<\/a>Flags, including one bannering profanity, fly in the morning breeze near the entrance of the Save America Rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)\n Flags, including one bannering profanity, fly in the morning breeze near the entrance of the Save America Rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Many of the regulars call themselves “Front Row Joes” (yes, an interesting poetic everyman choice, give the name of their idol’s successor). Among those wearing attire with the group’s name was Mike Boatman, a southern Indiana resident, wearing a trademark red cap with different words, who said this is his 39th rally and 48th Trump event, and “he actually knows who we are because we’re always in the front.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
There’s no magic secret to that once the doors open, Boatman said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Get here early,” he said. “Sometimes we get here a couple of days early so we’re always at the front of the line.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
But for his Alaska trip, Boatman arrived Wednesday and chose to spend a bit of time sightseeing in Whittier and Alyeska.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
But perhaps the biggest bragging rights for the Alaska group of “Joes” goes to Sandra Kiczenski, attending her 64th rally since Dec. 21, 2015. She wrote a book about her experiences and, in the inevitable exchange of phone photos among peers, she highlights one of her with Trump holding her book, taken during a paid fundraiser.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I gladly paid $500 to ask if he read the book and if he liked it,” she said. “It was worth every penny.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>Kevin Kurka, a freelance Alaska journalist, takes a midmorning break on his motorcycle in the media parking lot at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
While taking a glacier cruise before the Alaska rally was a novel experience in her prolific travels, Kiczenski said the most interesting rally was at The Villages in Florida, where didn’t have a front-row seat on purpose.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I decided to go up in the bleachers to see the helicopter he was coming in,” she said. “There was sand and dust in your eyes, but you didn’t care because you wanted that picture.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
For less-devout visitors, the long wait offered other ways to pass the hours. Sitting on a curb working on a laptop computer was Trendon Dunn, a Utah resident doing marketing work for a company back home. But this summer he’s also working at a Kasilof resort with his wife, Ariah, lured first by the place for the season and subsequently by the event for the day.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“We honeymooned here last year,” Dunn said. “We’re thinking about moving here. We’ve got another year until we graduate.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The couple is spending most of the summer fishing, and “my wife and I are helping out at a fishing lodge, helping them clean and give tours,” Dunn said, noting “she was never into politics until she started dating me.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>Mike Lindell, a pillow and political celebrity, greets an enthusiastic crowd outside the Alaska Airlines Arena a few hours before the afternoon’s Safe America Rally. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
No protesters were evident during the early waiting hours, but those in line compared stories of previous encounters such as when all the tires in a parking lot for supporters were slashed.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The mood among the early-goers mostly matched the tranquility of the partly cloudy dawn as the sun rose above a horizon of snow-capped mountains. But when television news crews started showing up at 6 a.m. the chants of familiar slogans began, which along with the trademark rally rock tunes and other sounds would gradually grow in volume during the coming hours. The non-nature sights also got more colorful, including flags with profane messages flapping in the breeze against the nearby area nameplate next to the main entrance.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
By the time the official 6 a.m. waiting period arrived the line stretched well beyond the snaking rows of people in the parking lot to the sidewalk along the western side of the arena.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Among the standouts in a sea of merchandise paying tribute to the 45th president (and 11th past\/present\/former one to visit Alaska for more than a refueling stop), was Ryan Bates, 18, a Wasilla resident wearing a Reagan 80\/84 T-shirt that he purchased the day before the rally.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Trump’s great. Reagan’s my favorite,” he said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Being so far back in line so early came as a surprise to Bates and the four family members he arrived with, but none seemed too discouraged about not being among the 5,000 allowed into the arena instead of being forced to watch it on a Jumbotron in the parking lot.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t