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Up Around the Bend

“Catch a ride to the end of the highway and well meet by the big red tree,

Theres a place up ahead and I’m goin, come along, come along with me.

Come on the risin’ wind, were goin’ up around the bend.” - John Fogerty

In Alaska

Potato Point, Alaska, webcam - This is the web cam closest to where I will be in Alaska, on Potato Point at the base of Mt. Thomas. I will be right on the other side of that mountain, which is Ellamar Mountain. There is no way to isolate the camera for your viewing pleasure so you have to do a little work to view it. CLICK HERE and find POTATO POINT and then choose the SOUTH camera.

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I will be spending Independence Day 2009 2660 miles (5320 miles round trip, 8561.7 km) from home. Soon I will be north, in Prince William Sound, off Virgin Bay near Ellamar, Alaska, across the way from Bligh and Busby Islands. Ellamar (E-luh-mahr), in Valdez-Cordova County, is a remote village only accessible by boat approximately 20 mi (32 km) southwest of Valdez. Ellamar is an old turn-of-the-century mine and cannery site. Aged pier pilings are visible from the past mining operations. The elevation of Ellamar is 82 feet (25 meters). That’s cool; there should be plenty of air to breathe. I am used to living where the thin air resides: elevation baby, 5280 feet (1.6 km)!!!

It’s a 2 hour boat trip from the Port of Valdez, through the Valdez Arm (Valdez-Dutch Harbor) along the Alaska Marine Highway (the country’s most unique Scenic Byway) to the Tatitlek Narrows to Virgin Bay. Approximate coordinates: latitude 60°53?33.16? longitude -146°41?49.84?. Alaska native coastal villages, Chenega and Tatitlek, are nearby.

A 27-foot (8.2 m) tsunami in 1964, a result of the Good Friday earthquake, killed 23 of the 68 Chugach villagers in Chenega. Survivors out-ran the wave and climbed to high ground. Valdez was mostly destroyed and was relocated to higher ground 4 miles (7 km) west of its original site.

In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef after leaving Valdez, causing an oil spill of more than 250,000 barrels of Alaska North Slope crude oil being released into northeastern Prince William Sound. The spill is considered one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur at sea and resulted in massive damage to the environment, including the killing of around 375,000 seabirds, nearly 3,000 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles and up to 22 killer whales.

I hear the crashing ice-blue glaciers, towering, steep and glaciated Chugach Mountains that rise from the sea make Valdez absolutely picturesque. There are 5 easily accessible glaciers in this area. Add the tranquil fjords, lush forests and unbelievable concentrations of seabirds and marine wildlife, one cannot help but be excited.

Geology of the area is filled with slate, conglomerate, graywackes, greenstone and schist all metamorphic and folded! Deposits of gold-bearing quartz have been found on Banzer and Gladhaugh creeks and on the east side of Bligh Island. There is a rock shelf in the middle of Virgin Bay and lots of good fishing in Prince William Sound! I’ll be able to use a net to scoop up glacial ice for beverage cooling. SWEET! There is no better way to celebrate the 4th of July in my opinion.

The area around Virgin Bay has enormous unpopulated spaces where it’s easy to get away from it all. It is a “sub-polar rainforest,” the Chugach National Forest, a temperate rain forest in the pacific temperate rain forest region. Wild lands, wild life, wild fish and wild life!!! I will sure as heck watch for signs of bears such as tracks and scat. I’m on the hunt for moose or bear scat! I’m sure there is scat everywhere. Darn that filthy but natural scat!

Perhaps I will see whales, porpoise, dolphins, seals and sea otters? Alaska’s vast and diverse tundra provides safe nesting territory for migratory bird species such as swans, geese, ducks and terns, while salmon streams and forests provide a steady food supply for bald and golden eagles. Did I mention that I will be fishing while in Alaska? Alaska’s summer waters teem with 5 kinds of wild Pacific salmon, plus halibut, hefty rainbow trout and delicate arctic grayling.

The normal high temperature is 62.3 °F and the normal low temperature is 48 °F. The length of visible light in a day is 24 hours while the length of a day is 19 hours and 3 minutes. I have calculated sunrise/sunset, astronomical/nautical twilight and moonrise/moonset times for when I am there. I also have topographical maps of the area and done extensive geology research. I don’t take chances with the acquiring of knowledge. I learn as much as I can about an area before I go. I will be able to recognize mountains and glaciers and features on land and at sea. I’m a nerd.

While in Anchorage I plan on going to the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska Museum of Natural History and the Imaginarium!

Urban Garden tour during tornado warning

A tour of the GX-IV Urban Garden during a thunderstorm and tornado warning.

final prep

I needed to get the final trellis for the cucumbers in Soil Prime done before I leave for Alaska in a few days. I will be gone for 11 days…

For two years in a row I deployed over a thousand ladybugs in the Urban Garden. None this year but with all the rain, the ladybugs are everywhere! I am amazed!

Strawberry Hill has gone rogue!

The sunflowers reseeded themselves on Strawberry Hill and there are Morning Glories growing up the sunflowers stalks. The Morning Glory seeds came from the Moon Pole last year, carried on the wind. A little maintenance and it might look pretty good. A surprise for certain.

The Day Michael Jackson Died

The day Michael Jackson died the thunderstorms came to Denver, Colorado. The sky opened up and it rained and hailed and there was lightning, thunderclaps and flash floods.

I pulled up my modest musical Michael Jackson playlist and pressed play. Shuffle. It’s “You are Not Alone.”

Track two, “Man in the Mirror,” and I cry.

“I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na, Na Nah)”

RIP Michael Jackson

He’s jamming with Elvis now.

My eyes adored you

“My eyes adored you
Though I never laid a hand on you,
My eyes adored you
Like a million miles away from me you couldn’t see
How I adored you:
So close, so close and yet so far away”

-Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons

very pleased

Audio Treat: The Florida Tape - Get Over!

My family drove from Denver to Florida in 1991 for a family vacation. It was fun, but was a fiasco, with 5 people crammed into a 1990 Oldsmobile. 5 minutes into the trip, my older brother Eric was yanking on my sister’s hair because the Depeche Mode coming from her headphones was too loud. My mom was driving and I was sitting shotgun. I looked at my watch and said, “Only another 3 days until we get to Orlando!”

My sister had a tape recorder with her, with which she used to record messages to her bike-riding boyfriend Roger. She captured a gem of pure, unadulterated, real-life audio which is known in my family as “The Florida Tape: Get Over!”

In this audio, my older brother Eric is driving, my mom is riding shotgun with J. Charles and my sister and I in the back seat. My mom wants desperately to stop for a nice lunch, but Eric wouldn’t stop. Finally, after reaching the boiling point, she screamed at the top of her lungs. As always, it was my fault. Eric blamed me for everything. It was always my Lubby butt’s fault!

HERE IS THE AUDIO .MP3 (right click and “Save Target As”)

HERE IS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE AUDIO:

MOM
I couldn’t latch my door. Some lady opened the door and said “Oh excuse me.”

JEN
She did?

MOM
Yes.

JEN
Oh how embarrassing.

ERIC
Russell?!

JEN
I’m about to dehydrate mom maybe we gotta get that pop now. I’m a chuck. I’m dehydrated.

ERIC
You get a pop out I will wait longer before I stop.

MOM
Eric you and your excuses.

ERIC
So stupid. If we’re gonna go eat real soon.

JEN
Here’s Russ … I’m gonna pick my butt…

ERIC
Gonna drink some pop…
(Tape stops)

MOM
…your way, we would absolutely not eat. I mean that’s the way it is. Going to the bathroom periodically…

ERIC
And we’d be there an extra two days earlier.

MOM
That stupid…

JEN
We should drive straight through.

ERIC
That’s what we should do.

JEFF
Russ what’d you do with Final Fantasy?…

ERIC
We could be there and a day from now we could in our house. 24 hours from our house.

MOM
To dine on the road … swimming and relaxing and eating food that I don’t have to cook. But no instead we’ll drive all day ‘till we’re dehydrated…
(Laughter)

ERIC
You wouldn’t have to drive you you’d just have to sit back there and complain with Russ. (Laughter) Geez now what’s goin’ on? Look…would be a good place to eat but we’re not stopping until Atlanta.

MOM
There’s a great place right up there.

RUSS
Country Backyard.

ERIC
Yeah Russ. Two more miles and Russ could have taken a poop. No. He couldn’t wait until I asked.

MOM
Eric that’s not funny when you have to go you have to go.

ERIC
He didn’t have to. He was fakin’ the whole thing. He probably had to go a little bit. So he was like “I gotta go so…” I can do the same thing. Oh you’re lucky…

RUSS
There’s the rain!

ERIC
Dude no one agreed. No one agreed with me.

MOM
Come on honey let’s take the next exit.

ERIC
OK

MOM
Oh Eric. Why do you have to be this way?

JEN
Smells good.

ERIC
Doesn’t it.

JEN
Yes.

RUSS
Mom beat him! When we go to lunch make him buy his own.

ERIC
Dude Russ you would starve to death. You don’t have that much…even with that 200 dollars you had. You would have starved the first three days. “What? I have to buy my own?”

RUSS
I’d be sittin’ high on the sky coz I’d be grubbin’.

ERIC
Three days. Three days and 200 dollars.

MOM
Please pull over. There are several places to eat here Eric.

RUSS
Eric turn!

ERIC
OK

RUSS
I’m gonna smack him again.

ERIC
Every time you smack me I…

MOM
There’s a Shoney’s Eric!

RUSS
Eric! Shoney’s!

ERIC
I’m not stoppin’ until everybody shuts up until I stop. If I wouldn’t had to stop for Russ’ Lubby butt or Jeff’s Pop Tart breath.

MOM
It isn’t funny. I want to stop and relax.

ERIC
What’s so hard about sitting in the back seat not doing a thing? I guess it does get a little tiresome complaining.

RUSS
Eric you’ve never sit in the middle before.

MOM
Listen I will drive and you can rest and relax.

ERIC
I’m not tired. I don’t need to rest.

JEN
TACO BELL! Exit 62! That’s where we’re goin’.

RUSS
We’ve already been to a Taco Bell.

JEN
No we have not.

ERIC
Yeah we were at that one the other day remember?

JEN
Taco bell? I don’t remember.

Eric
Tent College Drive.

MOM
He waits until we get out in backwoods country and then he’ll stop at some flea-bitten…

ERIC
That’s Russ.

JEN
Day 11.

ERIC
…dressing for my body. Forget it man. We’re not stoppin’ until Atlanta.

JEFF
(Laughs)

RUSS
Eric if you don’t pull over soon I’m gonna jump over the seat and sit on your face and drive myself.

ERIC
If only you were a girl and not related.

MOM
Quiet.

JEN
Shut up! Ugh!

ERIC
Did you get that girl?

JEN
Yes.
(Laughter)

RUSS
I’m gonna do it.

JEFF
I’m gonna sit on your face and drive myself.

ERIC
Russ, your underwear could drive itself.

JEN
June 19. Day 11.

MOM
Please Eric turn on exit 62.

ERIC
Mom…

JEN
Turn on exit 62.

ERIC
Now number one let me tell you something. Let me tell you one thing. Let me tell you a story and when I’m done with this story we’ll stop. 1803 was the year. (inaudible) There’s a lot of settlers along the land.

RUSS
I’m doing awesome at this game.

MOM
Please Eric.

ERIC
Mom.

JEN
Mom’s begging and pleading.

ERIC
Oh I just missed exit 62.

MOM
Eric I’m not going to Atlanta…

ERIC
Ok then don’t go to Atlanta…ouch…

MOM
So if I start beating on you…you will know it.

ERIC
Every beat is another 10 miles past Atlanta.

MOM
I want you to stop. There were several good places to eat on this street…

JEN
There were good places…

MOM
I’m not even looking at that. There were several nice restrents.

ERIC
Restrents. I love how you….say it again mom. Restrents. Sing it.

JEN
Restrents.

MOM
I am dying of thirst.

JEN
So am I.

ERIC
Let’s all…let’s…subliminally now…let’s all pretend we’re in a cool rushing water, sipping coconut juice. Looking at people.

MOM
Eric would you please stop.

ERIC
Mother?

MOM
Would you please stop?

ERIC
OK

MOM
I want you to pull over and stop…honey don’t make me do this.

ERIC
Oh geez, 10 miles! 15! 20!

MOM
Honey please.

ERIC
Sit back and relax. Just like those Disney rides.

MOM
Please pull over. Please pull over. Please pull over. Pull over please.

ERIC
Mom. There’s nothing…we’ll pull over in a second. Geez get off of me.

MOM
Honey you are waiting until we’re out of town and there’s no place to eat.

ERIC
There is plenty right up the road here. Don’t worry. I can’t-

MOM
GET OVER! GET OVER! GET OVER!

ERIC
Mom get off of me!

MOM
Get over!

ERIC
I will. Sit back and we’ll get over.

MOM
No. Get over now. Please get over.

JEN
Oh God…

ERIC
Get off of me.

MOM
You get over right now. Get over and get off the highway. It’s so stupid…

ERIC
It’s so stupid that Russ is doin’ this.
(Laughter)

MOM
Get off the highway. Get off the highway. You’ve ruined it for me so just get off.

ERIC
Mom we’ll stop at Jacksonville…

MOM
No! Get off!

ERIC
We’re not gonna stop here! Number one it’s against the law unless it’s an emergency!

MOM
Get off at the next exit.

ERIC
I said I would. Exit number 4.

MOM
And then I will drive and find us a restrent. And…

ERIC
Mother I will drive us to a restaurant.

MOM
Do it right now.

ERIC
I will do it!

MOM
The very next exit I want you to take it. You’ve passed up wonderful…

ERIC
That’s a weigh station!

MOM
Not that you stupid idiot.
(Laughter)

ERIC
Now sit back.

MOM
You will not be driving anymore today.

ERIC
Suit yourself.

MOM
That’s fine just get over at the very next exit. This is stupid…

ERIC
It is stupid.

MOM
That we have to put up ridiculousness.

ERIC
It is. So stop screaming.

MOM
All you have to do is ride in the right lane so that we’ll know that when the exit comes I’m going to turn the wheel for you.

ERIC
You’re getting me all choked up.

MOM
This is just ridiculous.

ERIC
It is ridiculous now sit back.

MOM
I mean tomorrow we’ll do it my way. We’ll have a nice breakfast, a nice lunch and a nice dinner. Y’know I’m willing to work with you…

ERIC
The tires only can hold so much…if you looked at them now…

MOM
But if you’re going to be stupid like this. You want to act stupid and cut us down to two about minutes a day…

ERIC
…meals a day…oh…number one they ate 5 Pop Tarts a piece when we stopped…when we started. Then we get a little bit down the road and they eat another one a piece. Then we stop at a gas station and they eat some Twinkies. Then we stop and have a nice big lunch. Then Russ breaks out the crackers…

MOM
When do you think we might have that lunch?

ERIC
When it is…see you can tell by the break in the sky when it’s best to eat in the day. We’re not there yet.

MOM
It’s a bunch of crap.
(Laughter)

ERIC
It’s the truth.

MOM
Just get ready to get over.

ERIC
Back when the Aztec Indians roamed the land, they ate at a certain point in the day when the sun would help the food be more nutritious to the body…

MOM
That’s fine. Just as soon as you get over then I’ll be driving today.

ERIC
Well, just like the Aztecs, as I. Mom if you don’t want me to drive again today that’s fine. You all suffer by God. We will be there momentarily. Just like those rides. “Fasten your seatbelts…”

Je t’aime Till My Dying Day

I’ll always love you
Till my dying day