From A Ketchikan Distillery to You

My life is a waking fever dream of undigested R2AK experiences, new book thrills, and aimless SE Alaska wanderings. And I'm lightly marinading in gin cocktails and Pacific cod slime.

I arrived to Ketchikan with R2AK team Vegemite Vigilantes on Thursday, June 23 and have spent the days since roaming about the place like a good natured stray dog. By the time this gets out, I’ll be headed southward and homeward. I write to you from a raised table within Ketchikan’s Uncharted Distillery with a Sled Dog cocktail heeling faithfully to my right.

This morning I hopped aboard a Baranof Fishing Excursions sportfishing charter and slayed some Pacific cod—while sparing a beautiful ratfish worthy of Ray Troll praise. My upcoming flight to Seattle will be my first with a box of freshly caught cod. Feels significant, but it’s not.

Yesterday I caught a beer at the Potlatch dive bar before heading out to Bugge Beach for a swim and a sun in 80-degree weather. It was the kind of place the regulars give you a suspicious look when you enter, but if you don’t ruffle feathers you blend right in. A group of barflies sat with a USPS package adorned with a brash orange label declaring CREMATED REMAINS.

“What’s the story?” I asked the bartender, a 30-something single mom with bright eyes. Rusty and the boys were treating dad to a last round before spreading the ashes. I thought about Rusty and the boys and those cremated remains when swimming at Bugge Beach. Mysteriously, I encountered a deep peace as moon jellyfish bopped off my legs and the sun irradiated my torso.

Simply put dear reader, I’m completely out of my depth on how to proceed here. But let’s start with some basic information.

R2AK MUSINGS - JUST THE TIP

We Vegemite Vigilantes completed R2AK 2022 in 6 Days, 16 Hours, and 43 Minutes, coming in 4th place overall, 2nd place Inside route, and 1st place multihull. You might not have noticed us much on the R2AK race feed. Seriously, go back to the race feed and do a word search of us. What’s more, our bio made us all sound Australian (awkward for Scott and I, the American half of the team) and made no mention of our previous R2AK completion in 2018. I’m not sure what made us so unsavory, but hey, more story for me to tell. Thug life.