WIENER WAGON GONE WILD!

Just when you think you've seen everything on the news something comes along that makes you take notice.

Imagine that you're a cop on the freeway and all of a sudden you spot a speeding wiener wagon. What to do? That's just what happened in Scottsdale, AZ and it took 5 police cars to pull it over. There is more to the story, but the newscaster I saw reporting the event, complete with video, tried to keep a straight face and promised more later.  Unfortunately, he didn't have the details yet and I couldn't sit glued to the tube waiting for more titillating tidbits, so all I can write about is the memory it evoked.

So often one thing triggers the image of another. This news flash reminded me of the time my sister Phyllice and I actually got to go inside a wiener mobile and even got our own wienie whistles. We were doing a San Francisco sister long weekend--she lived in Juneau, Alaska at the time and I lived in L.A. We decided to go to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose (great attraction if you haven't seen it). As we approached it, I spotted a shopping center down the street and, to my delight, a vintage car show in the parking lot.

I'm a vintage car lover, so I couldn't resist taking a peek. We made the detour. I dragged my sister from one fantastic car to another, and as we reached the end there stood the Oscar Mayer Wienie Wagon in all of its---well--wienie wonderfulness. We made our way around the iconic vehicle with strains of "I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener" playing in our heads. The door opened and the driver popped his head out.

"Would you girls like a tour of the wagon?" Naturally we hopped aboard, entering the realm of ketcup and mustard toned carpeting and everything else designed to scream hot dog. He showed us the custom dash, the "interesting interior" and allowed us to shoot some video, now long gone or possibly buried away in some storage box that will never be opened. Before we ventured back into the parking lot, he presented each of us with our own wienie whistle.

Back in the lot among the other classic cars, we decided to shoot video of Phyllice standing against the hot dog on wheels. In our mock commercial, Phyllice gave a pitch, then wrapped it up like a real pro. She tooted her whistle, flashed a million-dollar smile and quipped, "It's wienielicious."

How great to have memories like that, reignited by a picture, a sound, a smell, or in this case a speeding, wild wienie wagon.