, Illinois, but after such a busy few days, Troy and I were very okay with that. I still have some highlights to hit though. The central zone is all about the Wienermobile. We had 2 three hour events every day and 400ish people showed up to every one of them. When we pulled up in the Wienermobile, they were waiting in line to see us and cheering. It was wild. Every grocery store cooked out for us and some even had games set up like ring toss and cornhole. It was so fun!

We also got to meet Hig and Missy in Marion! Hig is a Kraft employee and Missy is his wife. They invited us to their home and made us steak, bread, twice baked potatoes, and dessert. Missy took me out to me her horses, cats, and dog. I was in heaven. They were some of the nicest people I’ve met on the road so far. They begged us to just sit on their couch and rest up/enjoy being in a house. It was really appreciated. If Troy and I are lucky enough to return to southern Illinois, we know we have a home there. 

And now for the final stop before we are all caught up: Chattanooga (I apologize for how much I am squeezing into this one blog post. Seriously. Its overwhelming, I know. You didn’t sign up for reading a book tonight and I get that). My grandfather lives in Chattanooga and my mom grew up here, so being in Chattanooga is like being home to me. I love this city. Our first day here, we did Ruby Falls, Sunset Rock, and then headed over to our Hang Gliding Reservation. 

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Hang Gliding was easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. We were pulled up by a plane to 3,000 feet and then dropped. I got to fly the hang glider by myself and ate a hotdog at 3,000 feet too! We should be getting the footage from it soon, so watch Instagram for that! The views were absolutely incredible. The beauty of this area can really take your breath away sometimes. 

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The next day I visited my grandpa in the morning. He’s about to turn 95 but was still able to make it out to see the Wienermobile. It was a really special moment for me and I’m so happy I was able to bring it to see him. 

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Afterwards, I picked up Troy and we went to Rock City Gardens. Let me tell you, it never disappoints. The views, the nature, the gnomes… wowza. I used to go to Rock City a lot as a kid. I even went there for my birthday party one year, so it was fun to show Troy. 

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Another highlight of Chattanooga was going to dinner with my best friend’s aunt and uncle! They had taken my and Olivia (my best friend) to Amsterdam and Copenhagen as a graduation gift. They had a free night and offered to take Troy and me out to dinner. It was a blast to see them again and ketchup 🙂

The rest of our time in Chattanooga was pretty slow. Few people showed up at our events since we were about an hour outside the city, but I did get to see all of Caroline Daugherty’s (a best friend from highschool) family. They brought me cookies and socks, which was amazing. We also had one more off day on Monday. I spent the day by myself walking through the Tennessee Aquarium (freshwater and saltwater). It was really relaxing. I loves the fishies. 

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Troy and I also rode the incline up lookout mountain. No one else was on the incline, so it felt like a private ride 🙂 It was really awesome. Now we are packing up and getting ready to move on to another city! 

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My goal is to try and write a little more often in the hopes that the next entry is shorter. I’ve definitely got some surprises coming up this week, so stay tuned for that.

As always, thanks for coming to ketchup with me! 

Dot Diggity Dot

And if you’re wondering, here is my schedule for the next few weeks:

• Aug 27th – Sept 2nd: Darlington, SC (NASCAR here we come!)
• Sept 2nd – Sept 9th: Orlando, FL (yes… I am aware Dorian is a beast)
• Sept 9th – Sept 15th: Dothan, AL
• Sept 16th – Sept 20th: Madison, WI (FALL STAFF WOOHOO)
• Sept 20th – Sept 23rd: Tallahassee, FL
• Sept 23rd – Sept 30th: Knoxville, TN
• Sept 30th – Oct 7: Atlanta, GA (hello :))