These
are the Chronicles of Famous Surf Writer Ben Marcus and his trip
into the Wilds of the Alaskan Frontier.
Latest Update: November 19, 2000
13:40
WASHINGTON TIME. BROTHER DAN'S IN LYNNWOOD, WASHINGTON
Shoot.
Out of all of the last 9000 miles of perilous and semi-perilous
driving, it was the last two hours that I hated the most. I just
tried to find a fricking Post Office over here in suburban Everett
and Lynnwood, Washington. A pretty simple act, usually, that was
so frustrating, I wanted to pull out Mr. Walther and start shooting
things.
It
sucks driving around a place like this, a giant maze of strip malls
and number roads that don't seem to go anywhere. Traffic lights,
pulling out of parking lots, getting stuck behind people, and then
ending up at two different Post Offices, only to find 30 people
in line at each of them.
I
want to send a copy of Water on the Brain to a guy in England named
Craig Jervis who works for The Surfer's Path. I have a bunch of
surf videos that I want to send to Fran at swell.com, along with
a refrigerator magnet for Irene and a letter for Flame that I somehow
ended up with.
People
living on top of each other like this just does not work. No wonder
suburban types go crazy and start shooting at things. Here in suburban
Washington you can see the Cascades off in the distance, but at
ground level it's just strip malls and coffee kiosks and traffic
lights. It's horrible. At least to me, anyway.
Watched
American Beauty last night. I think someone was sending me a message.
I'm
pining for the Yukon all ready.
I
came over here two days ago to get out of my mom's hair and sort
out all my stuff. Dan has a big driveway and a lot of room, and
that allowed me to sort all my papers and maps and clothes and electrical
gadgets and regroup for another push onto the road.
The
drive from Sequim to Lynnwood is really nice, all through the trees
and along the Hood Canal. It was a beautiful day that day. When
I got to the ferry terminal at Kingston I could see Mount Rainier
poking up to the south, looking like a famous 19th Century painting..
All I had was $10 in Canadian money and $2 in American, but the
ferry guy let me on. I did the right thing by emptying the extra
gas can full of fuel into the truck. Not supposed to take gas cans
onto ferries.
The
good/bad news is there was a new credit card waiting for me at Dan's,
which will allow me to keep going, albeit on borrowed money. With
the van cleared out and in more temperate climes, I may be able
to sleep in it better, we'll see.
I'm
waiting for a bigger storage locker to open up in Sequim. I'm going
to stash all my extra junk, and then drive back down through Washington
and Oregon to California.
Even
and Hawk are reading the first parts of South by Northwest, and
if they like it I'm going to keep going like that, along the Olympic
Peninsula and down to California, describing all that I see and
experience.
Ready
to go. Two days in the same place and I get nervous.
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