Road trips of historic proportions marked a memorable time of Peter Uhlig’s teen years, when he took an interest in presidents of the United States. Transferring from the Cedarburg School District to Homestead High during his sophomore year provided a more advanced program and an opportunity to home in on something that piqued his interest. That ended up being some of our country’s fearless leaders.

Peter and his mom, Karen, would not only research and write extensively about all the past presidents, but his family also put learning into action by visiting presidential museums/libraries during their summer vacations. Peter’s inaugural pick was Rutherford B. Hayes, who just so happened to hail from Pastor Paul’s hometown of Fremont, Ohio. Successors were Herbert Hoover in Iowa; Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois; Gerald Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Lyndon B. Johnson all the way over in the great state of Texas; Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Sunflower State (Kansas); and Calvin Coolidge out east in Massachusetts. From his research, Peter deemed Lincoln his favorite president because he was good and was successful in the Civil War. Grover Cleveland, considered the guardian president, comes in second due to his honesty. As you can see, you’re going to have to brush up on your history lessons if you want to go toe-to-toe with Peter in presidential trivia!

Another favorite subject Peter follows is sports teams. Sure, he loves the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks—and the Packers, of course!—but loyalty to local fan favorites doesn’t trump being on the road following rival teams. So visits to stadiums around the country were also slotted in during family vacations, with that roster including the Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, and Detroit Tigers. In case you weren’t counting, that’s 12 U.S. states Peter has visited just between those two hobbies, plus the ones he traversed to arrive at his destinations.

When he wasn’t gallivanting around the country, over a period spanning 30 years Peter has held positions in grocery and department stores, and currently works at Walmart. As a seasoned professional wielding a product scanner, he can tell you where most goods are displayed. Shoppers take advantage of that many times during Peter’s shifts by stopping him to get the fast track on product locations vs. getting their steps in, and he’s happy to oblige them with what’s all in a day’s work. But he has also “seen it all” to be able to have a list of pet peeves: people who don’t return products to the proper shelves, who let their children run wild in the aisles, and who complain when a stocker follows them to the cashier with an expensive product from a locked cabinet. So he’ll be the first to tell ya, hey, the customer isn’t always right!

Fun Facts

Speaking of a good ’ol boy, among other pet dogs the family had, Peter’s dog Sparky was his own faithful friend for more than 13 years.

They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and the 18″ hot dog Peter had at the Houston Astros’ ballpark backs that up. Aside from that All-American baseball food, his go-to stadium fare is brats, nachos (without jalapeños), burgers, ice cream, slushies, popcorn …

Old-school rules!: As a country fan, Waylon Jennings is music to Peter’s ears, but new-school would be Toby Keith.