find a unique, cute little travel mascot to take with me on all trips and photograph "him" next to touristy sites wherever i go...(kind of like the traveling gnome).

and I’ve traveled to Orlando and Tampa, and going to Seattle next week. I need my travel buddy. Where are you, travel buddy? Come fly with me!

I’ve got him picked out, but haven’t actually bought him yet. Maybe this weekend.

I’m going to go to a crazy, wild toy store to see if I can find something. I found a three-head plastic dog, bendable like Gumby, there once I considered as my travel buddy, but it’s better on my computer at home. I think I would like Pokey, Gumby’s horse. If I can find a little Pokey, I’ll rename him, change his look a bit, and that will be my travel buddy. Worth trying….

the two I had in mind were not very photogenic. I did learn that plastic tends to reflect light, and cloth absorbs it so that a cloth mascot is easier to photograph in bright light. The search continues.

I’ve been wanting to do this for years. In 1992, I had a co-worker who took a real stuffed squirrel – kinda gross – on trips and photographed it at the touristy places. I think he got the squirrel at a yard sale, and I forget the squirrel’s name. He also played bassoon (the co-worker, not the squirrel), which I understand takes a unique individual to want to play that instrument, plus the instrument begins to work on the mind and heighten the uniqueness in unusual ways – good ways as it turned out with my co-worker.

I need to find MY travel buddy. Someone small, someone light weight who can go through security without any problem in overseas airports, someone to help make decisions, someone who doesn’t always wait for me to pick up the check….