Hotdogger Blog

Pittsburgh, PA was one of the last cities Torey Toppings and I visited together. We took a ride to the top of Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington on the Monongahlea Incline, which happens to be the tallest and steepest incline in the United States.

Later that night we drove a fearless B0L0GNA to the top Mount Washington to get the same view at night. Look at how bunderful the Pittsburgh skyline looks from this vantage point!

Hey Pittsburgh! Be sure to ketchup with the Wienermobile at the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday, March 13th.

As a member of the Midwest and East teams I’ve been lucky enough to visit seven of the eleven Big 10 universities (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Penn State, and Wisconsin), and have driven through the same cities as Purdue, Minnesota and Iowa. Here are some photos I’ve collected:

Chicago, IL is well known for their hot dogs and their skyscrapers. We saw the two of the tallest buildings in the windy city through BOLOGNA’s bunroof.

We were visited by the owners of two miniature ponies in Brandford, CT. The owner came to check out the Wienermobile, but her ponies were more interested in Torey Toppings’ giant bag of apples!

Torey Toppings and I hauled buns to Indianapolis, IN for the Future Farmers of American National Convention to join the Kraft Foods booth at the Agriculture Career Show. For three days we gave tours of the Wienermobile and spoke about what it was like to be a Hotdogger. Some of the students we met definitely have Hotdogger potential!

Navigating through the Indiana Convention Center was challenging, but Torey Toppings made it through without scratching our buns.

Students travel to the FFA's national convention from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands to compete in a variety of events and to learn about careers in agriculture. The blue corduroy jackets you see in the photo were addopted as the official jacket of the FFA in 1933.

Cheesasaurus Rex swung by to say hello. Have you ever had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese with Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs mixed in? It’s one of my all-time favorite meals!

Look at what was lurking in the parking lot of Miller and Son’s in Verona, Wisconsin… It’s the Sharkmobile! The creator made the Sharkmobile because he wanted to uniquely cover his van’s front mounted spare tire.

Torey Toppings and I visited the Iowa State Capitol building in Des Moines, Iowa. Upon arrival we were asked to empty our pockets by a security guard named Gordon.  After finding out that we are Hotdoggers, Gordon gave us a world-class tour of the capitol building, including a trip to the top of the building’s golden dome! After climbing nearly 300 steps we were greeted with a franktastic 360° view of Des Moines. Franks a lot to Gordon for the special tour!

Oscar Mayer, as you may know, is one of many bunderful Kraft Foods brands. Torey Toppings and I were able to visit some of our corporate brothers during our visit to the Kraft Foods Plant in Champaign, Illinois.

These Kraft Foods employees relished the opportunity to tour BOLOGNA during their lunch break.

After greeting the hard working folks who make the delicious food we know and love, we were given a tour. The Champaign plant produces an amazing 1.2 billion pounds of food every year! Some of the tasty products we saw being made included Kraft Singles, Velveeta, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and a variety of Kraft Salad Dressings, just to name a few. Franks a lot for the tour!

One fateful Friday we stumbled upon the cross-country Lunchables Lunch Combinations: Lunch Your Tummy Right Tour. The tour included several interactive stations where young and old could play. The station that caught my eye was a huge inflatable Lunchables wall. Believe it or not the wall was pretty hard to climb, even though it was only twice my height. Who knew giant pieces of cheese could be so slippery?!