Hiking the Glenn Highway through Alaska. Published in Asphalt Pilgrims.
Paul Salopek
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
Immigration police pulled me out of the ticket line at the Busan ferry terminal. I had overstayed my visa in South Korea by two days. This was news to me.
“Why did you do this?” asked the officer.
“I stayed three months,” I protested. “Within the limit.”
“You didn’t calculate,” she said, without looking up from my passport, “that some months have more than 30 days.”
I paid the fine. The officer said I might have trouble getting back in. Don’t do it ever again, she said.
The Camellia was an overnight ferry. It would dock at Fukuoka, Japan, early in the morning. The ship was all but empty. Nobody rides ferries anymore, apart from truck drivers and a handful of motorists attached to their cars. Inside my small quarters the walls hummed. I scanned an antique book on my laptop that said, “Everything about the old man was old with the sole exception of his eyes. His eyes resembled the colour of the sea and were joyous and unconquered.” But I felt conquered.
For the first time in more than a decade, I was truly leaving mainland Eurasia. I sensed my own anchor dragging. I felt the miles. I wouldn't do it ever again.
A wraparound soundscape at this Milestone
This Milestone’s location on a map
Photos of the ground under Paul’s feet and the sky above at this Milestone
A brief question and answer with the first person Paul meets at this Milestone
Milestone 102: Encounter
No person was encountered at this Milestone.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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