Surprise Wienermobile

My family and I spent the past several days in Syracuse, NY visiting my wife’s sister.  We did a lot of fun and exciting things.  We went to an amazing science museum, hiked around a lake, found some spectacular restaurants, and toured the zoo.  But none of these things could compare to the surprising excitement that was had when we turned the corner and saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

I had seen it before, you know, driving around.  It spends its time touring the country, zooming back and forth from coast to coast, visiting people, creating joy, and distributing free hot dogs.  But I have never been privileged enough to see it up close and personal at one of its many stops.  Right away I knew that the day had just gotten a little more epic.

My kids loved the wienermobile, although I don’t know if they appreciated it the way that we adults did.  For them, not knowing the song, or even of the car’s prior existence, it was just a car shaped like a giant hot dog, and that was reason enough to jump up and down laughing.  For those of us in our thirties, it meant something deeper.  A true piece of Americana had just parked outside of our supermarket on Fourth of July weekend.  It was clearly fate, and I had to get inside of it.

The actual inside of the car was roped off, but as long as I had one toe outside of the rope I felt justified in poking the rest of my body into the vehicular processed meat.  Inside the wiener were some attractive and comfortable looking red and yellow seats, although I was a little disappointed  that they were not shaped like big cushy wieners themselves.  Regardless, it looked nice in there, and I could easily see myself traveling the country in one of these babies.  Note to self: for next road trip, purchase wienermobile.

Unfortunately I had just eaten tons and tons of food, so I was not able to cram any more free wieners into my throat, but I did get a bunch of stickers and postcards and stuff, and, more importantly, I think we got a great Christmas card photo.

So the next time you see this distinctive car driving through your town, follow it until it stops.  You will get free food.