Latest Update: July 27, 2001 by Ben Marcus

19:30 PT FRIDAY JULY 27, 2001 STILL IN THE TV ROOM, WHISTLER

ODOMETER
TRIP METER

MONEY
Nope. Run out again.

Stuck again. This is no fun. I was very much expecting to have a Surfing Magazine check deposited today and I'd be on my way. But after a dozen pesky phone calls for the past week or so: no go. Crap. I've gotta get out of here. I've long since worn out my welcome here I think. I've done everything I needed to do and I want to get going north.

I just looked at a map and when I get to Prince George I have a decision to make: either cut east through Smithers and New Hazleton and head up the Cassiar Highway again, or go straight up through Prince George and see something I haven't yet seen.

Looks like I'm going up the Cassiar again, because I'm having my Ebay bought, Russian/English dictionary shipped to a motel in Dease Lake, where I stayed on the way down last fall. No problem there. This means I can cut through the Skeena area again, and maybe fish the Kispiox and go look for that wedding ring I lost last fall. That's always been the subtext to all this. I still feel guilty about losing that wedding ring, so maybe I'll go there and find it.

Beyond that, and with the new censorship imposed, today was just a cleaning up day. Got a few e-mails about the trip, a few other guys want to go and I sent an e-mail to a super star who might want to go.

Evan got mad at me for something, but I called him a booger eater and haven't heard anything since.

Later I sent this vow:

I HEREBY SWEAR TO NO LONGER GO ON ANY CHAT FORUMS OR LET OUT ANY SURFING MAGAZINE OR SWELL.COM SECRETS OR LIBEL ANYONE OR CAUSE ANY TROUBLE IN THE SURF INDUSTRY ANY LONGER

(EXCEPT MAYBE FOR THE SHARP PROJECT, IT'S TOO GOOD TO NOT DO)

HEAR ME, GOD.

BEN

No one believes it, but what the hell?

I packed up all my stuff, organized things better, and now I just want to get going. But I have $6 in the bank and a 200 kroner note worth CAN$27. That'll have to do, I guess. Hopefully that will be enough to make it to Cache Creek, and the next Chevron Station. Crap. Money is a pain. Lack of it, anyway.

The screenplay is all half-finished and ready to be mailed to people. I e-mailed Mark Lyon a copy because he has Final Draft. I'll get them printed up and bound in Prince George, or somewhere in Canada that is cheaper than the U.S.

Just got directions to Ken Achenbach's ñCamp's Overî party from Colin.

Main Village. Head up north. Right at the lights. Main Village. Through next lights to four way stop. Dirt parking lot. Park there.

Starbucks. Ulis across a fake bridge. Upstairs. Might hear noise.

Starbucks or savae beagle of the keg. Close. Ulis.

I should go there and talk to Ken and make sure he fills out his Wild Russia application form and faxes it to Russia, wildly. But I've never been invited to a party before and don't know how to behave. Nothing better to do. Need to get going.

Today the ATF faxed me a list of weapons that can legally be imported from Russia. My SV 98 bolt action sniper rifle wasn't on that list. Damn.

Well, I'm just stuck again, I guess. I think I have enough money to get to the next Chevron station and then I'll push up to Prince George. I'm not wasting time here, really. I needed this week here in Whistler to get everything organized for Russia, and it was a fair bit of fancy organizing, but it looks like it is all going to happen. Hope it's all worth it.

I also finished the rough draft of the first half of the screenplay, and maybe that will turn into something. I really like, but it's already two times too long.

But now it's time to move. I have about a month to kill before I have to be in Anchorage, and there is a lot to see between here and there. I want to get up to Dawson and Fairbanks and maybe take the road all the up into ANWR. I've seen most of it once, but I want to see it again.

And what will I do after Alaska and Russia? We shall see. That's a long way off.

Here's an e-mail I can reveal. Today I sent an e-mail to the director of a preserve for Siberian tigers a few days ago.

Dale Miquelle
Hornocker Wildlife Institute
Kamchatka, Siberia, Russia

July 27, 2001

Dale

I am leading a surfing/fishing expedition to the Kamchatka Peninsula at the end of August. We will depart Anchorage, Alaska on August 19 and spend two weeks in Kamchatka, exploring the coast by helicopter.

About a month ago Yvon Chouinard advised me on this trip, and suggested I contact you for a possible visit to your Siberian Tiger preserve.

Just by coincidence, I saw Yvon in Last Chance, Idaho a few weeks ago. That same night, I was watching TV and there was a show on Siberian Tigers. It must have been your outfit, but I couldn't tell if you were located on Kamchatka or in some other part of Siberia. I took all that as a sign, by the way, and now we're going.

I am currently traveling with a black and white Norwegian forest cat named Ike. He is an excellent cat and a true adventurer I would love to take him to Russia, but he's a bit of a mixer and they might not let him in.

However, I would love to see a Siberian Tiger, wild or preserved, and I'm wondering where you are in Kamchatka, and if you allow visitors.

And if we come, is there anything you need from the U.S. of A? We'll be in Kamchatka from August 10 to September 2.

Thank you for your time.

Ben Marcus: TheBenM@AOL.com.

This was the response, with my comments in ALL CAPS.

In a message dated 7/27/2001 7:48:37 PM Pacific Daylight Time, dalemiq@online.marine.su writes:

Ben,

Thanks for your interest in tigers and visting a tiger reserve. Unfortunately for you, Kamchatka is at least 2,000 miles from tiger range.

I HAD A FEELING IT WASN'T KAMCHATKA.

GUESS I WAS RIGHT.

KAMCHATKA SEEMED TOO FAR NORTH TO ME.

BUT YVON SEEMED SURE, AND WHO AM I TO DOUBT HIM? HE'S BEEN THERE. I HAVEN'T.

Tigers occur in the very southern most region of the Russian Far East, along the Chinese/Korean border in Primorski and Khabarovski Krai.

THAT MAKES SENSE.

And I can guarantee that the surfing is bad in Sea of Japan.

I BELIEVE YOU.

Organized tours are starting to come to some of these places, and if you are interested, I can put you in contact with some of the local tour operators.

OH THAT'S OKAY. THIS WAS JUST GOING TO BE A SIDEBAR TO THE KAMCHTAKA TRIP.

Good luck with your trip.

THANK YOU. THERE ARE STILL THOSE GIANT GRIZZLY BEAR.

Hope the fishing is good,

ME TOO. AND THE SURFING. AND THE HELICOPTERS STAY IN THE AIR.

although I hear it is a bad year for salmon.

DANG. WELL, THERE'S ALWAYS STEELHEAD.

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

Dale Miquelle
Russian Far East Program Coordinator
Wildlife Conservation Society

So, no tigers, but there's still bear.

I guess I'll go to that party and schmooze with Achenbach a bit and maybe have some dinner, then come back and get some sleep. I'm out of here tomorrow, one way or the other.

Time to hit the road. Hope Ike is all rested up. He;s had a good time here, I think. Lots of attention, and incredible amount of sleep and he occasionally impressed a house full of snowboarders by doing some giant ñgap,î making incredible leaps from ground to window sill, or roof to roof. Ike has skills. He may look lazy, but that's just a disguise.

Over and out.