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  www.touristbud.com

Bud is an inspiration. Well-traveled, knowledgeable, and kind, he makes friends wherever he goes, and he shares what he learns with people from around the world.
"I was wondering if you have any advice for my 6-year-old son, Jordan, about the condition of humanity in this new millennium," writes one fan. "You should become the world ambassador for good will," writes another.

Bud has always been outgoing. In the '60s, he modeled clothing in the young men's department of Montgomery Ward. After that, he worked for a time as an artist's model. For the past 20 years, though, he has been globetrotting with D.S. Bakker, an artist and teacher at the Homewood Art Workshops. Together, they have been to Europe, Africa, the Virgin Islands, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and points throughout the continental United States.

Bud's journal, which can be found at www.touristbud.com, offers a friendly, unsophisticated account of their travels. The Web site — which also includes Bud's biography, letters he's received and sent, a slide show of his trips to Iceland and the South Pacific, links to Bud's favorite Web sites, and "all the really nice things people have said" — gets several hundred hits a month. When Yahoo named it the hit of the week in September 1999, 10,000 people logged on.

What makes Bud so appealing? Two things, says Bakker. "Everybody loves the idea of travel, even if they don't do it themselves," he explains. "People can travel vicariously through Bud." More important, though, is Bud's disarming personality. "The persona he has grown into — he is someone you can trust," Bakker continues. "He's not ironic at all; he's completely straightforward."

Herewith is a sampling from Bud's travels. Visit the Web site for more, and check back often. Bud and Bakker are planning a trip to Okinawa next year, and Bud has dreams of seeing Mt. Rushmore, the great pyramids, and the Taj Mahal. (Bakker would prefer to travel to less-popular sites, but he says, "Bud insists.") —Catherine Pierre



New York City,
with a carboard version of Ronald Reagan


In the Nevada desert


Snorkling in St. Thomas


At the Kerid Volcano
in Iceland


En route to San Francisco, CA


Te Kuiti,
New Zealand


A trip to Stonehenge

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