Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

Brian Tiemann
Silicon Valley-based purveyor of a confusing mixture of Apple punditry and political bile.

btman at grotto11 dot com

Read These Too:

InstaPundit
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James Lileks
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Entropicana
Cold Fury
Capitalist Lion
Red Letter Day
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Tal G in Jerusalem
Secular Islam
Aziz Poonawalla
Corsair the Rational Pirate
.clue
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Cartago Delenda Est

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Friday, July 22, 2005
14:20 - My insidious agenda	(top)
They don't have suicide bombers in the Yukon, right? Good. So here's my plan, day by day, for the Alaska trip now that it's only a week away. These dates are getting less and less subject to change, less so with every non-revokable, non-refundable ticket I buy on some tour or flight. It's getting to the point where if it's unrealistic for me to make a certain destination in a single day, well, I'll just have to drive faster rather than dip into any spare days�or, more likely, keep on driving into the night until I smash into a tree. (Feel free to follow along on Google Maps if you want. It's been my obsession for the past few weeks; it may as well be shared.) So: Day 1, Saturday, 7/30. Wake up early (6-ish). Give Capri his farewell walk. Leave San Jose by 7:30. Stop by work in Cupertino, then drive north on 280 or 101 (depending on the smogginess of the morning�if it's clear, 101, otherwise, 280). Head through San Francisco on 19th Avenue. Cross the Golden Gate Bridge and strike northward on 101 through Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino Counties until we reach my parents' place in Redwood Valley, at the confluence of 101 and 20. Spend late morning there rehearsing putting up the tent they have. Eat some brunch, or perhaps lunch, depending on how hungry we feel. (The contents of meals from now on will have little to do with the meals' traditional names or times, so we may as well get used to it.) Then take 20 east, past Clear Lake to meet I-5 at Williams. Then turn north and traverse the Sacramento River Valley until it rises into the Yolla Bolly Wilderness, where the Coast Ranges merge with the Sierras and Cascades, and where Mt. Shasta marks the beginning of the snowcapped portion of the journey, and the beginning of US 97, the highway that peels off from I-5 and strikes through the barren centers of Oregon and Washington until it crosses the border and becomes BC 97, the road that eventually becomes the Alaska Highway. Klamath Falls is the destination for Day 1, with the option for a post-motel-checkin side trip to Crater Lake and back. Day 2, Sunday, 7/31: US 97 north through Bend and past Mt. Hood. I figure we'll get sandwiches in Wasco and eat them in Maryhill State Park, just over the Columbia River. Then continue on through the cities of central Washington: Toppenish, Yakima, Ellensburg. The road takes several weird turns near Wenatchee, before turning north into the long lake-strewn valleys leading into Canada at Osoyoos. Finally we pull into Kelowna, where my company has a northern development office, and where Sunday ends. Day 3, Monday, 8/1: after stopping off at my company's building, there to wave at people who don't recognize me, we strike off north along one of the three branches of BC 97, taking the easternmost arm which joins Canada Highway 1 at Sicamous. This heads east into the Rockies: Glacier National Park, then Banff and Jasper (be sure to check out the satellite views of these). After spending the early afternoon driving north through the formidable valleys that make up these two parks, we cut east and then north on Alberta 40, before reaching Hinton. This road leads through some wild logging wilderness before finally dropping back down to the Alberta plains at Grande Prairie, where we turn west again and try to make it to Dawson Creek�the official start of the Alaska Highway�by nightfall. (If we don't, no big deal.) Day 4, Tuesday, 8/2: the Alaska Highway segment itself begins. After taking the obligatory photos at the Highway's starting cairn, off we go on BC 97 again (we could have followed it all the way up the center of BC, but then we'd have missed Banff and Jasper). It's anybody's guess how far we'll make it, but I like to think Fort Nelson is a good landmark for midafternoon. If there's time I want to take the gravel-surfaced BC 77 north for about sixty miles, there to take a picture at the "Welcome to the Northwest Territories" sign, and then head back. But if time is tight, that part can be skipped, I suppose. Back down to the Highway; I suspect the best place to spend the night will be a campground in the vicinity of Muncho Lake. Day 5, Wednesday, 8/3: Several border crossings into the Yukon Territory; the Signpost Forest at Watson Lake; and woods and canyonland until we get to Whitehorse. Here I hope to find such niceties as an Internet cafe, there to update the blog and post a few photos and generally let everyone know I'm still alive. Day 6, Thursday, 8/4: The main attractions of this stretch include Kluane Lake, bordered by the Kluane Mountains, eastern outliers of the huge bunched mountains in Southeast Alaska, and where Mt. Logan (Canada's highest peak) is. Also lots of glaciers. I hope to make it across the border and into Tok on this day. Day 7, Friday, 8/5: The final stretch of the Alaska Highway, and the gradual return to civilization and settled land, finally ending in Fairbanks. Then an evening of well-deserved resting up. Day 8, Saturday, 8/6: Early-morning shuttle to the Fairbanks airport to catch a 737 for a day-flight up to Barrow. It's all guided, and there's no relying on my own driving or anything. Top of the world, baby! Day 9, Sunday, 8/7: Puttering around Fairbanks. No distinct plans for this day. There's plenty to do in the area, though, so no getting bored allowed. Day 10, Monday, 8/8: Bus tour of Denali National Park, on what's as close as I can find to be the same tour that my dad used to drive back when he worked here. Day 11, Tuesday, 8/9�Day 12, Wednesday, 8/10: Two days to take in the road down to Anchorage and the surrounding points of interest. Perhaps a side trip down the Kenai Peninsula, or just some resting and recuperation. Day 13, Thursday, 8/11: Alaska State Ferry across the Prince William Sound starting at Whittier (there's now a road sharing the railroad tunnel through the mountain�a one-lane affair that travels on the same surface as the train tracks, and they have to meter cars and trains through it in turns). It's a slow boat, and it lands at Valdez at 8:00 PM. Nice lazy day. Day 14, Friday, 8/12: Not a lazy day! This may not even be physically possible, but the plan for this day is to drive up the Richardson Highway (Alaska 4) to where it joins the Tok Cutoff, then up to Tok and across it up into the interior on the Taylor Highway. The destination, after visiting Chicken and Eagle, is Dawson City, deep in the heart of the Yukon. It's not exactly in easy striking distance, but it's possible�the main worry is not getting over the border before the trailer hosting Customs closes up shop at 9:00 PM. If they do, though, we just head back to Tok and skip Dawson City. Day 15, Saturday, 8/13: Klondike Highway south through the center of the Yukon back to Whitehorse. No stopping there, though: Highway 2 heads south from there, back over the border into Alaska, and over the Chilkoot Pass into Skagway, the historic little fjord hamlet where we have reservations for the night. Day 16, Sunday, 8/14: The ferry leaves at 10:00 AM, so we have a little time to wander around Skagway and see the sights (or maybe sleep in). After that, the super-fast brand-new ferry heads down the Inside Passage to Juneau, which it reaches in 2.5 hours. We get off, eat lunch, and... meander around Juneau for the rest of the day, being one of the lucky few who has a car there. The next leg of the ferry sets sail at 1:15 AM, so we have to just wait for that rather than finding a place to sleep. Day 17, Monday, 8/15: The ferry makes quick one-hour stops at Petersburg and Wrangell and Ketchikan, finally arriving at Prince Rupert, BC, at 6:15 in the morning on the 16th. We wake up, fresh and bright and ready for another hard day of driving. Day 18, Tuesday, 8/16: The Yellowhead Highway (BC 16) inland through woods and coastal mountains to Prince George, a metropolis we missed on the way up. That's probably enough driving for one day. Day 19, Wednesday, 8/17: Back on good ol' BC 97, southbound this time, and riding it all the way to the junction with BC 99, the road that leads straight to Vancouver and the real world once again (though not before taking in Whistler, which as I understand it is to BC what Aspen is to Colorado). The night's destination can be anywhere in the Vancouver area, perhaps even as far south as Seattle. Day 20, Thursday, 8/18: The rest of the trip is pretty much at our discretion. We could spend two leisurely days coming down 101, or we could barrel down I-5 and make it home around midnight. It all depends on how exhausted we feel. And that will be that. Holy cow, Google Maps now has a "Hybrid" mode. They seem to have installed it just as I was composing this post. How 'bout that? This on top of Google Moon�damn, those guys are having fun. (Don't forget to zoom in all the way...)