Tate-yum, OUR DOG, and I have been able to make some franktastic stops the second half of the year in the Midwest.  One stop we really relished was in Chicago at the Better Boys Foundation.  We stopped by one afternoon for buns of fun with their After School Program.

The children of the Better Boys Foundation.

Just when we thought the day could not get any better, the Better Boys Foundation grilled Oscar Mayer hot dogs for all the children and Tate-yum and I.

It has almost been a year since Class 23 started its tour of the scenic krauts of America.  Soon, we will park our buns and Class 24 will take over the Wienermobile reigns.  I know that all of the Hotdoggers have found a way to keep in contact with their family while on the hot dog highways. Throughout the year my sister, Randi, a.k.a. Ran-Dog, and my mom, Super Dog Deb have found two ways to track my travels and stay in touch.

Ran-Dog, who is an elementary school teacher posted a “Where in the World is the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile?” with a map in her classroom.  After visiting each city I send her a postcard to commemorate my visit and let her know where I have been.

On the other hand, my mom, Super Dog Deb, has been able to ketchup with all of the Hotdoggers by printing out the blogs from Hotdoggerblog daily.

Here is a stack of some of the buns of blogs Super Dog Deb has printed out.

Every Memorial Day Weekend since 1982, Brat Fest takes place in Madison, WI.  Being from the east coast, Tate-yum and I were two lucky dogs who got to experience Brat Fest for the first time.

Super Dog Sam and Tate-yum at Brat Fest.

Brat Fest in Madison is the World’s Larget Brat Fest. Since 1982 when the event started they have sold over three million Brats.

Tate-yum and I could not get enough of the food at the festival and relished the opportunity to try new foods all weekend long.

Super Dog and Tate-yum having our first Brat Fest ear of corn.

Super Dog and Tate-yum relishing our first Brat Fest Brat.

Lucky for us we were even able to get our hands on an Oscar Mayer hot dog.

Upon graduating from college, my friends and I planned to take a summer baseball stadium road trip.  This was before I knew I would be a Class 23 Hotdogger and get to hit the hot dog highways in the Wienermobile.  I have relished the chance to make stops at baseball games and sporting venues throughout my two regions.  These are the five baseball stadiums I got to see games at this year.

Super Dog and Meep! Meep! at the Reds game in Cincinnati.

At the Pirates game in Pittsburgh.

At the Yankees playoff game in New York.

At the Cubs game in Chicago with Tate-yum and R-Dog Rachel.

At the Twins game in Minneapolis.

Hotdoggers spend one full year roaming the Hot Dog Highways of America. Many people ask ”Do you ever get to go home?”

Even though we spend our off days as professional tourists taking in all the great sights and bites our great country has to offer, we still get time to spend at home  with family and friends.

It was an easy decision for Meep! Meep! Maria, Nacho Cheese Nikita, Pepper Jackie Cheese, Diggity Dog Drea and Picklin’ Pat and I to hit the wiener waterways and go cruising on the blue seas. While en route to our departure city, Miami, I had a layover in Atlanta airport.

Even though it was before lunch time I still relished an Oscar Mayer hot dog at the Oscar Mayer Hot Dog Zone in the Atlanta airport.

The cruise was franktastic and I was happy to spend it with some fellow Hotdoggers.

Hotdoggers looking dapper at Formal Night on the cruise. (From Top left, clockwise: Picklin' Pat, Pepper Jackie Cheese, Super Dog Sam, Meep! Meep! Maria, Diggity Dog Drea, Nacho Cheese Nikita.)

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile may not haul buns, but when it comes to the Wiener dog aka Dachshund, it’s another story.  Tate-yum and I got to experience first hand how quickly the bun length dogs can move their little legs.  We visited the Cross Town Bark Around in Wheaton, IL where some dachshunds could only bark the bark while others raced to the wiener circle.

Dachshund's racing to the finish.

In the end every dog was still a wiener and had their chance to get a picture taken in a one of a kind Oscar Mayer Wienermobile pedal car.

Each year in June a new class of Hotdoggers hit the scenic krauts of America.  Similarly, each year at the end of March starts a new season of Major League Baseball.  Tate-yum and I stopped by the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.  At the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, we learned more about the history of the Louisville Slugger and had the chance to see how the bats for some of baseball’s top dogs are made.

Northern white ash and maple wood getting ready to be made into Louisville Sluggers.

We toured the factory where approximately one million northern white ash and maple wood bats are made each year.  We were lucky dogs to be in the factory at the right time as they were busy making bats for the Oakland A’s and the Cincinnati Reds for Opening Day.  We also got our hands on some Louisville Sluggers used by some of my favorite players of past and present.

Super Dog Sam and a Louisville Slugger used by the great Mickey Mantle.

Tate-yum with Derek Jeter's Louisville Slugger for Mother's Day.

There is even a Louisville Slugger made large enough for OUR DOG.  The Louisville Slugger outside the factory is almost 4.5 times taller than the Wienermobile at 120 feet high.

A Louisville Slugger made the perfect size for OUR DOG.

As baseball season approaches, what better to do than catch a game while enjoying an Oscar Mayer hot dog!

Life on the road as a Hotdogger involves many trips in and out of hotels going up and down many elevators.  The hotels are usually one, two, three, four or five stories high.  Not long ago, Tate-yum and I experienced an elevator ride that would take us much higher than any hotel elevator.  A stop off the hot dog highways had us in Chicago, IL, at the Willis Tower.  Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) stands at 1,730 feet high.  If you can imagine almost 158 Wienermobile vehicles stacked on top of each other, that is how high we were.

The view of the Willis Tower from LTL LINK's bunroof.

Tate-yum and I took the elevator 103 floors up to the Skydeck level.  I had never sausage a view of Chicago like the one from the Skydeck.  The view in every direction was franktastic.  We even dared to step out on to the glass box balconies on the Skydeck.  I have been skydiving before, but the rush of standing 1353 feet above the ground on a piece of glass is intense.

Super Dog Sam and Tate-yum suspended on the glass box ledge at the Skydeck.

Super Dog Sam and Tate-yum 1353 feet above the ground.

Frankly, we could not bring LTL LINK along for the ride, but we were able to get her in a top dog picturesque position in front of the Chicago skyline.

LTL LINK posing for her picture with Chicago.

I have been quite the lucky dog while traveling the hot dog highways of America.  I have taken the Wienermobile home to New Jersey and my Alma Mater, Penn State.  I have had the chance to bring the Wienermobile to many of my fellow Hotdoggers’ families.  And most recently I have brought the Wienermobile to my first half partner, Meep! Meep! Maria, and my second half partner, Tate-Yum, universities.

Whether it was recruiting at the University of Missouri or just stopping by at Ohio University, I got to see a little more of what my two top dog partner’s college days were like.

First stop was to the University of Missouri for recruiting.  Here is where Meep! Meep! Maria spent some of her days in her sorority house Alpha Delta Pi.

OUR DOG at Meep's Sorority house.

Next, en route to Columbus, Ohio, we made a quick stop to see Tate-Yum’s Ohio University.  Here is where she spent some of her days in the Alpha Omicron Pi house.

LTL LINK hanging with Tate-Yum's Sorority house.

As a Hotdoggers, we spend a full year on the hot dog highways of America.  We work five of the seven days each week, giving us two off days.  Some call us professional tourists.  Meep! Meep! Maria and I spent one of our last off days as the East Team in Mercerburg, Pennsylvania at the Whitetail Ski Resort.  I had never sausage a thing as the more experienced skier Meep! Meep! Maria had me eating her snow as she was skiing cirlces around me down the slopes.

WNR MBLE could not ride the lifts to the top of the mountain but still got close enough to the lodge and the mountain to get a peak.