Author: dtspratlin

Decided I should write a blog post tonight, because things are about to get crazy….
I’m not allowed to say anything, but Oscar Mayer has some big stuff in the works and Troy and I are lucky to be a part of it!

Until I can let you know, I’ll update you on what I can tell you 🙂

Let’s start with our week in Sarasota/Tampa. Troy and I were able to stay at what might be the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. I shed tears a little bit when we left. Not only were the rooms amazing, but there was a CPK just down the road. Anyone who truly knows me will know that I can’t pass a CPK without going in and ordering what I’ve ordered since the age of 5: one large mac n cheese and a chocolate milk. I may have grown up… but my taste buds have not!

There were so many high points in Tampa… gosh. First of all, I got to see my bride to be (NOW A MARRIED WOMAN) at my event, dinner, AND a homemade breakfast. Ladies and gents, there is no one out there like THE Rachel Goding. Excuse me…. THE Rachel Brown 🙂 This girl knows how to love people well and never fails to brighten your day with her relaxed attitude and glowing smile.

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For dinner we attempted, along with Emily Ritz, to win trivia night. We named ourselves the Wiener Women and fought gallantly until the end. While we got a few questions right, our Furman Advantage was no match for our competitors. But they all cheered us on as we left in the Wiene anyway.

Another highlight of Sarasota/Tampa was that I purchased rollerblades. Rollerblades have been the object of my desire for about 6 or 7 years now, and since I have a big girl salary now… I decided why not! I practiced, using the Wiene for support, in the hotel parking lot. An old man approached me and said, “Young woman!!! They don’t like you to touch that vehicle!”. To which I responded, “Thank you for your concern good sir, but this here vehicle belongs to me!”. That definitely caught him off guard 🙂

Events in Tampa were H.O.T. hot. The weather said “feels like 104” most days. And standing in an asphalt parking lot doesn’t help that estimate either. However, Troy and I made the best of it and tried to enjoy the gallons of sweat rolling down our bodies. We made friends with the kraft reps Cam and Ryan who were awesome and we ate lots of the new McDonalds slushies.

I really only have 2 other highlights for Tampa. The first was a Margaritaville party we attended in the Wiene. A previous Kraft employee asked us to bring it by for his neighbors pool opening party and we happily obliged. They really went all out. Everyone had parrot heads, cheese burgers in paradise, margaritas, and they were living on sponge cake. A true Jimmy Buffet tribute. They were so welcoming to us and begged us to come back in the winter for their Christmas parade. We hope we will be back.

My second and last Tampa highlight is this building that decided to decorate itself with a bloody bandaid. I could not stop laughing at this and, honestly, am still laughing… please enjoy.

After Tampa, we trekked back up to South Carolina and were able to stay at my beach house with my family. A dream come true. To top it off, little baby Genevieve (fondly known as GK) was there to be my snuggle buddy as well as Ray! Troy and I got to enjoy being on the beach, and I got to enjoy family time and feeling a sense of “home”… which is always appreciated in a job where your traveling constantly. Plus, its right around the time of my birthday, my mom’s birthday, and my siblings birthdays, so being able to celebrate with them was incredible. Unless you were Troy, who had to put up with all our craziness all week.

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Friday, I left for bachelorette weekend at my lake house! And to celebrate my lovely Rachel who I mentioned above. A full weekend out on a boat with friends is already a dream, but getting to give Rachel her dream bachelorette party put a cherry on top of the whole experience. Also shout out to my dad for being a super low key supervisor and for putting up with a bunch of screaming girls. There truly is no nation stronger than the #kevination. And lets hope that next time I leave Troy for a weekend he can be a little less bitter :p

Driving from Myrtle Beach to Greenville, we passed through Columbia, South Carolina. I was able to stop by a previous hotdogger’s house for a quick hello. But it wasn’t just any hotdogger! It was LUCY! The hotdogger who first inspired me when I was 6 to apply for this job. Bringing the Wienermobile to her home and watching how excited she and her kids were was a dream. I’m so thankful for Lucy and all she has done to inspire those around her and support them in their dreams. I wouldn’t be having this incredible experience if it was not for her.

My last location I have to talk about is GREENVILLE! Home of the Dins baby! So many highlights here… fondue with my sorority fam, bringing the Wiene to Furman, dinner downtown with Troy, breakfast with Olivia White, TV interviews, and THE WEDDING!

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This week was a little crazy thanks to our media hit! Troy and I were able to do an interview with WYFF 4 in Greenville! If you want to watch it, click right here:

https://www.wyff4.com/article/oscar-mayer-wienermobile-driver-called-dream-job-by-furman-grad/28496455

This media hit garnered a lot of attention, and I got “HEY! Thats the Furman girl from the news!” yelled at me a lot. We also had a pretty crazy Uber experience. Troy and I were heading to dinner “incognito” style one night and our Uber driver was asking if we had seen downtown before. I informed him that I attended Furman and was familiar. He responded by saying, “NO WAY! You’ll never believe it actually. There is a girl who went to Furman and now she is driving THE Wienermobile! It was on the news and she is actually in town right now!” After accepting the loss of my incognitoness, I admitted it was me to which he was referring… and boy was he excited.

Lastly, because I don’t want to drone on for too long, I want to talk about the wedding! I was lucky enough to be asked to stand with Rachel on her wedding day as her bridesmaid. The service was beautiful and the bride even more so. Rachel and Jamison actually used the Wiene as their get away car from the church to the reception (thanks to Chauffeur Tailgate Troy). Seeing so many friends at the reception was incredible, but seeing the love that Rachel and Jamison have for each other was the best. I’m telling you, you don’t know true love until you watch the way these two look at each other. I get teary just thinking about it. If you guys are reading this, my best wishes are with you. I love you both so much and think you deserve all the happiness in the world. Congrats!

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So now you’re caught up on the life of Hot Diggity Dot. Do stay tuned because I’m serious about the exciting stuff coming up. I can’t say much, but I will tell you Troy and I spent all yesterday driving to retrieve another Wienermobile. Hmmm ponder what you think it might be 🙂

Thanks for coming to Ketchup with me!

Hot Diggity Dot

P.S. My schedule has gone wacko…. but these are the cities I’ll be in over the next few weeks.

• July 30 – August 2: Charleston, SC
• August 2 – August 4: Lexington, SC
• August 4 – August 6: Charlotte, NC
• August 6 – August 10: Clemmons, NC
• August 10 – August 11: Charlotte, NC
• August 11 – August 13: New York, New York (told you big things were happening)
• August 13 – August 15: Charlotte, NC
• August 15 – August 19: Marion, IL (and here you thought I was the southeast team)
• August 19 – August 27: Cleveland, TN
• August 27 – September 2: Darlington, SC (vroom vroom)

P.P.S. If anyone feels the need to discuss the bachelorette, I’m watching the season finale part 1 tonight and part 2 tomorrow night. So hmu if you need to vent.

Two weeks, three cities to cover… lets do it.

Ah Memphis, home of the blues. Memphis was a less eventful week, but good nonetheless. Troy and I did have a grand old time exploring Beale street one night. We got some good dinner, stayed to watch the crowds roll in, and then left before things got too rowdy. Beyond that, Memphis was a time for laundry, calling friends, and down time. We also had a lot of social media assignments to film and send over to Oscar Mayer for the fourth as well as some other fun dates coming up. If you don’t already, make sure you follow @oscarmayer on Instagram to see all the good content we are rolling out.

While in Memphis, Troy and I also got to do something pretty rare. We met up with another team of hotdoggers!!! Woohoo! Amanda and Luke, the west coast team, just happened to be dashing through Nashville on their way to the wild wild west. Both teams were able to snatch a rental car and meet in the middle at Natchez Trace State Park. We enjoyed a day of hiking, swimming, and chatting with someone who was not our partner (love you Troy <3). It was a much needed reunion. I also ran into two Furman Chi O’s while in Memphis, which was also a short, but sweet reunion.

Next we headed to Concord, North Carolina from Memphis. This ended up being our longest drive day yet. With lunch, dinner, and gas, the whole trip took around 14-15 hours. However, we got to stop at Hattie B’s in Nashville for some great fried chicken and drive through the smokies. So not half bad!

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Concord was a quick visit because it had been added suddenly to our schedule. We really only had one full day in the area. Troy and I spend that day at the National Whitewater Center. We went whitewater rafting, rock climbing, ziplining, and free solo climbing over water. Basically this place was the disney world of outdoor activities. We secured ourselves a pass that let us do everything and then spent the day doing as much as we could. We both agreed that it was one of our favorite off days.

The next morning I spent getting breakfast with my little, Lauren! She provided me some much needed girl one on one time. It was nice to hang out with someone I knew before all the wiene adventures. We got pancakes, and I gave her a tour around the wiene. After, Troy and I headed to our Roush Fenway Racing family day! The pit crews of the teams grilled out and brought their families. Of course the Wienermobile had to be there for photo opps! Troy and I had a blast being there, plus the event was inside so we got to stand in the air conditioning!!! AH YES! Driving the wiene indoors was pretty cool too.

Now onto Atlanta! That day, after our event, we hopped in the wiene and headed on down to my hometown, ATL! On the way, a family wrote a sign saying “please pull over for pictures?” and pressed it against their passenger seat window. That kind of dedication deserves a response, so of course we pulled over. The family was incredible and Troy and I clicked with them instantly. They too were headed to Atlanta, so we agreed to grab dinner a few nights later. Dinner was a ball. One of the boys made me an origami butterfly out of a dollar bill and the dinner ended with a wiene dance party. What could be better? Lesson is: when strangers ask you to pull over on the interstate, do so and then invite them to dinner.

Another interesting ride story was in the hotel parking lot. I was running up to the Wiene to go meet my family for dinner and there was a pretty ill looking man standing outside of it. He told me he had just had a liver transplant and hadn’t gotten out of bed until today. He said when he saw the Wienermobile outside his window he had to go out to see it. He showed me all his scars and staples to prove a point, which was special… I then begged him to let me drive him back from the parking lot to the hotel. I wasn’t going to have him walking that much a week after a transplant! Its crazy the things the Wiene inspires people to do and feel. He told me I had made his life. Thats right. His life. And then headed back inside hopefully to get some rest.

The day after we arrived in Atlanta was the fourth of July! Troy and I were so honored to be part of the Dunwoody 4th of July parade. We even won the commercial vehicle category (guess what? we were the only commercial vehicle haha)! The best part of the parade was having my family and friends come and support me. My family followed me from the start of the parade to the very end. My friends did the same thing. Some of them even ran the Peachtree road race that morning and then booked it over to come support me. I love my friends more than anything in the world, so to have them show up for something that meant so much to me was everything. I could gush about them for days, but they know how great they are, everyone who knows them knows how great they are, and everyone who doesn’t…. you’re missing out.

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The rest of our time in Atlanta was pretty normal (well as normal as things can get when you drive the Wienermobile.) Troy and I worked several grocery store events that were not super highly attended. So nothing too crazy. My mom and dad came to one of our events which was a blast and so did my grand big Kelley! She came and spent the night in my hotel with me afterward. She is always a hoot and filled with that owl wisdom.

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Beyond that, I was able to spend more time with friends and gave some rides to my extended family. When you have a job like mine, you hold onto any moments you can get with the people you love. Traveling all the time isn’t going to be easy, but having such a strong and loving support system makes it possible and enjoyable. Now, I’ve moved onto Tampa, Florida… but you’re just going to have to wait to hear about that until next time 🙂

Oh also, they’ve officially launched the Hotdogger Class of 32. So click here to check it out: https://www.omwienermobile.com/meatthehotdoggers.html
and if you want to read about some of our media hits click these links:
https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/entertainment/dining/2019/06/28/oscar-mayer-wienermobile-memphis-southaven/1591392001/

https://krcgtv.com/news/local/local-grocery-store-fundraises-for-tornado-relief

Thanks for coming to ketchup with me!

Hot Diggity Dot

P.S. Enjoy this amazing photo of Troy 🙂

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!

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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 🙂