Day 57- All Aboard!!

Wait, that’s what the conductor says to get on the train isn’t it? Well, we’re not taking the train. We’ve caught the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry, Matanuska, out of Haines and we’re bound for Prince Rupert, BC by way of the Inside Passage. We have a small cabin on board which is good because there isn’t much scenery yet. The ferry was due to arrive in Haines at 1:00 with us departing at 3:00 but they were running behind just about two hours. We heard a caravan of 35 motor homes took a while to load earlier this morning in Haines on the way to Skagway. That explains why our RV Park was like a ghost town when we got up this morning. Anyway, after watching this tractor trailer driver back down the loading ramp with a 28’ trailer, not once but twice, I have to say I was impressed. I was even more impressed when we got inside and found he had turned the first one around, inside the ship, and backed the second one in on his blind side. Sorry, that’s driver speak for tougher than it sounds. But the absolute best thing I ever saw was how my husband handled our travel trailer when we were told to load. We were told to get into lane 5 and then they had him parallel park on the wrong side between a tour bus and another camper in lane 4. It took about 10 minutes and three deck hands but there wasn’t so much as a puckered eyebrow or the slightest sound of damaged metal. I was so very proud of him. In fact, I’ve been impressed the whole trip with his general ability to solve the little problems that have popped up and his ability to repair some of them while having others repair the things he couldn’t. It’s been a great trip and we still have a few more weeks to go. We’ll have two or three days of travel into British Columbia before we hit Bellingham WA for a visit with my Dad and his wife, Adena. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Our first port of call is Juneau, the capitol of Alaska and one you cannot drive to. You either fly in or come in by ferry. We’ll be there a few hours, hardly worth getting off the boat especially at 9:30 at night.