Sighting #11, in the unlikeliest of places...

So I was in Des Moines, Iowa this weekend for a wedding. This is the second wedding my wife and I have attended in the Hawkeye State--what are the odds of that? Anywho, we were expecting to find some fresh ears of sweet corn, but otherwise weren't anticipating much from our trip to Iowa's state capital. Surprisingly, though, Des Moines was kind of an interesting city. As most other large cities, the downtown core is undergoing quite a bit of revitalization and gentrification, but Des Moines seems to have chosen some interesting architects for a few of their construction projects. Perhaps the coolest thing was the the Des Moines Public Library which had some type of copper mesh within the glass windows that made the building look like it was built out of copper during the day with the sunlight reflecting off of it, but would appear completely transparent at night with lights illuminating the building from the interior. Even the State Capitol building itself was pretty impressive and unique with real 23K gold leaf on the dome.

But all that wasn't what really caught my eye over the weekend. Driving back to our hotel late at night we spotted this around 7th and Locust downtown. We snapped a picture the next day on our way home:

Sighting #10, by my wife, no less...

Yeah, I know. You've all probably lost interest in R2-D2 mailbox sightings, but I still feel compelled to snap a picture when I see 'em. I was cleaning out the memory card from my camera a couple of days ago, though, and forgot I hadn't posted this one.

My wife was in D.C. for a conference a couple of months ago, and traveled up to the Baltimore Waterfront Promenade with a friend on her off day, where she ran into one of these:

Sighting #9

On a recent trip to Austin, I happened to stumble upon this little guy on the corner of 5th and Congress.

Sighting #8. And I was almost thinking Willie's use of the Force was becoming more powerful than mine...

This one was literally right under my nose. I walk this way to the hospital almost on a daily basis, so either R2-D2 wandered over here (meaning Tusken Raiders can't be far behind) or the U.S. Postal Service has been putting out more. This placement probably made the most sense to me, though, being in front of the children's hospital. Anything to make a kid that probably isn't feeling too well put a smile on his face.

R2D2 Sighting #7

Sighting #6 was a use of the force coupled with some plans retrieved by a Bothan spy, but after that sighting I turned off my targeting computer and decided to just "roam" downtown a little more. Within a matter of minutes, I was led by the ancient jedi about three blocks east to the corner of Fayetteville St. and Martin Street. Now you have #7.

R2D2 Sighting #6

Yesterday started out with a nice use of the force, and with my evening being spent in Raleigh it only got better. The midiclorians within me decided to kick it in high gear and lead me to the corner of Dawson St. and Martin St. in downtown Raleigh, NC.

R2D2 Sighting #5

On the corner of Market and College in Greensboro, NC R2D2 #5 was sighted.



This little fellow proved to be a tough one to find. After having no luck with seeing him around town, I broke down and went to the main post office to ask where I might find him. As is often the case, I came in contact with a non-Star Wars fan who was one of our very own postal workers. I was amazed that they didn't even know what I was talking about. My guess is that the USPS doesn't do much with making their employees aware of their own marketing efforts. (Hey USPS employees, did you know that at one time you were the sponsor to one of the 21st century's dominate athletes?) Anyway, I explained the whole campaign to him and told him that there are only 400 of these in the system. With much excitement I proceeded to tell him that we were blessed with at least one in Greensboro. He responded with very muted excitement and said he would see if anyone else knew what I was talking about. After about 5 minutes he returns from the back to let me know that they have one alright. It was sitting in the back currently to which he had just spent some time looking at it. It had already been taken off the streets for reasons I was not told. Could I see it? Would it make it out again? Where? When? I could not see it because I was not of the proper postal status to be able to get into the back. All the other questions were met with the same muted excitement and responded to with an, "I don't know." It seems though that the force was with me, and I found it a few days later.

Sighting #4, and I haven't even tapped into The Force yet...

I'm not even trying to look for these things, but I keep running into them. This R2 mailbox happened to be in "The Loop" district stationed right smack in front of Star Clipper, the shop I like to grab my comic books at here in St. Louis. I haven't bought any comics in a couple of weeks, which explains why I never saw this one earlier.

Considering these mailboxes were probably placed in locations where they expected high traffic from Star Wars fanatics, and I seem to stumble upon them accidentally, should I be worried about how much of a geek I am?

R2-D2 sighting #3--only 397 left to go...

Thanks to Firecracker George and his eagle-sharp eyesight, another R2-D2 mailbox was sighted in Houston nearby the Galleria. As luck would have it, I was also in town that day for us to snap picture of the find.

No sightings in Colorado? North Carolina? Arizona? None in the D.C. area perhaps? C'mon, dudes. I can't go to every state in the Union. I need some help. ;-)

Another R2-D2 sighting...

So I was in Chicago this weekend, and ran into yet another one of these mailboxes, this time on the "Magnificent Mile" of Michigan Avenue. Needless to say, I felt like kind of a dork stopping to take a couple of pictures of this mailbox as the well-heeled shoppers passed me by. My wife sort of walked a few feet ahead of me, pretending she didn't know who I was for a brief minute.

I think I read there is supposed to be 400 of these things. Well, two down, 398 to go. If any of you happen to see one in your neck of the woods, let me know--I'm kind of curious.

Almost makes me want to revert back to snail mail...

I'm not one to take many random camera phone pictures, but I couldn't resist with this one. Look what was at the entrance to the MetroLink station at the hospital today! How cool is that? I had read about these R2-D2 mailboxes on various websites, but never imagined I'd run into one during my work day.

The United States Postal Service apparently has some more things up their sleeve to be revealed on March 28 in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. As if these mailboxes weren't cool enough.