The “Baking and Spices” aisle of the Ketchikan Wal-Mart has limited options for acquiring salt in large quantities. And so High Command stood (yeah, High Command is embodied like that) and wondered whether “Pure” or “With Iodine” was the correct choice for the task at hand.
Pure, it was.
And so when Team Unsalted Nuts, decked out in their team uniform of pretty much nothing, arrived at the finish line, the crowd gathered there pronounced them officially “well-salted” with a hail of the white stuff, a la rice at a wedding.
In news from down the course:
Teams Bella Bella and Beyond, SUP N Irish, and Sporting Chance arrived together in Bella Bella yesterday afternoon. Aside from a tale of SUP N Irish being nearly eaten by a whale, the locals report the following list of foods having been consumed in short order upon their arrival to town:
14 Burgers
4 Bags of Tater Tots
1 bag of oranges
20 Mushrooms
5 Tomatoes
2 Pineapples
10 Buns
2 Bags of Lettuce
24 Eggs
12 Cinnamon Buns
8 Pastries
To be clear: the above list is not a joke. The good people of Bella Bella have been very kind to R2AK racers over the years, despite the hardships they’ve faced. Here’s hoping those three get out of Dodge before they clear out all the food in town.
At the time of writing, Team Monkey Fist has been instructed that tray tables must be in their full upright and locked position, as they are on final approach to Ketchikan. Somewhere in their foamy wake, Team Mike and Marty’s Big Adventure are currently tack-battling with themselves through the sometimes treacherous (but probably lovely) Principe Channel.
Until tomorrow . . . stay salty.
Header photo by Jim Meyer