It was spring '99. Time to plan travel and vacation. One GI Joe planned a multistate tour of the US. Where did Touring Joe go? What did he do and see there? Who did he meet, and what souveniers did he pick up? All these questions and more can be answered on this page.
Your Holosuite operator, ScottE, was on the list of
stops for Joe's summer tour. Many of his other
vacation hosts send me updates on how the trip went.
Home is where the heart is. In this case, Mark D's heart was in the right place to think up, organize, and start this tour. He had to start it twice, as you'll soon find out.
The black trace and dot on the map is to mark the shortlived trip of Mark D.'s first touring Joe. That's because the very first volunteer host Joe was to visit, Mark Henderson (UnLukEtluv@aol.com), managed to make him disappear from the face of this earth. He got the Joe in May. There werelots of excuses, lots of The Joe's in the Mail, but no actual Joe reappearing. To steal another man's Joe is bad enough, but to torpedo a project such as this in its infancy shows a complete lack of moral fiber.
Mark D. felt strongly enough about this project that he elected to send another Joe out to meet the hosts. This Joe found the traveling slow at times. He was forced to extend his tour through fall and winter and into spring 2000. It was quite a tour, and Touring Joe racked up lots of frequent flyer miles. As you can see from the tour leg traces on the map, the route wasn't planned with an eye toward minimizing miles.
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Joe's Tour Scrapbook |
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In early May, Joe left Dubuque, Iowa on
the first leg of his journey. Little did we
all know that he was headed into oblivion
by way of Tenessee. Despite sporadic
encouraging e-mail from the first host,
this initial touring Joe has never been seen again.
Here's a description of how his trip came to be, as written by Mark D., and edited by ScottE. |
In early 1999, during a trip to the Sandbox, I saw a contest. Well low and behold, I won the thing. At that time I vowed to share the wealth and hold my own contest. In March of 1999 the headlines were filled with tragedy and it flowed over to the Sandbox. As a way of attempting to shed some sunlight in, I dreamed up a contest. I decided to see what would happen if I sent a Joe out amongst a group of strangers on a tour. Contestants were sought from the Sandbox and the contest was started. I picked one of my Joes and suited him up in some traveling clothes and sent him on his way. He will visit 16 other Joe fans before returning to me in Dubuque, IA. Along the way, the people that host the traveling Joe will be encouraged to document his stay, take photos, and if the mood strikes them, add some goodies for the trip. When he comes back to me I will then pick a name of one of the "hosts" and they will win the Joe. I just thought it would be a neat experiment in honesty, fellowship, and most importantly, FUN, all of which are traits common to fans of GI Joe. Mark |
| Mark D. thought enough of this project to jumpstart it again by sending a second GI Joe to continue the Tour starting in New Jersey. Apparently it was pretty hot that week in New Jersey. Touring Joe spent time visiting other Joe buddies, meeting the locals, and worked in a mission or two. | Tour in New Jersey |
| Our Touring Joe left New Jersey in mid July and headed for Detroit. His arrival has been confirmed, but there's no information as yet as to what he's been up to. |
TJ here. Sadly my host's camera is broke.
I have met about 16 vintage Joes. Took a tour of Detroit in a mib IRWIN
Staff car. Was going to take a tour by IRWIN helicopter of Canada. But I
was glued to the tube watching the JFK Jr. story play out. MarkD
suggest I stay here to make the trip to the Joe con. 50/50 chance.
I sent out an email looking for some one to take me, no reply. So that
is the update.
LMK if you can get me to DC. I hope and pray that you will, But today I
am still just a bill. ;^)
Hi! TJ here. I am off to Hanover MD. Had a wonderful time here in Detroit. Got some new gear crash crew uniform, shorts and a sleeping bag. I hope to meet GMANN by Monday. Thank you! |
| Our Touring Joe left Detroit in late July headed for Maryland. His arrival was confirmed by a short note. TJ then accompanied his host to the 1999 GI Joe Convention in Washington, DC. Apparently TJ scored some backstage passes, because he got to prowl around inside the dioramas on site. |
TJ Reporting in....Stop! Arrived Safe in Hanover.....Stop! Checking in with Local Joe Headquaters...stop! Everything seems fine...Stop! (Gmann needs to clean his room!) |
| Our Touring Joe left MD in August and headed off to Georgia. His host there has put together his own page relating Touring Joe's adventure. | TJ Visits Georgia |
| The Tour continues for Joe as he leaves Georgia and heads towards South Carolina. His host, Gladys, is working on a web site to chronicle his adventures there. | TJ Meets Babs in a Local Hangout |
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The Joe Tour continues as our hero tires of the east coast and strikes out for parts west. Next stop, Costa Mesa, as TJ searches for adventure and companionship in California.
There's no truth to the rumor that the real reason Joe's heading west is that Hurricane Floyd scared him out of the Carolinas. |
NZB's Tour |
| Joe heads north from Costa Mesa on a trip to Eugene, Oregon. While there he sees the sights and visits a local business. | The Oregon Coast |
| Next our Touring Joe heads cross country again to take in the sights and sounds of a Vermont Autumn. He's heard there's been trouble during a recent visit by Bob Hope, and he's been summoned to sort things out. Click on the moutaintop on the right to see TJ's Vermont adventure. |
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| Our Touring Joe's next stop is in Ohio. Inknazi is his host there, and has promised another exciting adventure for TJ. | TJ's adventures in Ohio. |
| Touring Joe continues his trek with a return to Tennessee. BrosJones is the host and TJ has taken some business trips to both Arizona and Texas as part of his stay. | TJ's further adventures in Tennessee. |
| Touring Joe spent his Christmas in Southwest Florida with his host, HomeFront. | TJ's adventures in Florida. |
| After his stop in Florida, our Touring Joe is off to cross the country again and revisit Oregon. He's really racking up the frequent flyer miles. | Touring Joe's continuing adventures in Oregon. |
| Our Touring Joe next returns to the state of California to visit San Fransisco. His host is Maximum Mike. | Joe, Babs, and Bytit each are pursuing their own adventures during their stay. |
| Our Touring Joe next crosses the country again to visit with GoldenKnight in Michigan. This is the last tour stop on the itinerary before TJ returns to his starting point. | TJ's Michigan adventure |
| Finally, after almost a year of criss crossing the United States, the Touring Joe returns to his starting point at Mark D.'s. The blue trace on the tour map shows this last little hop. | TJ's return to Mark D. is a short lived one. As promised, Mark put the host's names in a hat and picked one out to be the new owner of TJ, his traveling companions, and his souveniers. That lucky host is InkNazi. The Touring Joe will relocate to his new owner as soon as Mark D. wraps up the tour summary. |