Anna Across America - Indianapolis, Indiana (Post Grad Victory Tour)

The Indiana State Capitol, housing the General Assembly, state Supreme Court, and Office of the Governor, has magnificently graced the downtown area of Indianapolis since 1888.

This is the tenth state capitol photographed on the Anna Across America tour with a goal of visiting a dozen before the curtain comes down next month.

One of Indiana's most talented families - The Jacksons - hailed from Gary, two hours to the north of Indianapolis.  The Jackson brothers led by the King of Pop, Michael, recorded this advertisement for Dr Pepper that played on radio only.

http://youtu.be/-MTM4n_gXvk

Anna Across America - Speedway, Indiana (Post Grad Victory Tour)

Welcome to the home of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" -- the Indianapolis 500, located in the town of Speedway, Indiana.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts this most famous of races, featuring open wheeled cars running more than 200 miles per hour, each Memorial Day Weekend along with several weeks of time trials leading up to the event.    A NASCAR race called the Brickyard 400 is also run here annually.

The track has a permanent seating capacity of more than 257,000 with an additional 150,000 spectators watching from the infield.

An Indy 500 tradition since the mid 1940s has been the singing of the Hoosier anthem Back Home Again In Indiana before the race.  Since 1972 that honor has mostly been bestowed upon actor/singer Jim Nabors, who is a much beloved part of the pre-race pageantry.  Nabors was Gomer Pyle in the TV show by the same name and got his  start on the Andy Griffith Show (see April 24th blog entry for a look at Nabors on the show).  Back to 2014, Nabor recently announced that his last performance of the song would be at this year's race.  See below Nabors' farewell performance at Indy.

http://youtu.be/nx-bzcq-Zp4

Anna and her signature Dr Pepper can get a front row view of the famous track just days before the Indy 500.

This year's race was won by American driver Ryan Hunter-Reay in a thriller.  The last three laps of the Indy 500's second closest finish ever can be viewed below.

http://youtu.be/GKw-EJzOgVA

In victory lane, Hunter-Reay drank a bottle of milk, a long-standing tradition started in 1936 when winner Victor Louis Meyer asked for buttermilk, something his mother encouraged him to drink on hot days.   Now, drinking the milk in victory lane is worth $10,000 to the winner from a dairy sponsorship.

http://youtu.be/KoOJKscyMiE

Did you notice the sponsorship of Snapple (a drink from the Dr Pepper/Snapple Company) on the winner's car?  Let's credit the power of the Anna / Dr Pepper can above for providing the momentum that sprung Hunter-Reay to his first Indy 500 victory.

Here's an Indianapolis Motor Speedway fun fact.  The infield of the race track is so large, Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium, The Rose Bowl, the Roman Colosseum, and Vatican City could all fit inside the 253 acres bound by the 2.5 mile oval track.

A tradition in the Speedway community near Indianapolis is a trip to the Mug n' Bun.   Since 1960, the Mug n' Bun has been serving up a wide selection of fried Americana -- onion rings, breaded tenderloin, catfish and fries - not to mention root beer served in a frosty mug.

You can eat outside at a picnic table or simply drive up, flip the headlights on, and a waiter will take your order.

Anna Across America - Jefferson City, Missouri (Post Grad Victory Tour)

The capital of Missouri is Jefferson City, located halfway between Kansas City and St. Louis.   The State Capitol at left is perched atop a buff overlooking the Missouri River.  It was completed in 1917.  

Named for President Thomas Jefferson, the  capital city of 43,000 on the Missouri River was named as "America's Most Beautiful Small Town" in 2013.

Anna Across America - Independence, Missouri (Post Grad Victory Tour)

Anna (and her namesake Anna / Dr Pepper commemorative can) visit the historic home of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the Unied States.

The Independence, Missouri, home is where Truman and his wife Bess lived from 1919 after their marriage until his death in 1972.

A 12-foot tall statue of President Harry S. Truman stands before the courthouse in Independence, Missouri.   The statesman, born in 1884 about the same time as Dr Pepper, spent most of his life in the town outside of Kansas City.

During Truman's presidency, a bowling alley was added in the West Wing of the White House (where the Situation Room is now).   Truman was more of a poker player than a kegler, but supported the addition of the alley for his staff.

Dr Pepper appealed to the bowling demographic with this popular early 2000s commercial, featuring pop artists Anastacia and Cyndi Lauper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EH330grQG4

A short distance away, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library welcomes Anna and her father on their post graduation victory tour.

The Truman Library is the third presidential library visited during the seven-month AAA tour, the others being the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta  (January 15th blog entry) and the Bill Clinton Library in Little Rock (March 26th blog entry).

The Harry S. Truman Library sits atop a hill with a view of Kansas City to the west.  It is here where the papers, books, and historical information related to the nation's 33rd president are displayed and archived.   Truman was president at the end of World War II and that era is well documented at the library.

After the library's opening in 1957, Truman maintained an office here, often answering the phone and providing directions and information to callers who were stunned to hear the president on the other end of the line.  History was made at the library in 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare Act and presented the first two Medicare cards to the former president and his wife Bess.

Truman and his wife are both buried here.

Anna Across America - Kansas City (Post Grad Victory Tour)

After graduation, Anna and her father David took a circuitous route home from Starkville.  They headed west so that Anna could step foot in Oklahoma, her 47th state visited (the only states left are Nevada, North Dakota, and Idaho).  And then there is the lure of more places to be documented on the Anna Across America tour.

One of the first stops to celebrate Anna's graduation was Kansas City, Missouri, and a visit to Arthur Bryant's, one of the most famous barbecue restaurants in the United States.  Most of the free world was introduced to Arthur Bryant's back in 1972 when well known New Yorker food critic Calvin Trillin declared that he had eaten at the "single best restaurant in the world".  From the opening of Arthur Bryant's in 1940 to today, the restuarant has maintained a philosophy of serving its barbecue in an unpretentious setting.  Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Harry Truman have all noshed at the formica tables of Arthur Bryant's.

Arrowhead Stadium is home to the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs.  It opened in 1972 as a part of the Truman Sports Complex that also includes Ewing Kaufmann Stadium, home of baseball's Kansas City Royals (featured in an April 2nd AAA blog entry).

In October 2013, more than 76,000 Chiefs fans in Arrowhead Stadium set a Guiness Book of World Record for loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium.  The legend of the 137.5 decibel roar is recounted below.

http://youtu.be/lHo0QTUgLwg

Kansas City is home to Hallmark Cards, the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States.   Hallmark products are sold in more than 40,000 retail stores nationwide and in 100 countries.

The company was started by a young entrepreneur named Joyce Clyde Hall, who stepped off a train in Kansas City with a shoe box full of picture postcards for sale.

The company began selling Valentine's and Christmas cards and expanded to everyday greeting cards because of the popularity.  Hall and his brother Rollie developed modern day wrapping paper when they ran out of traditional colored tissue paper.

Hallmark Fun Fact:  A subsidiary of the company makes Crayola crayons.

Dr Pepper Fun Fact:  Available for purchase at amazon.com are Dr Pepper flavored lip gloss and nail polish with a cherry Dr Pepper scent.

Anna Across America - Mississippi State University

Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field is home of Mississippi State University football.

Click the link below to enjoy the pageantry of Southeastern Conference Football on game days  at Mississippi State.

http://youtu.be/Z8cmuEbmJz4

The view from the Scott Field end zone shows the construction that will increase the stadium capacity to more than 61,0000.  A new high definition video board similar to one that is in the south end zone will also be added.  A scheduled completion date is scheduled for the 2014 season.

And now we go on campus to the lab for a word from our sponsor....

http://youtu.be/3gxPC5ZINTw

Anna is a member of Chi Omega sorority at MSU.  With more than 175 active chapters and 240 alumnae chapters, Chi Omega is the largest member of the National Panhellinic Conference.   The Mississippi State chapter was founded in 1936.

Chi Omega has helped raise millions of dollars for the Make A Wish Foundation.

Besides Anna, other famous Chi Omegas include actress Lucy Liu and legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt.

The Starkville Café, a local institution and favorite among MSU students, is a classic "meat and three" restaurant in the downtown area near campus.

Try and secure a seat at the "Liar's Table" and enjoy some down home Southern cooking!

Anna Across America - Graduation Day!

The Anna / Dr Pepper can makes a special appearance at the commencement ceremonies of Mississippi State University last Saturday.

On the stage below, Anna was conferred a well-earned degree in Communications before family, friends and a worldwide audience watching on the internet.

Although Anna's senior year -- sponsored in part by Dr Pepper -- has ended the Anna Across America tour trundles on with more exciting destinations in the final weeks of its eight-month run.  In the coming days, Anna shows us around her alma mater .....and then the Midwest as she and her dad took a 1000-mile detour en route home on a post graduate victory tour of sorts.

So hold on for the ride until this blog comes to a complete stop!

Editor's Note:  We welcome new viewers from Lithuania and the Netherlands to our tribute blog which features our favorite MSU alum and the most original soft drink ever.

Anna Across America - Clearwater, Florida

Some of the whitest sand in all the world can be found on the beaches of Clearwater, Florida.  Plenty of sunshine, too...361 days a year, so says the tourist brochures.  A great place for the Anna / Dr Pepper can to catch some rays, too.

Clearwater Beach has been voted as Florida's best beach town by readers of USA Today.  The mom-and-pop motels of old Florida gradually have given way to high end hotels and condominiums.

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Speaking of the beach, following is a Dr Pepper commercial filmed beachside for the Australian market back in the late 1990s.

http://youtu.be/Em6Z0G8O0tU

.....and Tampa Bay

Raymond James Stadium is home to the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.   Born an NFL franchise in 1976, the Bucs lost their first 26 games.  But in 1979, the team played for the NFC championship in a magnificent ascent to the top of the NFL.   Tampa Bay, under Coach Jon Gruden, won the 2002 Super Bowl beating the Oakland Raiders in a game dubbed the "Pirate Bowl".

Major sports abound as major league baseball's Rays and hockey's Lightning call the Tampa Bay area home.

But wrestling still reigns supreme for many Baysiders who have seen the best in the business train, perform, and live here.  Famous grapplers from the area include Hulk Hogan, Mike Awesome, Dusty Rhodes, and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake.   Someone in the marketing department at Dr Pepper also is a fan of professional wrestling as witnessed by the commercial below.....

http://youtu.be/HLxF9vSNSAQ

Anna Across America - Huntsville, Alabama

Huntsville, Alabama is one of the main reasons why the United States of America has put a man on the moon and is the preeminent leader in space exploration.   The nearby Marshall Space Flight Center was responsible for the development of the Apollo's Saturn V rockets that took the U.S. to the moon and back during the 1970s.

A mammoth replica of the Saturn V rocket greets visitors at the entrance to the U.S. Space & Rocket Museum, billed as "Earth's largest space museum."

More than 1,500 artifacts from space are on display including the Apollo 16 space capsule, a lunar rover, and moon rocks.

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Anna and her father David took a detour from a recent Mississippi to Ohio roadtrip to provide the Space Center photos in today's entry.  For their dedication in supporting the AAA blog, we salute them with this timeless Dr Pepper memory from 1994.

http://youtu.be/Jgubv2FPokI

The Space Shuttle Pathfinder, the first shuttle built, sits atop the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters at the space center.  The rocket propulsion system for the space shuttle was developed at the Marshall Space Center.  A mockup made of wood and steel, the Pathfinder was used to test facilites for handling the vehicle.

Below is a fun Diet Dr Pepper commercial from the the late 1990s that plays upon the Space Shuttle theme.

http://youtu.be/wCiA5RLs4VI

The SR-71, also known as the Blackbird, was the United States' premier reconnaissance aircraft, while serving the Air Force from 1964 to 1998.  Flying at speeds of more than Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound), the Blackbird could fly from New York to London -- a distance of 3,500 miles -- in less than two hours.  At left, is one of only 32 SR-71s built.  Below is a video tribute to this amazing aircraft.

http://youtu.be/z3N_iQ1fSxc

Anna Across America - Mississippi State University (A Diploma Awaits!)

It's Graduation Day!   And you are invited.

If you can't be at the Commencement Ceremonies in person, you can join Anna live as she receives her diploma from Mississippi State University via the link below:

http://mymedia.msstate.edu/viewer.php?live=grad

Anna Fans across America and around the world can watch the MSU graduation beginning at 10 a.m. in Starkville and at the following times elsewhere.

  8 a.m. Pacific Time
  9 a.m. Mountain Time
10 a.m. Central Time
11 a.m. Eastern Time
12 p.m. Brazil
 5  p.m. Sweden and Germany
 6  p.m. Ukraine
 9  p.m. Bangladesh
11 p.m. China
12 a.m. (Sunday) Japan

Today, Anna receives her Bachelor of Arts and Science Degree in Communications.  In celebration of Mississippi State University's newest alumnus, please rise for the playing of Maroon and White, the school's alma mater.

http://www.msstate.edu/web/friends/songs/Maroon_and_White.mp3

On this day, we are all Bulldogs!

http://youtu.be/6-7UHF0CcOE

Congratulations, Anna!

Triple A Exclusive - Anna Saves A Turtle!

Once again Anna is in the right place at the right time.

The Dr Pepper Superhero rescued a wayward turtle trying to cross a busy Mississippi highway late last week...and put it back on the right path.   Thanks to Anna, there is a tortoise named "Dr Pepper", who continues to make its deliberate journey through the Mississippi Delta.

Just like Dr Pepper, Anna is "always one of a kind"

http://youtu.be/ny7y0XeinGQ

Anna Across America - Biloxi, Mississippi

The Beau Rivage Casino Resort is the tallest building in the state of Mississippi.  With 1,740 rooms, Beau Rivage, which means "beautiful shore" in French, is one of the largest casino hotels outside of Las Vegas.  The casino opened in 1999 and was closed for a year after Hurricane Katrina and her 30 foot storm surge hit Biloxi in 2005.  Today the casino is stronger than ever, one of the top performing properties for MGM Mirage.

A Sure Bet

1. Anna graduates this Saturday from Mississippi State University!
2. 
   
3. Hail State!
4. 
   

Hail Anna!

Another destination resort in this city on the Gulf of Mexico is the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.  The property's signature 112-foot tall guitar welcomes visitors and a larger than life Anna / Dr Pepper can. The casino was originally set to open in 2005 but Hurricane Katrina hit just a few days before the scheduled opening.  All manner of music memorabilia was hit by the storm and presumed lost, but the good people of Biloxi returned a number of items including B.B. King's original "Lucille" guitar and and Elvis' Army uniform on a mannequin found floating in the Mississippi Sound.

Hard Rock Cafe Trivia:  The first Hard Rock Cafe opened in London in 1971.   One of the first HRCs in the United States was in Jackson, Tennessee, hometown of co-founder Isaac Tigrett.  The Hard Rock Cafe was located near a Sears store in a mall co-owned by his mother.

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One of the most beloved singer/songwriters in the past 50 years is Motown great and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Smokey Robinson, who performed at the Hard Rock Cafe Biloxi in early May.  He was once pronounced as "America's greatest living poet" by Bob Dylan a tribute to the massive number of top ten hits he recorded himself and wrote for others.  The great Smokey Robinson teamed up with R&B group B2K in this memorable Dr Pepper commercial ten years ago.

http://youtu.be/F2yudVqVbZI

Anna Across America - Asheville, North Carolina (At the Biltmore Estate)

The Anna / Dr Pepper can makes an appearance at the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in the United States.    Tucked within the North Carolina mountains and surrounded by forest land, the chateauesque mansion, which was built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800s, features 250 rooms in its 179,000 square feet of floor space.  The 8,000 acre estate in Asheville is still owned by a Vanderbilt descendant; the estate has been open to the public since 1930.

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Editor's Note:  Anna's uncle Ralph joins the Dr Pepperazzi with this dispatch from the Tar Heel State.



Anna Across America - Charleston, West Virginia

With its gilded-domed capitol shining over the city, we take a stop in Charleston, West Virginia in our state capital tour.    West Virginia became a state during the Civil War by Presidential Proclamation -- with Abraham Lincoln taking part of Union-occupied Virginia and declaring it a new state.  Charleston has been the capital of the Mountain State since 1877.

Photo Credit:  D. Trundle

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To promote the low calorie Dr Pepper 10, the "Mountain Man" ad campaign was launched and targeted the weight-watching male demographic.  The ads, first airing in 2011, hark back to a classic commercial (Hamm's Beer) and TV show (Grizzly Adams) from the 1970s featuring a bearded outdoorsman and his pet bear.  A compilation of these ads follows below.

http://youtu.be/a7Dcoer2oxA

Anna Across America - New York City (Revisiting the Big Apple)

Six months ago, the Anna Across America tour began in the quintessential city of New York, one of the world's most fascinating places.   The city has not slept in the half year since we last visited...it is constantly evolving, always creating, forever exciting.

From its humble beginnings in 1624 as a trading post the Dutch named New Amsterdam, the city has welcomed immigrants from every corner of the globe.  More than 800 languages are spoken among the 8.4 million residents, 37 percent of whom are foreign born.

One of the NYC's most well known anthems is New York, New York...and nobody sings it better than Frank Sinatra, who grew up across the river in Hoboken, New Jersey.   Enjoy the sights of the Big Apple set to the city's beloved soundtrack.

http://youtu.be/btFfXgUdIzY

One World Trade Center - also dubbed the Freedom Tower - rises triumphantly to a height of 1776 feet in the financial district of lower Manhattan..  Work began on 1 WTC in 2006 and the skyscraper was topped out a year ago this week to become the fourth tallest structure in the world.  The 104-story 1 WTC is scheduled to open later this year.

The following time-lapse video from Earth Cam of the construction of this magnificent structure symbolizes New York's steely resolve to rebuild bigger and better after 9-11.

http://youtu.be/kDkFHlbqejA

Even Lady Liberty (or one of her stand ins) will lift up a Anna / Dr Pepper Can  in celebration of the soon to be Mississippi State graduate and the most original soft drink ever.

Dr Pepper...So Misunderstood

This marketing campaign for Dr Pepper played upon the product's relative ambiguity as the cola wars began to heat up in the late 1960s.   A classic Dr Pepper advertisement from the early 1970s featured New York City actor Burt Young, who is best known as the brother-in-law in Rocky.  Young as "Paulie" earned a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for the role.

http://youtu.be/nZVTCmXJXn8

Below are a couple of more commercials from this marketing era.

http://youtu.be/iYc5t7VAGJ4

http://youtu.be/84TwFWtRueQ

We finish with the complete recording of the jingle which will have you singing the tune for the rest of the day.

http://youtu.be/4Brbh1nI2ZQ

The USS Intrepid served in the Pacific in World War II, surviving several attacks.  It also was the recovery ship for returning spacecrafts of the Mercury and Gemini missions. After years of distinguished service, the ship became a part of the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in 1982.  The museum features aircraft from all service branches, a submarine, the Concorde, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise.

In the early 1980s, New York native Scott Baio was featured in this advertisement for the most original soft drink ever.

http://youtu.be/2qpgc7syTQY

Wall Street's favorite tenant is undoubtedly the New York Stock Exchange, the largest exchange of its kind in the world.  The NYSE, also known as the Big Board, has traded securities since 1792.  It's market capitalization of companies is almost $17 trillion with $169 billion in trades occurring daily.

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During the late 1970s actor David Naughton became widely known with his singing and dancing in the successful "Be a Pepper" advertisements (a montage of these commercials was featured in our Jan. 19th entry).   In 2010, three decades after these commercials aired, Naughton and a flash mob of singers and dancers reprised the iconic ads at the New York Stock Exchange after Dr Pepper representatives rang the closing bell.

http://youtu.be/Q5JDrrzTF2o

Cinco de Mayo - A Triple A Saludo!

           Cinco de Mayo....
A celebration of Mexican-American
freedom.  Below are a couple of  Dr Pepper
commercials featuring Mexican singing
sensations to get your celebration started....

http://youtu.be/c7tiu_EuLTk

http://youtu.be/dVSiwuEbbt0

Anna Across America - Raleigh, North Carolina

We return to Raleigh to explore the capital city of North Carolina.  Raleigh, incorporated in 1792, was named after Sir Walter Raleigh, the British Renaissance courtier, explorer, poet . . . and well known cigar connosieur.  Raleigh sits in the widely revered Research Triangle, filled with high tech, research, and pharmaceutical companies, while still maintaining its genteel Southern charm.  Anna has strong family ties to Raleigh.   Her mom Kathy is a professor at North Carolina State University and her Uncle John and Aunt Robin and cousins Kirby, Jacob and Joshua also call Raleigh home.

At left, the Anna / Dr Pepper can shows up at the State Capitol of North Carolina.    Completed in 1840, the Capitol was built in the Greek Revival style.   At the first Greek Revival, Plato gave the message and Sophocles led the singing.

Photo Credit:  D. Trundle

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When you are the most original soft drink ever, there are bound to be those who want to copycat success.    They all fall way short when compared to the great taste of Dr Pepper.   Yet they keep trying like Mr. Pibb - which was Coca-Cola's attempt to take down the good doctor - as well as a number of store brands.    In the link below, a North Carolina State staffer chronicles a rather exhausting list of Dr Pepper wannabes and imposters.

http://www4.stat.ncsu.edu/~bmasmith/drpepper.html

Our sports facility tour continues at PNC Arena, home of the North Carolina State basketball team and the Carolina Hurricanes of the
National Hockey League.

The arena is also a major concert venue with almost 20,000 seats.  On May 7th, musical diva Cher - one of Dr Pepper's most outspoken fans - will be performing in her farewell tour.    Cher has worked her "addiction" to Dr Pepper into the show while playfully admonishing the company for not rewarding her for advertising the product.