Cantwell, Alaska (summer 1999)

We were based out of Cantwell, Alaska, a tiny town of something like 117 residents. One hundred seventeen—that's what it said on the sign. When we moved in, it was news in town. All the kids from the house next door ran over and sat on our porch.

We were living in a log cabin. Actually, we didn't live in it--we set up tents in the woods surrounding the cabin. Inside the cabin was a fancy Sun workstation with a flatscreen display (this was before you'd ever seen a flatscreen display, I'll bet) with fancy data analysis software on it, and our other fancy equipment. And not-so-fancy equipment: picks and shovels and so forth. (One time we broke a pick--after one too many whacks at the permafrost, its nose bent forward, "gonzo'd". We drove 300 miles to buy a new one.)

We did our cooking on the porch, always grilled. Doug was a die-hard carnivore, refusing to eat anything except meat. Meat and baby carrots, which he loved so much as to exclaim, "These are so good, they are like an honorary meat!"





Life in Cantwell wasn't half bad.

Encinitas, CA

I am in Encinitas now, just north of San Diego. I came here on the train, the Metrolink train from Orange County. The train follows the shore—out the window you see surfers bobbing in the sea.

Ryan and I drove south to La Jolla to see Erin.. she has a beautiful house in La Jolla that is something like the antithesis of La Jolla, all wood and a firepit out back, nice housemates and a trampoline and friendly dogs too. We sat around the fire and then walked barefoot to the beach, I entranced by the ocean and the beautiful company. We saw the famous adopted bird-poop cactus too. I jumped on the trampoline.

Before entering the house we paused in the street, listening to the waves crash a block away.

"Fuck New York," Ryan concluded.

I would have stayed forever, but Ryan said it was time to go—tore away. With luck we'll camp at Cataviña tomorrow in the heart of Baja. In the morning we set out for the first phase of our trip: The transpeninsular highway. All of it. Looking forwards and looking back.