Hotdogger Blog

As Hotdoggers, some of our favorite memories in our year-long stint with the Wienermobile vehicles come on drive days, making it from one city to another. None of us can imagine what the ‘Doggers from the 80s and 90s did without Global Positioning Systems. Reading maps? Who does that in 2010? Not Dijon John, and certainly not MmmK.

While driving from Central Connecticut to Upstate New York, BOLOGNA’s GPS was showing us four different states at once: Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. I had never seen such a thing!

I-90 West taking us through Massachusetts, with many states close by!

I’ll give you one chance to guess where the world’s longest congo line took place. Stumped? The answer is Little Havana in Miami, Fl., back in 1988 during the annual Calle Ocho celebration.

In 1977, Miami was looking for a way to unite the different ethnic communities of the city. The solution was to create a block party that would showcase hundreds of street vendors and dozens of live bands. Calle Ocho was born.

Twenty-three years later, Torey Toppings and I find ourselves thrown in the middle of a celebration that attracts over one million people every year. We couldn’t wait!

Tradition has it that Calle Ocho attendees wear clothing and flags that represent their heritage.

After having parked the Wienermobile next to the Kraft booth that would be handing out free samples of Kool Aid and Ritz crackers, to name a few, we decided to hit the street and explore this cultural quilt. What we found was a mouth-watering display of foods like arepas, which consists of a melted slab of mozzerella nestled between two corn cakes, and tamales, a traditional Latin American dish.

I’m pretty sure our eyes were bigger than our stomachs but it didn’t prevent us from spreading smiles atop the Wienermobile and passing out a few Wiener Whistles.

Torey Toppings spreading the Wienermobile love at the Kraft booth.

While in Mcallen, TX we attended Border Fest with WEENR and had a franktastic time!  This year’s theme was Australia and we met plenty of Aussies who became big fans of the Wienermobile.  Its good to know that from coast to coast (and country to country) everyone appreciates our Bun of Fun!

Don’t get me wrong I love having the job tittle of Hotdogger, but Frankfurt Queen has a nice ring to it!

We are often asked where the Wienermobile is going next and how to find out where we’ll be. Well, you’re in the right spot so far! Make sure to check out our nifty map to see where any of the six Wienermobile vehicles was throughout the country. The Wienermobile goes to a lot of grocery stores, fairs, festivals and parades throughout the country. So you could also check your grocery store for this sign to see if the Wienermobile will be there soon:

We hope to “ketchup” with you soon!

This is so cool.  I didn’t even know that it existed.  I’m talking about the Wienermobile parking sign. It is franktastic and bunderful. It adds a lot of fun to every event.  As soon as we put the Wienermobile parking sign up, people asks us were they could get one or if we sell them.  But it just exclusive for the Wienermobile! 

Our first event in the Los Angeles area was called “Feria del Mercado y de la Salud” For about five hours, people of all ages got samples of Oscar Mayer hot dogs and other products.  There were many raffles with Kraft Foods products as prizes.  People were able to have a fun times and even get a free health exam at the event. We are always happy to  participate in such a family event!

Since I started Hotdogging, I’ve visited a handful of esteemed universities across the nation.  I quite enjoy being surrounded by college traditions and scholarly individuals.  The academia and erudite environment oftentimes reminds me of my college days that I reminisce about from time to time.

Check out some of the iconic buildings and landmarks I’ve come across at different schools:

Golden Dome at Notre Dame. Oh, IRISH I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener.

Doggone Columns at Mizzou

Bunderful Boise State Smurf Turf

Top Dog Tower at the University of Texas.

In addition to visiting all of these schools, I’ve started a substantial wardrobe collection to commemorate my cross-country campus crawl.  One might assume that scholarly university alumni such as myself wear sweater vests, sports coats and loafers, which I do.  However, I figured collecting college t-shirts would be a more efficient packing strategy for my travels and on-the-go Hotdogger lifestyle.

The colorful contents of my suitcase.

Dijon John and I hadn’t been in Lake Placid for more than two hours before we had placed our buns on the back of a snowmobile. If you have visited BOLOGNA and the Northeast Team in the past few months, you have probably heard one of us say the Wienermobile is “like a sled dog,” and we get “many smiles per gallon.” This couldn’t be closer to the truth while we both enjoyed our very first ride on the back of two snowmobiles in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. To say we were “hauling buns” may be an understatement.

Loving the mountains from the eyes of a sled dog!

Unlike the Wienermobile, there wasn't a GPS telling us where to go, so we used these signs on the trail to navigate our way through the mountains.

While stopping at an Albertson’s grocery store in Las Vegas, we were visited by Vincent – a fan of hot rods and hot dogs! He pulled up his tricked-out ride next to our Lambor-wienie for a great photo-op:

Franks for coming to hang out with us!