Download this report as an MP3 sound file.

For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations August 7-8, 2004:

Ride, ride, ride

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

Hard on the heels of U-S Postal Service cycling team captain Lance Armstrong's Tour de France 
victory, thousands of bicyclists trekked across Iowa last month as part of an annual ride 
sponsored by the Des Moines Register newspaper.

It's one of the biggest week-long parties in the U-S., with about ten THOUSAND riders and 
hundreds of support personnel. As they traveled through dozens of Iowa's small towns, many 
carried a special "passport" issued by the Postal Service.

"And each of the 43 towns that the bike ride passes through has a cancellation, and you can 
put a stamp in the passport and get the particular town's cancellations as you travel the 
route."
RUNS :11

Pete McClure is a stamp collector in Iowa Falls, one of the towns along this year's route.

"There were 43 different special cancellations."
RUNS :03

And, while the bike riders were busy with their passports, collectors like McClure could have 
their envelopes postmarked for their own souvenirs.

And that's Stamp Collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 

----------------------------------------------------------
Go to Previous Report
Go to Next Report 

Go to Report Index