It’s worth remembering that, occasionally, magic still happens in the world. Sometimes it’s a miraculous recovery from an illness, sometimes it’s a sublime work of art, and sometimes it’s a hot dog that manages to stay perched on a truck’s bumper for over 120 miles, like this tenacious Texan hot dog.
The hot dog in question was spotted a couple of weeks ago during a traffic stop near Brown County, Texas. A Brown County Sherrif pulled over the driver of a white Silverado for a minor and unnamed traffic violation, and while checking the license plate, noted a lone hot dog sitting on the bumper, with a small sign that read FREE HOT DOG taped above it.
If you’re having trouble visualizing such a glorious image, here’s a photo:
The important thing about this hot dog is revealed in the exchange the Sheriff had with the driver (quoted from the Sherriff’s Facebook post, so ‘me’ is the Sheriff):
Driver: funny story actually.. I spent the day in Waco and had some hot dogs for lunch. I set one on the rear bumper and somehow forgot about it and continued running errands around Waco. It wasn’t until several people asked about the hot dog, at several different locations, that I realized I had left it on there, so I put a little note on the bumper.
Me: is the hot dog glued on there or what?
Driver: What?! You mean it’s still there? That’s insane!
Me: yes sir, still there! (I’m laughing hard at this point)
Driver: (loses it) I DROVE ALL OVER WACO AND BACK TO BROWNWOOD AND THAT HOT DOG IS STILL THERE!
Me: Apparently so!
Me: do you mind if I take a picture?
Driver: Go right ahead!
So, I went and took this picture of a well-traveled hot dog.
Me: Sir, it is apparent that you are a cautious driver, so you’re only gonna receive a verbal warning for your violation... and thank you, this made my day.
Driver: maybe I should drive around with a hot dog on my bumper all the time, so I don’t get any tickets!
Holy crap. If you check the distance from Waco to Brownwood, that’s over 120 miles. That means this unsecured sausage remained in place at highway speeds for at least two hours. That’s astounding.
I suspect that there’s some sort of quantum-level hot dog-to-polymer attraction happening here, possibly due to some sort of complementary ionic-charge attraction. I’m pretty sure I remember an experiment in the 1920s where Enrico Fermi secured a salami to a vulcanized gutta-percha panel using similar methods.
Ours is a world full of wonder.