Miata Mailing List: March 1993, Message #93
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   From: (none)
Subject: Miata driving weirdo robs Gumby
   Date: (none)

Posted by request

Tejas Miata Club member Chip Young took a road trip this past summer with a 
special friend to keep him company.  The following is an article that appeared 
in the Tuesday, February 2nd Austin American Statesman.  The article was written 
by John Kelso and is reproduced without permission.


"Kidnapped Gumby logs miles of smiles through heartland

   When Chip Young went on vacation for a couple of weeks last summer, he took 
Gumby along in the front seat of his Mazda convertible.  
   But the computer programmer for the Texas Association of Schools Boards 
didn't tell Gumby's owner he was going to take him.
   Doralee Thrasher, an administrator at the same association in North Austin, 
didn't know what happened to Gumby.  She didn't suspect her 4-foot-tall, green,
stuffed Gumby had gone on a road trip until snapshots of the kidnapped doll began 
appearing on the office bulletin board early last month.
   Gumby showed up back in the office right after the Christmas break.  At the 
same time, the pictures of Gumby at various tourist attractions began showing up
mysteriously on the board.
   At this point the photos didn't show Chip next to Gumby, though, so Doralee
did not know with whom Gumby had gone North.
   "There were pictures of Gumby at Wrigley Field," says Doralee, who had kept
Gumby around the office for three years until he turned up missing one day in
August.  "There were pictures of Gumby on a farm tractor.  We had pictures of 
Gumby at the Buddy Holly Museum.  And of course, none of these pictures were of 
who Gumby was with."
   Chip decided to borrow Gumby as a prank when he faced the prospect of 
driving alone from Austin to his father's 60th birthday party in Wisconsin.
   "My wife couldn't go with me because she had to work, so I decided to take
Gumby with me," he said.
   As Chip traveled north up Interstate 35, people using the same route were
amazed to see a large GUmby riding in the passenger"s seat of a blue Miata.
   "Mostly people would just look at him and wave, but in Oklahoma there was 
this van full of senior citizens," Chip said.  The van would pull up even with
Chip's car, pass, slow down, drop behind, and pull even with him again - "so
everybody could get a good look at Gumby."
   Meanwhile, Doralee was back in Austin, Gumby-less and wondering what had 
happened to him.  "We were all traumatized," said Doralee, whose husband won 
Gumby for her at Six Flags Over Texas.  "Gumby has been with us for so long
that we all felt empty without him, but we had no clues where he went."
   Chip really did try to take Gumby to a Cubs game in Chicago, with no luck.
"They wouldn't let him in at Wrigley Field," said Chip, who even offered to 
buy Gumby a ticket.  "I guess they were afraid he'd jump on Andre Dawson."
   So Chip took a picture of Gumby with ballpark security guards, then left
Gumby outside while he went to the game.
   "That night I went back to Milwaukee and took him to a B-52's concert,"
Chip said.  "And after that we took him to a karaoke bar, sat him up at the
bar and set him up with a drink."
   Gumby also made it to Chip's dad's birthday party, held on Chip's uncle's
farm in Independence, Wis.  "We've got pictures of him on all the farm 
equipment," Chip said.  He also took Gumby to an art museum in Minneapolis.
   "People in Minnesta are very reserved. and didn't say anything," Chip said
of the museum visit.  "They just kind of looked at him."
   Chip secretly returned Gumby to the office Jan. 4.  He says he kept Gumby
for such a long time so he could get him fixed up.  "He kind of got banged up
from the trip, so I had him restuffed and got him a new mouth."  He says his
only regret is that he didn't get stopped by the police.  He had hoped to be 
able to switch Gumby from the passenger's seat to the driver's seat before a cop
could see it happening.
   Doralee didn't know who had lifted Gumby until the Welcome Back Gumby office
party Jan. 8, when Chip released the pictures showing him and Gumby riding in a 
convertible.
   "We had Gumby back a week, but Gumby wasn't saying a word," she said.
   Chip recommends others take Gumbys on their vacations, too.  "Generally, this
will start a conversation with somebody who's curious," he said."






















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