Redneck Golf Carts

Redneck Golf Carts

We spent Wednesday in Sitka, Alaska. Sitka was the capital of Alaska before Juneau. It’s now a sleepy little set of islands with a population of about 8,000. Sitka reminded me of typical, small town America. Once you got past the tourist strip there were a couple of banks, 3 gas stations and a small town Radio Shack.

We only spent a few hours in Sitka before we were off by boat and headed for our ATV tour. The 4x4 tour was great. We loaded into small Yamaha Rhinos, essentially redneck golf carts, for a tour around an old logging camp island that is part of the Tongass National Forest. We saw bear, a black sand beach and generally pounded ourselves to a pulp running over the rough road. We made it to the last tender just in time.

While hanging out with the ATV guides, we realized that a redneck is a redneck regardless of their state. The ATV guys were just good old boys who liked anything with an engine and could teach you how to hold a tire together with a cigarette lighter at the local college.

It’s amazing how isolated some of these communities are. Sitka, like Juneau, has no roads in or out. Everything comes by sea or air, and when I say air, I mean a strip of land jutting into the sea. The end of the runway is very wet.

After Sitka it was off to Ketchican, but that’s another post.