“Sarah Palin” Makes Surprise Appearance at the Road to Nowhere Run!
11 10 2009
~Human and canine participants in the historic first “Run to Nowhere”
You read here last week about the intrepid runners of Ketchikan, which was to have been the location of Alaska’s infamous “Bridge to Nowhere.” They were in the planning stages of the first ever “Run to Nowhere” which would take place on the island road that was built after the bridge project was axed, and terminated where the bridge was to have connected the island to the mainland, but…. doesn’t. The beautiful brand new road sat forlorn, isolated and unused on Gravina Island.
That is, until now.
I received the following “press release” and almost choked, until I saw the pictures. Who knew Ketchikaners had such a finely honed satirical wit?
Former Governor Sarah Palin visited Ketchikan to participate in opening ceremonies for the first annual “Road to Nowhere Run.” Her visit marks the first time she has been in Ketchikan since claiming that she rejected federal earmarks for the “Bridge to Nowhere” project linking that coastal community to its airport.
Palin spokesperson Meg Stapleton said, “The Governor thought it would be good fun to go down to Ketchikan to help kickoff a great new event in that community. We were really surprised at how friendly people were, especially since she had never fulfilled her promise to visit more than one year ago to explain her decision to kill the bridge project.”
Race organizer Eric Digby was really pleased at Palin’s visit. “She has a great sense of humor- we even ribbed her about calling herself a rogue. We had a really good turnout for the run, considering that without a bridge, everyone had to take the ferry and then walk or run a mile to get to the starting point,” he said.
Digby noted that the road completed by Palin last year extends from the airport just over 3.2 miles to a cul-de-sac, with gentle hills and a nice wide gravel highway. “The run today proves one thing: that Palin’s spending of a $26 million federal earmark on the Road to Nowhere has resulted in one of the best 10k running courses in the United States.”
Digby said that, even though every runner quit before finishing the run- in recognition of Palin’s own resignation as governor, he thought the Road to Nowhere Run would become a premier national event attracting people from all over the United States once they heard about the course.
A quick calculation comparing the cost of the road to the individuals who have used it so far reveals that each human and canine runner just had approximately a million dollar run! Bet that felt good.
~Riding the ferry from Ketchikan to Gravina Island
~”Sarah Palin” rubs elbows with Former Mayor of Ketchikan Bob Weinstein on the Road to Nowhere
October 11th, 2009 at 9:32 PM
Wonder what was going through the minds of the road crew that built that road. They must have thought it was ridiculous! (even though they were getting paid)
Great idea if Ketchikan markets this as an annual run.. bring more visitors to Ketchikan. I don’t run, but I’ve always wanted to visit Ketchikan… so I may have to take up running to get in shape. !
October 11th, 2009 at 10:04 PM
UH ooo..there is a problem.. this is not the real American sarah palin . This must be someone pretending to be her.. she is not wearing her American flag pin …or her polar bear pin or her Alaska state ear rings or her eye glasses with the crystals of the big dipper on then. Oh no I think she must be a member of the AIP. Watch out all of you and be careful. I think she was sent there to take notes and report back to her base camp.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Does this count as one of her invitations?
Sarah Palin has signed with the prominent Washington Speakers Bureau and is sorting through more than 1,000 invitations for speaking engagements and political appearances she has received since resigning the Alaska governorship, aides say.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:33 PM
I think that is so funny that the ‘ Sea ‘ is somehow tracking traffic of various websites by counting Explorer users. I wonder if they had to dig out their abacuses and some extra fingers to add them up as well. I would guess that more than 2/3 of the people here use something OTHER than Explorer. The subject has come up in threads and the Chat Room before. We always try to get people to Upgrade…. away from Explorer.
Watching Gryphen’s ‘ Live Feedjit ‘ stream for half an hour would prove their theory to be false as well. You can see the Facts right in front of you with your eyes. But why spoil a perfectly good fantasy.
You really have to just laugh at them. Silly people.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:19 AM
Why is she still referred to as Gov.?
She quit. She did not want to be Gov. any more. She did not fulfill her contract with her people.
She is the former Gov., quitter-twitter Queen.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:47 AM
Gotta love it.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:58 AM
October 12th, 2009 at 6:26 AM
Is it just my reading of the attitude toward Sarah in Alaska, or is there a LOT of critical commentary popping up all over the state, at all levels, now that the Great Avenger is out of office?
I grew up in a little town with an Indian name of Kankakee. Here’s a variation on our high school’s (admittedly smalltown, corny) cheer, just for you Ketchikanites/Ketchikaneans/Ketchikaners (whatever!):
Ket – Chi – Kan !
Kan – Chi _ Ket !
Who Can?
We Can?
Ketchikan Can !
G O K E T C H I K A N !!!
October 12th, 2009 at 7:15 AM
DEAR MAYOR AND GOOD FOLKS OF KETCHICAN,
The Road To Nowhere looks a little bleak and I’ve a suggestion to fix that bleakness, at least once a year.
Palin’s Road To NoWhere Graffiti-fest.
I’m not joking. This could be a great revenue generator. This type of venue, perhaps hosted once a year, could get renown artists, either locally or worldwide to freely create.
Make it a contest. Have local and/or Alaskan artists/critics be judges. Each year you could have a different theme.
Local business could support a artist to put their name in artistic graffiti. Sort of like how the the official U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition … here is a link to how some business have sponsored to have their name designed in sand: http://www.usopensandcastle.com/
I am a fan of graffiti. Some of it is just plain horrible, but most is just wonderful. Here are a few links to view:
“The earliest forms of graffiti date back to 30,000 BCE in the form of prehistoric cave paintings and pictographs using tools such as animal bones and pigments[3]. These illustrations were often placed in ceremonial and sacred locations inside of the caves.” -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti
The Google Images pages for graffiti can be found here: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&rlz=1I7GGIT&resnum=0&q=graffiti&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=BUnTSo6RNIX-tQPzi4DqBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CB8QsAQwAw
Gosh I sure hope my links show up.
In closing, I’d like to say that graffiti can and does go beyond defacing public property. Artisitic expression is of incredible value.
Chalk could be the tools of choice. Lots of graffiti is done with paint on walls. However there is a place in Savanna that hosts The Savannah College of Art and Design hosts it’s annual SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival…
And check out some 3-D sidewalk art here: http://www.impactlab.com/2006/03/09/amazing-3d-sidewalk-art-photos/
In conclusion, Mr. Mayor, the City of Ketchikan has a wonderful opportunity to drawn (pun intended) revenue, art and festive atmosphere to the area via the Road to Nowhere chalk art.
I’d love to attend. I’d bring my trunk of chalk and draw scenes from my childhood.
Thank you.
October 12th, 2009 at 7:17 AM
Ahhhh, the rogue to nowhere makes a surprise appearance on the road to nowhere.
Doncha just love it when that happens!
Quick question – Does anyone know any of the history behind the life sized Palin paper doll cut outs, – how many did Quitty Pants place around the State anyway? I seem to remember some other props she had made at the same time that she placed in the offices from the same company…
I can’t recall any other Alaskan Governor doing anything as narcissistic as that, I wonder if any other Governor in the whole United States used those life sized cutouts for props. W E I R D, plain and simple. More B double S.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:36 AM
does an ego good…I hope she feels what embarrassment and shame feel like!
although this piece is comical, she still sickens me…sorry
October 12th, 2009 at 8:58 AM
I suspect that’s how she’ll show up for her book tour, 2d, since that 2d cutout will talk about as much as the real one .
October 12th, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Did Palin put her rifle away for this photo op por tun i ty?
Hopefully, they’ll add it to her cutout as a little bling for her book tour.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:52 AM
She claimed to be a runner, but she certainly didn’t have a runner’s figure.
Has anyone ever seen her run or have pictures of her doing a marathon? If so, what place does she usually finish?
Lol, I’ll bet the only thing she actually ever ran was her mouth and finished last, always.
Sheesh
October 12th, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Thanks for the great laugh!
October 12th, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Palin has her arms crossed. Is she hiding another baby bump?
October 12th, 2009 at 3:54 PM
This is so droll. . .anyone with elementary school aged children will immediately think of the ‘Flat Stanley’ project. . .where the kids make a laminated cutout of Stanley and then mail ‘him’ to different places in the US and the world. . . asking their friends to take a picture in a ’scenic spot’ and then mail it back to share with the class.
You don’t supposed that was ‘Flat Sarah’ standing up at the podium in Hong Kong, do you? Any possibility no one bothered to ‘mail’ her back???
Didn’t think so. . .sigh.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:44 PM
she got “maled” back alright, zorra.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:50 AM
[...] posting on The Mudflats, but that didn’t seem fair to AKM, so I’m just going to say, “Go here.” This is the most entertaining story you’ll read all week about roads to nowhere, bridges to [...]