Famous world traveler, Flat Stanley, the cardboard cut-out tourist who roams the world and reports his travels back to the schoolchildren who sent him, recently visited Rhode Island. This reporter, Paul Pence, caught him relaxing between outings between the pages of the "S" encyclopedia in the Rhode Island Roads office.

RI Roads: I'm so pleased to have this chance to interview you. Do you have many interviews?

Stanley: Not many. Most grown-ups feel a little silly talking to a flat piece of paper drawn to look like a little kid. But I've been on the news and there have been lots of newspaper articles. Grownups may feel odd talking to me, but they love to talk about the places I've been.

RI Roads: Are your travels that interesting?

Stanley: Absolutely! I've flown on the space shuttle, been on TV shows, and hung around with presidents and governors. I've been to almost every country in the world, including Antartica. If I hadn't traveled, I would have spent my entire life pinned to a bulletin board in a third-grade classroom.

RI Roads: How do you get to so many interesting places?

Stanley: Mostly through the mail. Being made out of cardboard makes it easy.

RI Roads: What do you think of Rhode Island?

Stanley: It's a great place. I enjoy it every time I come here.

RI Roads: You've been here before?

Stanley: I've been here many times. There are kids all over the world making me and mailing me to interesting places. Lots of them have sent me to Rhode Island. This time I'm on a trip for the kids in Mrs. Lindsey's class at Bascomb Elementry School in Woodstock, Georgia. Nick drew me and cut me out. Then Mrs. Lindsey laminated me. Then Nick had me mailed to a relative here in Rhode Island.

RI Roads: What have you seen in Rhode Island this time?

Stanley: I've been to the Rhode Island state house: Boy is that place big for such a tiny state. And I've been to a beach and sat for a while on top of a sand dune looking at seagulls. I spend a lot of my time looking out of the car window, so I've seen a lot of neat stuff, like the Towers in Narragansett and the Newport bridge and sail boats and forests.

RI Roads: Rhode Island's a great place for vacations. It's full of history and culture and natural history.

Stanley: The important thing is that the kids get to learn more about other places. They can learn that Rhode Island was the first state to declare independence from England, or that Rhode Island's state bird is a red chicken. Did you know that Rhode Island has the longest official name of any state in the US? When I finally head back home, I'll have a huge stack of papers and stuff to show the kids. And a few pictures.

RI Roads: So you've been to a lot of places. What have you learned on your travels?

Stanley: That people are people and kids are kids no matter where you go. Oh... and that it's cheaper to travel by airmail than by airplane.

RI Roads: Thank you, Flat Stanley

Stanley: It's a pleasure. Now if you can slide me back between page 238 and 239, I can get back to my nap.

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