July 28 &29, 2010

July 28 & 29, 2010

Since the past two days have pretty much been driving, I decided to combine them. Left early, but not as early as the previous day. Drove and drove and drove. Made it to Tok by early afternoon. Finally reached the border and crossed without incident! The road really started to get rough. Was only able to go 35-40 mph. We had decided to go to Haines and take the ferry to Skagway and then leave out of Skagway and head toward home. We got a ferry booked for Thursday nite at 10 pm so that at least gave us some time to get there. We ended the day yesterday in Destruction Bay finally around 8pm. The road was awful so I think Paul was ready to call it a nite! The one thing we’ve noticed this trip is that although there are many campgrounds, none of them are tooo pretty. Not alot of grass and trees, basically just parking lots with hookups. This one was none too pretty.

Awoke around 8am. Don’t know what got into Paul but we slept in. Had about 300 miles to travel today in order to get to Haines for the Ferry. We weren’t too sure the road condition so we got started. The drive was very scenic. I thought Seward area was my favorite, but I have to say I’m leaning toward Haines more and more. We saw a black bear walking right across the road in front of us today....beautiful! Paul laughs at me, but the bears really do scare me. He wants to just pull over on the road side in a beautiful spot and dry camp for a nite. Sounds fun, and is legal to do, but I am seriously afraid of bear! He says I’m being crazy, but we’ve been hearing alot of stories about how the bear are becoming bolder and bolder and have been reported attacking people! I really don’t want to take the chance!

Got into Haines in the early afternoon, so we had time to stroll around that town and check out what it had to offer! Cute little shops (of course) and The American Bald Eagle Foundation. A really neat place. Had actual a wildlife that had been stuffed and all sorts of information and facts about them. Also had two live owls that the kids got to get their pictures taken with them. All their live animals are animals that have be wounded. The owls were beautiful. It was a nice little informative tour.

Before going to the ferry we went to Chilkoot Lake State Park. What a beautiful area. Apparently the bears are seen frequently at the river there collecting salmon. Today, however, we missed it. While we were exiting, Paul felt something unusual with the camper, one of the brakes seemed to be stuck? Anyway, he ended up taking one of the tires off, right on the side of the road. Although that wasn’t what the problem was. Apparently the emergency break away safety brake had snagged and activated, so the problem was resolved and we made it to the ferry in time.

Boarding the truck and camper on the ferry was another great adventure. I have to say, I’ve never seen Paul that apprehensive about something. He had to drive the camper and truck down a steep docking plank, then make an incredibly sharp turn at the bottom. Then they had him pull forward, then back up, then reposition, then backup, etc. Finally we came to rest in our parking spot, only to wonder for the next hour on our ferry ride over, how and what we would have to do to disembark. By the time the ferry was loaded and set sail we were at least 45 min late, which made for an after midnight arrival into Skagway, where it actually was dark at night! But which also mean’t parking the camper at the campgrounds in the dark. But with all Paul’s experience ( he is the best backer-upper) and patience everything went just fine!