The Wienermobile Comes to Town

When my sister sent the news by way of a picture she snapped of the official flyer she saw at the supermarket a few days ago, I knew that today would be a dream come true kind of day for me. What scooter riding boy doesn't dream of someday having his own picture taken of his scooter and himself posed right beside the one, the only Oscar Mayer Wienermobile? (Okay, it's not one and only, but it looked good when I typed it. There are seven of them at a time touring the country.)

It almost didn't happen. It was too gray out this morning to take the scooter to work, and the Wienermobile would only be on display during work hours - from 10 AM till 1 PM before moving on to another venue. With a bit of last minute planning I managed to pull the photo shoot off by leaving work at noon on my lunch break, driving home and swapping the car out for the scooter, and arranging to have my sister meet me at the supermarket to shoot some pictures. It went off without a hitch and folks stepped aside with smiles to give my sister a clear shot with the camera as I sat there on the BV next to the awesome hot dog on wheels, grinning like an idiot.

I was back to work in plenty of time before the lunch period ended, once more returning to the house in between to drop off the scooter and pick up the car. Not only was the sky still gray, but it was colder than it had been in the morning and I wasn't going to risk possibly getting caught in something slippery with the bike. And not only did I get the coveted pictures, but there was a shiny new Oscar Mayer Wiener Whistle in my pocket to boot. God bless a hot dog company cool enough to have a Wienermobile and that still gives out free stuff!

By contrast there's the Turkey Hill gas station / mini mart around the corner... They can afford new gas pumps that can display variable text, usually in the form of advertising their expensive iced tea while you're pumping your gas, but apparently can't hire register monkeys who can be trained to add messages to them rather than hand scrawling signs to slap on the pumps with masking tape? Nothing quite screams CLASSY COMPANY than something like this.

As for that "rewards card?" That would be the card that you present upon purchasing something way overpriced like a bottle of Pepsi that then gives you a discount on the price of your gas. I'd rather get my carbonated beverages around the corner at the place that sponsored the visit from the Wienermobile without feeling like I'm being prison raped by the mark-up, and pay the regular price for my gas, than carry around their plastic card and pay too much for the "convenience" of getting my drinks or just about anything else at the gas station.