Pee Wee at Wall Drug, South Dakota

This project began as a practical joke.  A friend treated a collection of  her closest family and friends to a fabulous Fourth of July celebration at her home.   Her hospitality was repayed with the merciless kidnapping of her cherished Pee Wee  Herman doll.  It so happens that I was shortly thereafter leaving on a road trip to Alaska.  The ransom notes arrived as photo postcards of his travels with text and images culled from ubiquitous tourist literature gathered along the way.  Who knew where it would lead!

Pee Wee Postcards

I have always written on postcards with stories of my travels.  (After all, I’ve got a steamer trunk to fill.  See Living in One’s Element) Up to this point, they were store purchased stock photo postcards that did not often match my experience and certainly did not describe Pee Wee’s adventure.  So, I started constructing my own.  Digital photography and 1 hour photo labs have made this a cinch.  Making and writing on postcards enhances my travels and provides a satisfying record of the journey.  I make and send them by the 100’s.

Postcards by the Hundreds

The Pee Wee pictures are not attempting anything very meaningful content-wise.  They are absurd spoofs of typical tourist shots in typical tourist places.  They amuse me because he is such a foppish character, out of place in the rugged Marlboro Man landscapes of the mythic Wild West.    It was a  silly pleasure to make the photos and my sister was thankful to be relieved of  the  duty of posing.

Post Script

Pee Wee went on one more road trip to Texas and New Mexico after his epic Alaska adventure.

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