Wienermobile Hits Town and Kids Say "Hot Dog!"

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile---all 27 feet of it---sailed into the parking lot of the Hy-Vee Food Store at 2351 West Locust St. in Davenport, Iowa, at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 9^th.

Along with the big Wiener was a smaller Hot Dog, built on a 15-foot Mini Cooper frame. The smaller vehicle gets about 25 to 30 miles per gallon, and is only two months old. The large Wienermobile gets only 10 to 15 miles per gallon, and, at current gas prices of $3.57 on Thursday, it will cost $115 to fill up its 32.1-gallon tank.

The three-man/woman team in charge of the Wienermobiles was Stephanie Geidel, a native of the state of New York who graduated from the State University of New York at Cortland (near Syracuse) and has a degree in sports management and a Master's in education, is 24 years old. Although she admits to not having seen much of her family while traveling an average of 500 miles per week, she and the other hotdoggers, as they are know, say that, if you are unsure what direction to pursue after college ends, this is a heck of a way to see the country (for free) and pick up a lot of business cards. The tour for at least two of the trio was to end in June, and new hotdoggers are picked from among students who are going into their senior year of college.

Naturally, it helps to have a pristine driving record, especially when it comes to moving violations. Although there is a two-week training course teaching the hotdoggers how to manage the vehicles and other information about the company (Oscar Mayer, Kraft Foods), driving a giant hot dog can be tricky.

Bill Blanchett, who graduated from Penn State with a degree in advertising, was interviewing for a marketing job in Washington, D.C., on the phone from the Hy-Vee store in Davenport on Friday.