As a 27′ long hot dog on wheels you frankly might expect the Wienermobile to look jumbo-sized from any angle. This weekend in St. Louis Deli Eliot and I discovered that it actually can look like a cocktail wienie at times, especially from the top of the Gateway Arch.

While the Wienermobile looked tiny, it still drew a big crowd. We watched from the top of the arch as crowds gathered to get their picture with two American icons at once! I’ll never get full of taking the Wienermobile to tourist attractions and have relished all the photo ops along the road as a Hotdogger!

Once a week Hotodggers pack their bags and haul buns to a new city in the Wienermobile. Drives can be anywhere from an hour to eight hours, depending on if you take the scenic-kraut or not. On those long drives you find out some fun facts about your teammate that probably wouldn’t come out over an everyday hot dog dinner.

1. That your partner has the complete musical soundtrack of every Disney movie made in the last 20 years… and knows all the words.

2. Just how awkward they were back in high school. (Those stories can last the entire drive across Iowa.)

3. That your teammate has a knack for I Spy and that they take the game VERY seriously.

4. Their answer to any given “would you rather” situation. Would you rather never do laundry or never brush your teeth?

5. Who their first crush was and every love interest since, including celebrities.

Good-bye West Coast, Hello Midwest Coast.

Recently we made the big switcheroo! Halfway through the year, Hotdoggers change regions and partners. Before I introduce my new co-pilot, I’ve got to say good-bye to my BFF and co-corndog Abe.

We spent seven incredible months galavanting across the country, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Grand Canyon.

He indulged me in all those scenic-kraut stops at National Landmarks. This guy put up with the corndog that I am. He laughed at my jokes, laughed at my klutziness, and mostly just spent a lot of time laughing at me in general. But I love him.

We finished up our time in the Southwest with a five day cross-country drive from San Francisco, down to San Diego, and up to Madison. Back at Hot Dog Headquarters Abe and I said our good-byes….

Now allow me to introduce my new teammate – Deli Eliot.

He spent the first six months in the Southeast, so we’re going to both have to get used to being chili dogs in the Midwest and try not to freeze our buns off!

Abe-the-Ham and I recently whipped up our own Hollywood magic in the Southwest region. We were called upon to drive the Wienermobile for one of the new Oscar Mayer commercials, to air online in 2013.

I never sausage a thing as dog gone cool as the commercial filming process.

Frankly, while we won’t be starring in the spot, we will always know who was behind the bun when it was being filmed!

While Hotdoggers frankly spend quite a bit of time writing press releases and pitching media, occasionally we get to author something a little bit outside the bun. This week I cooked up a special children’s book for story time at the local library in Albuquerque, NM. Hot off the grill, here is a reading of The Adventures of LTL LINK.

There is no question about just how cool Hotdogger apparel is. Remember those swag flat brim hats? Believe it or not, our outfits weren’t always quite as stylish. Recently the big dogs at hot dog headquarters found an old stash of jumbo-sized Wienermobile turtlenecks from the ’90s, perfect for a Tacky Turtleneck Contest!

The first annual competition produced some real wieners!

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The Hotdoggers all had some franktastics creations, from a googlie-eyes and argyle look cooked up by Beefelicious Ben,

to stunning creations by Lotsa Ketchup Lisa and Anggie Dogg, worthy of fashion week.

Over the last five months on the hot dog highways the Southwest Wienermobile team has taken this national treasure to several national parks. Seeing America the bunderful from the cockpit of a 27-foot-long hot dog has been something to relish in.

One of the first parks we braked at was Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.

We also cruised over to Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona. Abe-the-Ham and I made sure to stay on the scenic drive though. We didn’t want to accidentally hit a cactus with OSCRMYR and become a prickly pork sausage!

On our drive haulin’ buns to Lubbock, Texas we made a pit stop at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The largest gypsum dune in the world, seeing the White Sands in the middle of the New Mexico desert was as surprising as seeing a wienie-on-wheels cruising through the park!

The 27-foot-long hot dog isn’t the only dog on the road spreading miles of smiles. At Bark in the Park, a dog-gone wild festival for man’s best friend in Lancaster, CA, the Southwest team met a handful of therapy dogs from the High Desert Obedience Club.

Therapy dogs travel to area hospitals and senior homes, bringing the joy of pet to those who aren’t currently able to have their own.

Residents walk, cuddle, and play with these furry friends for a few hours each week. Looks like these two pups are begging for a hot dog.

This month Hotdoggers hauled buns back to Madison, WI for our fall staff meating where the team picked up some new apparel that was hot off the grill.

To celebrate a successful summer, the team was issued some pretty franktastic flat-brim hats.

Then to gear up for colder weather we picked up our winter coats – no one wants to be a chilly dog!

Down in the Southwest we might get more use out of our flat-brims, but you can bet we are still relishing all the new swag!

At the beginning of the summer I wrote about how Abe-the-Ham and I were off and running on our adventures across the Southwest. Since starting, we’ve been hauling our buns from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains.

Our first day on the job we went for a bunderful beachside jog in Santa Barbara, CA.

In Boise, ID we signed up for a mud run.

Five miles and countless obstacles later, we were certainly some dirty dogs at the end!

If you see us running, try to ketchup!