i already posted about why i take the ferry, but also how it is the worst predictable part of my trips. the dogs must stay in vehicles; can only visit or walk them during port calls or if too far in between special car-deck visits.
here's my log for the ferry from Skagway to Prince Rupert, BC.
9/18
7:00 pm . check into ferry at terminal; it is rainng so i forego visit to town center for photos; park car in lot and work on stuff; walk dogs for last time.
11:15 pm get in line for ferry
9/19
12:15 am ...drive onto ferry. they don't give s much room to walk Leben in his wheelchair between vehicles. i unload stuff i will need on deck and orepare Defender for dogs' exclusive use ext two dys.
2:15 am ...ferry pulls out; i take my place ifor the next two days in a seat on the brudge deck. if dogs have to stay in Defender, i will not stay in a stateroom. quiet and comfortable here.
3:15 to 6:25 am...port call in Haines. because it is raining, i decide to stay with dogs in Defender.
9:45 am to 1:45 pm...port call Juneau. (i was in Juneau once before in 1992 on my first trip to Alaska after ferry ride from Washington state. i pitched my tent on the bow.) had to clean up after leben's accident in Defender. i fed him too late. walked with dogs through labyrinth of vehicles on car deck, then onto gangplank to go ashore for break. not easy navigating the gangplanks. if leben steps too far to edge, he's in trouble. erde learned how to stay on narrow yellow path as she falls through the gangplank for the vehicles. we take break in waiting room shelter for three hours.
1:45 pm...report back to seat in bridge deck lounge. find that entire Juneau High football team seated right behind me. their ferry ride to play away at Wrangell is 20 hours. surprisingly, they were pretty much a well behaved group, but not entirely. a group of them made a fort of their sleeping bags and carried on until 2:00. they were better behaved than my Pruden Lake neighbors.
9:00 to 9:45 pm...port call in Kake...raining. gangplank way too steep to take dogs out for a walk. may even have been too steep for me. how trucks and cars navigate it i do not know.
9/20
1:45 to 2:30 am ...Petersburg port call. raining. gangplank and covered walkway over water way, way too far and risky to take dogs for a walk. head back to ferry.
5:45 to 6:30 am...port call in Wrangell. take erde out for walk. raining too hard and gangplank too steep for Leben in his wheelchair.
7:00 am...high winds, rough seas, rain...ugly outside. better in the ferry than in a tent, i guess.
8:30am...voice comes over loud speaker asking me to see the purser. i run down to lower deck. i am told that my dogs are not in my car. i proceed to Defender and find back dood open, Leben sitting on ground and erde wIting with him. how he hell they got out i do not know. erde probably learned how to open back door. reminded me of ferry ride in 2001 when Leben escaped the Defender and was roaming the deck. here i thought the adventure was over.
1:30 pm to 6:30 pm...port call in Ketchikan...one hour late due to weather. rain slowing up,winds dropping. i walk to terminal with dogs. recall visit here in 2001 with dogs, then pups, when i met a bunch of kids in part at top of steep hill not far from termnal. thought about going back and looking fir kids, now all young adults. i think one of the kids, about 12 then, was Eliza. she'd be 24 today.
6:30 pm ...settled dogs in for final 8 hours to Prince Rupert. went to cafeteria and bought a steak for dinner, their dinner, for having to put up with this ferry trip. i eat my camping food on the ferry because i do not want to treat myself better than the dogs are treated. i don't eat in restaurants during the trip for the same reason, and because i don't want to leave the dogs for very long.
9/21
we arrive in Prince Rupert at 2:15 am tomorrow, 9/21. i'll probably set up camp at an RV camp until tomorrow night, get some errands done (e.g., new headlight, wash Defender, etc.) and then go sleep on the ferry line unil 7:30 when the ferry to Vancouver Island leaves, arriving at Port Hardy at 10:30.
Ed, from somewhere on the road
907-888-8693 cell
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