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Sorry, the first IKJK/4-Square anthology, was in the MoCCA notes today on Newsarama’s Best Shots. We’re way way at the bottom, but check it out! There was also a review of Sorry on Optical Sloth a week or so back, if you didn’t see it give it a read!

Also, a shout out to Rich Tommaso and James Sturm for getting Satchel Paige into the New York Times book review this past Sunday. They got a really smart, positive review. If you haven’t seen this book yet, you’re missing out.

Our blog posts keep disappearing and we don’t know why!

Two IKJK peeps., myself and Colleen Frakes have our rejected Beasts2 submissions up at the Beasts2 pool on Flickr, check them out along with the hundreds of other cool folklore creatures.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/hopefulbeasts/pool/

The poster auction ends today!!!

It’s your last chance to own a CCS diploma without spending 2 years in White River Junction!

Go bid here.

After Joe and I hit Portland and Seattle we were able to hitch a ride on a ship going up to Alaska. Lest you think there is no way we could have freeloaded for an entire 11-day trip, rest assured we did. People ask us: “Well, you had to pay something, right?” and we say “No.” And then people ask us: “Well, you had to work on the boat, right?” and we say “No.”

We were on a 700-foot container ship carrying 850 containers to Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

By my count we took about 120 automobiles to Anchorage.

The view out of my private stateroom.

Sunsets out in the middle of the ocean: pretty nice

ditto.

We would shoot rockets at each other to pass the time when we got bored.

It took about 3 days or so of sailing to reach our first port, Anchorage (That’s sailing out of Tacoma, Washington, at the south end of Puget Sound). Anchorage is a nice city. In the summer. I wouldn’t want to be there in the winter. The center of the city had a great feel to it, and I had the best fish and chips I’ve ever had at a bar there (the secret is really fresh halibut). Joe’s uncle, who got us on the ship –being the captain and all he was allowed to do that– took us to meet a friend of his, Pedro, who took us up the gondola at Alyeska Mountain. Alyeska is the major, possibly the only, ski resort within a reasonable distance of Anchorage. The gondola took us up several thousand feet in the matter of minutes, getting us some great views.

That’s one of the cannons they use to start avalanches.

That night we went out to a local bar, Humpy’s, and had ourselves a few drinks. The ship set out at midnight so everyone was required to be back by 11 pm. We made it in time, and settled down for the trip out to our next stop, Kodiak Island.

That’s right, Colleen Frakes has been at it again, with the newest issue of her inspiring series Tragic Relief, now for sale at the IKJK store. This time containing three short stories involving a ninja, a zombie, and a robot! How could you go wrong? Get your copy of Tragic Relief #5 today!

PS- Colleen has given me the Inside Scoop on the next issue, Tragic Relief #6, subtitled “Giant Sized Tragic Relief”- it’s gonna be BIG, a whopping 11″x17″! Note to IKJK interns/flunkies: stock up some more super-sized mailing envelopes.

We left Cinncinnati early (noon) the next day to head up to Chicago, about a 5-hour drive.
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois.

Here we are crossing into Indiana.

I don’t think we really gave Indiana too much of a chance. First of all, we were just driving through. And when we decided to stop for gas, we picked a really bad place to stop. It was a Westfield “Shopping Town.” Just a huge, huge series of strip malls with every horrible truth implied by that statement. Traffic was horribly impossible. All we wanted to do was fill up our tank and it turned into an ordeal. Never go to ShoppingTown! It’s stupid!

But this billboard brightened our trip

They certainly do love slots.

Finally we made it to Chicago, timed perfectly to arrive during the middle of rush hour.

View from the highway coming into the city.

Chicago turned out to be a great city. I had never been there before, but the big tree-lined streets in downtown, the welcoming neighborhoods, and all the stuff going on made it a great place to hang out. At least in the summer.

The first night in we went and got a few beers at the Navy Pier,

and goaded our friend Lasia into scaling the anchor at the end of the pier.

The next day we met Joe’s Aunt and went to a great Turkish Restaurant. I wish I could remember the name of the neighborhood, but I can’t. It was near Wrigley field and there was a Cubs game going on that day.

Joe in front of the restaurant. Their bread was amazing.

We bummed around the city for the weekend, visited a few more places. Sometimes the city seemed to be speaking to us.

On Sunday we had to be on our way, so we packed up our stuff, had some deep dish pizza, and then we were on our way.

Next installment, Minneapolis and South Dakota. We’re going on a boat trip for the next 2 weeks, so the next blog post will come around Sept. 12-15ish.

(that’s tiny little me in the corner)

I may be a little bit behind, but, as promised, the chronicling of the Joe Kimpel summer XC tour begins here. This is Adam, website co-founder and long-time Joe Kimpel knower. Joe and I are four thousand miles into the trip so far, and many more to go.

I’ll have highlights from the first thousand miles up in the next couple of days, then continuing updates as I find time to get the photos off my camera and can find an internet connection.

Here’s a potential back cover for Monsters & Girls #2. My sauciest drawing yet. I’m also making some Harry Potter puppets with a new friend