Latest
Update: September 17, 2001 by Ben Marcus
12:02
ALASKA TIME MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 SOMEWHERE NEAR PORTAGE GLACIER.
It's
a dark and stormy night and it is the best of times and the worst
of times, and that is enough of that.
I
just made a long, dark, stormy drive from the Alyeska Prince Hotel
to Portage, looking for a place to sleep. I'm parking the same
place Gus and I slept a couple of weeks ago, but now I am solo.
I don't even have Ike with me. I do have my computer to talk to
and the BBC World Service to listen to, so it could be worse.
It's
the best of times and the worst of times.
I
spent today going back and forth between Turnagain Arm and the
Alyeska Prince Hotel, which is a very nice hotel. It was designed
by Japanese, for Japanese so it has style. A lot of cherry-wood,
a lot of nice touches. I have rarely seen a nicer hotel. And it
was nicer because it was mostly deserted.
Here
comes a great big truck pulling up next to me. Is he sleeping
here too? Not quite so lonely that way, I guess. It's lonely out
in all this space.
I
went to the Alyeska earlier in the day and used the data link
in their pay phone. I found that I can call the Anchorage AOL
number toll-free which is going to save me $6 an hour, and that
adds up.
I
worked on this and that and went down to Turnagain Arm around
15:30 to watch the bore. I talked to that same amped-out skier/surfer
dude that I had talked to a couple of weeks ago, then watched
him catch a wave and ride it for awhile. This was a Four Star
bore today and it was okay. A little more oomph than the day before,
but it's going to have to be a big jump up to a Five Star bore
to make tomorrow anything special. Where is the big rumble I remember
from last time?
When
the skier/surfer dude came back in I got some contact numbers
for the local Red Bull people. They sponsor an annual Alaska Extreme
Skiiing competition every year, so I'm going to contact them and
see if they're interested in the BoarderCrossOver idea.
I
did call them from the Alyeska Prince but got only message machines.
I went up to the bar to find a TV and ended up hanging there until
23:00. I played Scrabble with the bartender and his girlfriend
and was the only customer in the bar, all night.
I
got some work done and watched Braveheart and CNN and packed it
up when the bar closed down.
Now
I'm here in some dark parking lot, listening to the BBC World
Service and thinking about tomorrow.
Tomorrow
is going to be a telephone day. I have to call a bunch of people
for a bunch of different reasons. I need to talk to people about
the Santa Cruz article and the Specialty Event article and the
Red Bull people. Hopefully the hotel will continue to be empty
and I can take over that enclosed phone booth and turn it into
an office.
Now
I'm going to sleep. I'm beat.
10:18
ALASKA TIME MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 PHONE BOOTH AT THE ALYESKA
PRINCE HOTEL
Now
it's a clear and sunny morning, after a dark and stormy night.
Woke up in Williwaw Salmon viewing parking lot with a dead battery
and lots of clouds and glaciers and waterfalls all around, with
lots of migrating salmon in the creeks.
That
big rig last night turned out to be a large RV towing a trailer
two ATV's behind. I convinced the owner to give me a jump. For
a few minutes I thought my battery was completely dead and I was
screwed, but then it finally took and I had a nice chat with this
guy while the battery charged.
He
had a giant RV and was heading for Homer to go fishing. The whole
time I was talking to him I was thinking that this guy with his
giant RV and two ATVs, times about a couple million more like
him = the World Trade Center bombing. At the bottom of all of
this is America's dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and our history
of meddling in their politics, from Palestine to the Shah of Iran
to Desert Storm to the current situation in Israel. And the reason
we are so dependent on Middle Eastern oil and the reason we have
to meddle with a place we would ignore like Africa otherwise is
that we drive around in giant RVs towing two ATVS. We waste oil
as if it were water.
Of
course I didn't say this to the man driving the huge RV with the
two ATV's in back because he was a nice man and he was giving
me a jump start.
This
man worked with cranes at Prudhoe Bay and so we traded a few stories
about the haul road and ANWR and all that, and I'm still thinking,
ñWhy does this guy need an RV the size of a fricking battleship,
with TWO ATVs on the back?î But of course I didn't say that and
he couldn't read the thought bubbles over my head, so we parted
friends.
Am
I wrong about all this? I don't think so. America tries to be
the good guy, but we still have hell to pay.
So
now I'm in the glassed-off phone booth in the Alyeksa Prince Hotel
which will serve as my office today. The hotel is mostly empty
and Beethoven is on the PA system and this could be a fun, easy
day of being a cyber-bum.
I
bought a $50 phone card this morning, and I hope it last long
enough to get all my work done.
I
have lots of phone calls to make and e-mails to send: Pat O'Neill
at O'Neill
Jim Foley for the Santa Cruz article
Paul Naude at Billabong
Gary Dunne at Rip Curl
Al Weimers for the Santa Cruz artile
CJ at Red Bull for the BoarderCrossOver deal.
Cassie at Red Bull for the BoarderCrossOver deal
Marcel Soros for the Santa Cruz article.
Peter Mel for the Santa Cruz article
I'm
also trying to find Wayne, the guy who started Hard Cloud, to
be my designated anonymous dot-commer for the Santa Cruz article,
and I need his e-mail address.
Jim
Phillips sent me some contact information for Jim Foley, who a
lot of people point to as being one of the most innovative Santa
Cruz surfers of the 50s. When I met Miki Dora in France in 1980,
he told me to tell Peter van Dyke: ñI've gone the way of Jim Foley.î
Or
maybe it was Chuck Foley. I don't know.
Etc.
Etc. I'm going to be in this chair in this glassed-off phone booth
a lot, so I'll go get some breakfast now, get organized and then
try to get some work done.
Later
I'm going to check the Five Star bore that will come through at
right around 17:16. I'm going to try to set up a meeting with
Cella Baker and the Red Bull people in that bar tonight, because
it's a nice place to be-when it's empty.
Then
I'm heading back to Valdez, and getting out of Alaska on Tuesday.
Time for other, warmer places.
By
the way, the drive from Portage up to Girdwood this morning was
spectacular. Full Immigrant Song scenario, if you get the picture:
sunlight and clouds and fjords. This is quite a place.
12:00
NOON: I'm eating seafood chowder and bread in the cafÚ now. This
place is a ghost town. I'm cleaning up all the stuff I have so
far for the Santa Cruz article, and hoping for more. I'm lagging
on this thing. I should have invaded Matt Warshaw's house and
used all his materials and been by a phone for a couple of weeks.
Oh well. Maybe I can fake it.
The
Alyeska Prince Hotel is really, really nice, especially when you
have it all to yourself.
Here's
the tentative plan for the rest of my life:
1. Tidal bore today.
2. Drive to Valdez tonight or tomorrow and stay there tomorrow
night.
3. Leave Valdez Wednesday morning and head for Tok and the Canadian
border.
4. Looks like I won't be able to take the ferry home from Haines
or Skagway, so I guess I'll drive back through Canada and aim
for the Kispiox by the end of September.
5. Drive back down the Cassiar most likely and then aim for Montana.
6. Dan is going to be in Kalispell on October 11, so I'll aim
for that.
7. After that? God knows.
Bye
for now. Keep those cards and letters and e-mails coming.
13:39
ALASKA TIME MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2001 THE GLASSED-IN PHONE BOOTH
AT THE ALYESKA PRINCE HOTEL
Crap,
in that short a time I lost my brand-new, $50 phone card. I went
to lunch, had some soup, pitched my Boardercrossover idea to a
couple of pretty girls and when I looked for my phone card, it
wasn't there.
Unbelievable.
Oh
well, maybe it will turn up in one of my many pockets.
Idiot.
I
did find my other pair of sunglasses by the way, when I cleaned
out the van to take the Turks from Valdez to here. So that's good
news.
I
lost my $50 phone card, in less than an hour, before I wrote the
numbers down.
Crap.
Idiot.
What
next?
Hawk
thinks Nukes are next, so I guess it could be worse.
We
just IMed.
TheBenM:
SO WHAT?
penguinsurf:
You gonna join the Marines, go kill some terrorists?
TheBenM:
NAW. I KNOW WHAT THE RESPONSE SHOULD BE.
TheBenM:
I POSTED IT ON AGGROVILLE.
TheBenM:
IT'S JUST PAYBACK FOR WHAT WE DID TO THEM. JUSTIFIED IN A WAY.
TheBenM:
I figured out how to solve this wholeterrorism deal, and give
payback for what happened in New York.
Mayhem,
Frank, Dingz and Dezy should all sneak over to Saudi Arabia,
hijacka Saudi Airlines 747 and crash it directly into Mecca.
The
terrorists made a symbolic act when they took out the World
TradeCenter (capitalism will topple), someone from America should
do a similarlysymbolic act and crash a 747 directly into that
big, black stone the Muslimsall walk around during the haj.
No
one but the Mayhe
penguinsurf:
I have to agree, in a way. That's certainly how they see it,
anyway. But the chance for peaceful solution collapsed with
those towers. It's going to get very ugly. You should stay in
Canada, away from the nuclear fallout.
TheBenM:
YOU THINK THERE WILL BE NUKES?
TheBenM:
ANTHRAX BOMBS?
TheBenM:
I GUESS I CAN LIVE OFF OF MOOSE.
TheBenM:
LIFE DURING WARTIME.
TheBenM: IF THEY ATTACK AMERICA ILL SHOOT AT THEM. HOPEFULLY
PAKISTAN CAN CONVINCE AFGHANISTAN TO GIVE UP BIN LADEN, BUT
I DONT THINK THEY WILL.
penguinsurf:
What do you think W will do if they set off an antrax bomb in
D.C? ICBMs away.
TheBenM:
AT WHO? THAT'S THE PROBLEM. WE DONT EVEN HAVE A GOOD TARGET
YET.
penguinsurf:
I know. It's just fucking awful. I haven't had this deep sense
of dread since I did duck-and-cover drills during the Cuban
Missile Crisis.
TheBenM:
it'll blow over, i think. this isnt war against a nation. TheBenM:
this is us going after 50 people who pulled off an amzing act
of terrorism.
penguinsurf:
What's the device called that measures windspeed?
TheBenM:
no nations are involved. just individuals.
TheBenM:
anemoneter
penguinsurf:
Yeah, but W and his ilk want to kick some ass.
penguinsurf:
You're the man. Thanks.
TheBenM:
i was kidding. not an anemomneter. Sea otters are anemoneters.
TheBenM:
We consumes too much oil. We waste it. That is at the bottom
of all of this.
penguinsurf:
Anemometer
TheBenM:
Something like that. Im trying o convince this hotel to do a
combined snowabord/tidal bore event.
TheBenM:
It could be really fun.
penguinsurf:
Great idea. Springtime?
TheBenM: Yep. I'll send the proposal. I've got the tides and
everything figured out.
TheBenM:
This place is beautiful and the hotel is very very nice.
penguinsurf:
You should get a longboard and try it, so you can speak first-hand.
TheBenM:
I almost did yesterday. Might today. It's pretty tempting. It's
so damned weird.
TheBenM:
Do you have any contacts at ESPN or Fox?
TheBenM:
Read the propsoal. I think it's great. This is really quite
a place.
TheBenM:
Osama bin Laden may have changed the course of history and how
many people can claim that.
TheBenM:
He's a clever man. Wonder if the Chinese and Russians are behind
him.
TheBenM:
What about contacts at EsPN and Fox? I think this would be worth
televising.
penguinsurf:
I think the Chinese and Russians are afraid of him. One thing
that might come from this: All the old enemies (USA, Russia,
China, Germany, Japan) teaming up against the muslim hordes.
TheBenM:
I dont know about that. I think he may be getting nudged by
others.
Really
one of the most brilliantly succesful things I have ever seen.
penguinsurf: I don't have contacts, but I certainly know people
who know people at ESPN. I'll see what I can do.
penguinsurf:
Think about it: they took down two of the tallest, most conspicuous
buildings in the US with KNIVES.
TheBenM:
thats what i mean. brilliant.
penguinsurf:
Someone on TV called it "low-tech, high-concept" terrorism.
TheBenM:
Yep. That stuck with me. Great call.
TheBenM:
Like he was talking about a movie.
penguinsurf:
Yeah. Like "The Blair Witch Project."
TheBenM:
equally frightening and surreal and impossible to believe.
TheBenM:
If youre gonna get payback, that's the way to do it. Kind of
like my Surf News thing. Go for the juggular.
TheBenM:
Read the proposal right now if you can. I want your opinion.
penguinsurf:
I'm doing a little thing for Outside that's due this afternoon.
Tonight, if I have time.
penguinsurf:
My brother's on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire tonight. He'll
pretty much just be in the background.
penguinsurf:
He gets to the hotseat next Monday.
TheBenM:
I see.
If
you like the propsoal, pass it on to whoever.
thanks
penguinsurf:
Did you e-mail it?
TheBenM:
Yep. It should be there by now.
penguinsurf:
Got it.
TheBenM:
Read it. its short.
penguinsurf:
OK. Will do. When are you leaving Alaska?
TheBenM: Tomorrow. This whole thing was a bust. Just lost a
$50 phone card. If this Boardercrss thing developes, then it
will have been worth it.
penguinsurf:
At least you learned how to gut fish.
TheBenM:
Yep, and got a 400-pound security guard mad at me.
penguinsurf:
I never did get that whole story.
TheBenM:
Just a big dumb hillbilly at the fish factory. Didnt like me
for some reason.
TheBenM:
Really didnt like me after I called him a white trash hillbilly.
TheBenM:
he must have ben reading the thought bubbles over my head.
TheBenM:
Guess I'll sign off. Wish I hadnt lost that stupid phone card.
Waht a moron. I know to write the numbers down, i just didnt
do it right away.
TheBenM:
the prpoblem with humans is that deep down, we love war, we
just dont want to admit it.
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