“Sarah Palin” Makes Surprise Appearance at the Road to Nowhere Run!
~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
I like the Alaskan spirit!
On the Road to Nowhere! – an alternative title for her new book! Wait – did someone else already suggest that?
Tooo funny!
I wonder if it’s THIS Sarah that shares a bed with Todd every night…………..lol
She’s got tight abs. Thighs that groan and guts that feel thrashed. And don’t you just love that new running garb.
Oh my gosh, I saw at the end of one of the threads that you could purchase a cardboard cutout of Quitty…..let the fun begin. There was a suggestion that maybe Levi’s photos for Playgirl & cardboard Sarah could hook up….let the wild rumpus roll.
They’ve really captured her warmth and soul in that cardboard cutout, haven’t they? Yep Martha, I’ll bet you could fool Todd with this..
Laughing my head off…..
Two-dimensional Quitter Half-Term Governor in all of her….well…..two dimensions. Length, width, and very, very shallow…….that’s about right.
Two thumbs up for those Ketchikanians’ wonderful sense of humor. Winners all of them!
At first I thought they were photo shopped than looked again and thought no it’s a cardboard picture of her too funny LOL .They do have a great sense of humor though..Bet someone is going to come unglued
Love the satire! (But as someone who lives in a net-donor tax state, this road seems like a complete waste of money to me.)
What a hoot!
You know I don’t think she has EVER looked more life like.
Oh the potential….
My first thought was that she always has that ridiculous sterile smile pasted on her face, but then I backed up the pictures and “no,” not even she could be that phony to stand in the exact same ‘beauty queen’ manner time and again. Way to go to the Ketchikanians with their fantastic sense of humor!
Who lugged Sarah’s lazy quitter -ss across the finish line?
What a wonder Photoshop and other technologies are. But if I’m right, AKM is in the front row with a pup. Yes?
We’ve had cave drawings. Word of mouth stories. Sketches. Pony Express acounts. Wires home from the front. Political cartoonists. Stand up cut outs Faxes. Emails, Tweets, Face Book. Projectiles crashing into the Moon
Sarah here, Sarah there.
But somehow the truth gets out.
Love the looks on her face. This rocks.
How wonderful that the cardboard cut out can’t speak! If only Sarah were like that!
I am shocked!
All this time, I thought Sarah Palin was a humorless, shallow figurehead for the right wing religious nutcase agenda.
And now, AKM, you have clearly proved me wrong!
Way to go, Sarah! We love the new you, with the subtle sense of humor, and the willingness to do just about anything for a good Alaskan cause!
Ketchikaners have a great sense of humor!
Dog on left is saying … WTF?
Dog in front is showing how Palin got the nomination.
Ketchikan folks rock!!
I love the quitter part of the race. I can see this being a yearly event. Hey you got the track now flaunt it. The lesson is more valuable than the pavement.
Keep smilin Ketchikan.
That’s the way to do it, damm ‘em with wit and humor! Love it.
I hope that suit was aerodynamic.
@ Wolf Pack
————————-
Dog on right won the Miss Alaska pageant two years in a row….WITHOUT playing the flute. Ms. Poodle dominated in swimsuit and short answer categories. Arf.
Commemorative Quitter Competition in Ketchikan
aka Run to Nowhere, on my calendar. Something about 100″/year rainfall breeds a good sense of humor (or maybe its all that great salmon). Ketchikan kicks it!
Maybe it’s just me, but she seems a little faded in two of those pictures.
#6 boodog Says:
October 11th, 2009 at 3:34 PM
They’ve really captured her warmth and soul in that cardboard cutout, haven’t they? Yep Martha, I’ll bet you could fool Todd with this..>
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Well Boodog, I venture a guess that the cardboard Scarah is a warmer bedmate that the original………har har
Clever bunch of people up there; I do think that is the best way to see her, and Todd probably thinks so too.
Cheers to you all in Ketchikan!
Wow. She’s dressed exactly the same and has the same expression as when I saw her at Times Square in New York City.
ha ha ha love it…Great bunch of runners…
Big, joyous kudos from me to the runners of Ketchikan, and to the rest of the community, as well. You rock! Does anybody know if they still serve the fabulous crab dip with the Granny Smith apple slices and fresh sourdough bread at the Cape Fox?
Sarah shows much more intellectual depth in these photographs than I recall her projecting in person – and the silence is a blessing!
Love it that the former mayor is still sporting his Nowhere AK shirt… and especially love it that all the runners quit before finishing. It’s the racetrack to nowhere!
Expect the trolls from seepee’s site, one of their posts states American traffic to Mudflats blog has collapsed recently, and they think they should come over and help out. (ha)
They’re so funny. They look at my stats with a measurement that only counts people who use Internet Explorer as their browser. Snoskred has successfully converted most of us to Firefox or Google Chrome…. even me! :0) AKM
I thoght that she might be depressed since her departure from office, and these photos confim my suspicions. She appears to have a very flat affect.
Ya shoulda invited the Talking Heads!
Well we know where we’re goin
But we dont know where she’s been
And we know what we’re knowin
But we cant say what she’s seen
And we’re not little children
And we know what we want
And the future is certain
Give us time to work it out
We’re on a road to nowhere
Why does Sarah hide
Takin’ that ride to nowhere
It’s the Sarah surprise
I’m feelin’ okay this mornin’
And you know,
We’re on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go
Chorus
Maybe you wonder where you are
Sarah don’t care
Here is where time is on our side
Take you there…take you there
We’re on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere
We’re on a road to nowhere
There’s Alaska in my mind
Come along and take that ride
And its all right, baby, its all right
And its very far away
But its growing day by day
And its all right, baby, its all right
They can tell you what to do
And you’ll make a fool of you
And its all right, baby, its all right
We’re on a road to nowhere
This made me laugh. Thank you. Y’all continue to play the hand you’ve been dealt. Keep up the inspiration! Change happens. It was great seeing the better Sarah.
mmboucher… if the trolls come, let’s have some fun with them first!
The cardboard picture looks better. I’m glad that the ex-gov was able to grace the bridge to nowhere with her presence.
37 sauerkraut Says:
October 11th, 2009 at 7:03 PM
It would be like taking candy from a baby !
This should be an annual event!
AKM–Is the man in the red jacket in the front row a fishing/kayak guide in Ketchican? He looks familiar. My (now asleep) spouse would remember his name, but I can’t.
Do we have to pay her for her “presence”? Someone should pay her nobody wants her to speak for them, maybe she will just show up like she did for the walk!
now that’s my kind of race. short and shorter…. love the good humored faces.
Love it! A wonderful quirky sense of humor enjoyed by all. I look forward to the second annual road to nowhere run…
A flat sarah and one that tells no lies. OOH we could only hope. All of the people of Alaska continue to make lemonade out of lemons. I continue to admire you. This was so funny and I needed a smile today.
This is really great timing. I was wondering whose names are on her book recomending that people spend any time reading it?
Oh my ~ how funny!
And it’s good to see BTQ$ has lost the “silly putty” texture of her skin!
At least the Palin that showed up didn’t make a speech.
They should write a thank you note to Sarah for the lovely 10K run and sign it with the paw prints of the dogs present.
I love that they quit before the finish in honor of her. Priceless. (I also love the standard poodle. Homage to the Iditarod poodles?)
Perhaps the winner should be the runner who quits closest to QP’s exact percentage of completion of her term. No marks, no cues, no prompting. Measure afterwards, like in field events.
@strangelet ~
That’s a GREAT idea!
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. !
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gotta love it.
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 !!!
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.
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.
does an ego good…I hope she feels what embarrassment and shame feel like!
although this piece is comical, she still sickens me…sorry
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 .
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.
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
Thanks for the great laugh!
Palin has her arms crossed. Is she hiding another baby bump?
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.
she got “maled” back alright, zorra.