Week 19

Monday, August 5, 2002

The roads were much better today than yesterday. As soon as I left the Kluane RV Park, I turned off of the Alaska Highway and onto the Haines Highway. No more construction. I did have some disappointment on both ends of today’s trip. Kluane RV Park had advertised internet access, but after I checked in, I found that their internet access was out of service; in addition I was annoyed that they assigned me a spot right next to the sewer dump, when I complained they were not the least bit concerned. Then when I got to Haines, I stopped to fill up with gas. There is a brand of gasoline in Alaska called Tesoro. They have a program that provides for stamps for every 8 gallons of gas that you get. Since I do burn a lot of gas, I thought I would join this program. I had my card filled out with 24 stamps which entitled me to $5.00 off of my next tank of gas. Haines is my last stop in Alaska, except for Juneau which I will arrive at and leave by ferry. So when I got to Haines, I pulled into the one and only Tesoro station and filled up. As the pump was registering 68 gallons of gas, I told the attendant that I had the $5.00 card completed. He said that this station did not participate in this program. Needless to say, I was upset. Then I went to a car wash and started to wash the princess when that attendant came over and said that I could not use my bucket and brush. I was not too happy with my introduction to Haines. It is a very small town with nothing much to offer. I did, however, find a nice campground called Oceanview for $21. My view out my windshield is right across the water to the mountains.

Tuesday, August 6, 2002

This morning, I took a “fast ferry” passenger ferry to Skagway, a 35 minute trip. It was fun. Skagway is the most exciting town that I’ve been in in Alaska. There were 5 large cruise ships in town and the streets were buzzing with tourists. The town has a population of 800, but it is very neat and clean. Nice paved streets with wooden boardwalks. Every shop is well maintained with courteous staff. This is the most thriving economy that I’ve seen in Alaska. The main reason that I wanted to go to Skagway was to ride the famous White Pass & Yukon Railroad. This is an absolute tourist must. I called a couple of weeks ago to make a reservation. There are three trains daily, 10:00, 1:00 and 4:30: the only one that I could get for today was the 4:30 train. The ride is three and a half hours long, so that meant that the train got back at 8:00. The last ferry back to Haines was at 6:00, so I had to spend the night in Skagway. I made a reservation at the Westmark Inn for the night. The train ride was spectacular as it climbed almost 3,000 feet to the top of White Pass Summit. This is the same route that the gold seekers of 1898 climbed on their way to the Klondike. The narrow gauge railroad passed over the same route, but in much more comfort than the prospectors had as they walked with pack mules up the narrow snowy cliffs. The train crossed several very high bridges that looked like they were built with toothpicks, and went thru two tunnels in total darkness. No lights on the train. The train actually crossed the border into Canada for a short distance, but since we did not get off the train, we did not have to pas through customs. It was a spectacular ride and a highlight of this trip. When the train returned, I went to a restaurant called Alaska Wilde for a nice Halibut dinner, then to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Wednesday, August 7, 2002

It rained all night and was still raining this morning. I checked out of the hotel, went to a little coffee shop and had breakfast. I had a reservation for the Noon ferry back to Haines. The rain continued all day. This is the first really rainy day that I have had since April that really interfered with my plans. When I got back to Haines, I walked back to the princess in the pouring rain and spent the rest of the day without going out. I was pooped.

Thursday, August 8, 2002

When I awoke this morning it was still raining. I broke camp and went to the post office to pick up my mail, then just kind of wasted time driving around town, stopped at the library and basically waiting for the time to board the ferry to Juneau. At 4:30 I drove to the ferry terminal in Haines. I checked in and I was pleased to see that they did not measure the width of the princess to find that she was wider than the standard rate. They could have charged me as much as 50% more for being more than 9 feet wide. I was the first vehicle to load and they maneuvered me around that deck like an airplane taxiing for take-off. The ferry had four decks, only one for cars, plus a cabin deck, boat deck and bridge deck. There was a so-so cafeteria on board where I had a roasted chicken dinner. There was a theater on board, but it was pretty crowded and I didn’t like the looks of the movie, so I continued to explore every nook and cranny of the ship until I finally settled in the forward lounge. The trip took four and a half hours to Juneau and although the rain had let up just before I boarded, it started coming down heavier about an hour into the trip. For most of the trip, you could not see the beautiful mountains that surrounded the inside passage. I got dark around 10:00 and when I pulled into Juneau, it was pitch dark. I turned the wrong way from the ferry dock and went to the wrong campground. I finally called and got directions back to the right one and finally pulled in around midnight.

Friday, August 9, 2002

I drove into downtown Juneau this morning and saw the capital building and the S. O. B. (State Office Building), drove all over downtown Juneau and neighboring Douglas and Auke Bay. I had planned to take an aerial tramway to the top of a mountain here, but the mountains were so fogged in, I decided to wait until tomorrow and hope for better weather. Parking for RVs is pretty scarce in downtown Juneau, so I drove back to a K-Mart that advertised free shuttle service to downtown. I waited for the bus but it never came. I did a little shopping and then returned to the campground where I washed the princess while I also did some laundry. Tomorrow should be better weather, I hope so I can see more of Juneau. It looks like a beautiful city, fro what I have seen so far.

Saturday, August 10, 2002

The weather was a little bit better today than yesterday. I decided to take the city bus into town since parking is so limited. I found the bus stop about 500 yards from the RV Park and waited about 5 minutes for the once-an-hour bus. The bus took about an hour to wind its way downtown. I got off at the Capitol building, only to find out that it was not open on Saturday. I was disappointed. I walked down the street and saw a sightseeing trolley/bus, so I figured I would take the familiarization tour. This was the worse tour I have ever been on. The driver would say things like, “Up ahead is a very old building, but I don’t know what it is.” There would be long periods where he didn’t say anything. I got off the trolley at a stop where he said there was an old Russian Orthodox Church up the hill about two blocks. I walked up to see it and it was closed. I did stop in at a beautiful Catholic Church called The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was a very attractive church and it was open so I went inside. I walked back to where I got off the trolley and took the next trolley that came by. My ticket entitled me to ride all day. This time I had an excellent guide who narrated the entire tour in a very lively and knowledgeable way. What a world of difference! I got off again at the Alaska State Museum. This was a first class museum with excellent displays on the various cultures of the state including the Russian heritage; the Eskimo heritage and various other Native Indian cultures like the Athabascan and Tlingits. I enjoyed that museum a lot. When I left there, I decided to forego the trolley ride and I walked down to the busy tourist area around the cruise ships. There were five cruise ships in port, so the area was jumping. I went to a very cool bar called the “Red Dog Saloon”. There was sawdust on the floor and a great country/western entertainer singing. I had a couple of “Alaskan Amber” beers and had a very good time. Eventually, I left the bar and went to the Mount Roberts Aerial Tramway. This is a cable gondola owned by the Tlinglit people. It carries about 30 people in a cable car up over the tree line 1800 feet to the top of Mount Roberts. At the top would normally be a spectacular view, but because of the clouds, it was difficult to even see the city below. There was a good movie about the Tlinglit people and they had a nice restaurant where I had dinner. I took the tram back down the mountain, went back to the Red Dog Saloon and had a couple more beers, then took the 9:30 bus back to the RV Park.

Sunday, August 11, 2002

Today was a big day that I’ve been looking forward to. I was scheduled to take the 9:30 ferry from Juneau to Prince Rupert. I was supposed to be at the ferry terminal by 7:30 AM. I got up at 6:00, didn’t have breakfast or anything. I left the campground and went to the Tesoro gas station across the street. I had determined that they would honor my $5.00 certificate that was turned down in Haines. I filled up with $66.00 worth of gas and paid $61.00 for it, then drove to the terminal about a mile and a half away. As I pulled into the parking lot, there were about 50 people in a group all waving at me. I thought what a welcome committee. When I parked and got out, I found that they were from the Airstream club. They had left there motorhomes and trailers at Prince Rupert and taken the ferry North to Sitka and Juneau. Now they were returning to resume their caravan. Ever since I made the reservation for this trip, I have been concerned that I would be charged for being wider than 8.5 feet. The brochure said that there would be a surcharge of up to 50% for being over the regular width. This trip was very, very expensive and I was worried that it would cost even more. I was pleased to find that they did not measure. As soon as I got on the boat, I was besieged by these Airstream members. They were constantly telling me that I should join their club. I enjoyed talking with them and playing cards and other games with them, but I told them that I wasn’t ready to join yet. The trip to Prince Rupert was 27 hours. The ferry left Juneau at 9:30 AM and got to Prince Rupert at 12:30 PM (1:30 PDT) on Monday. We stopped at Petersburg at 6:15 PM; Wrangell around 10:15 and at Ketchikan at 6:15 AM. The ship that I was on was called the Kennicott and it is the newest ship in the Alaska Marine Highway fleet. It held 80 vehicles and 748 passengers. I had a very nice cabin and everything on the ship was in tip-top shape. The trip was down the Alaska Inside passage which is some of the most beautiful scenery in North America, but it is also a rain forest, and consequently it is usually raining. Unfortunately, my trip was almost completely fogged in and I did not get to see much of that scenery. I did get off the ship at Wrangell and just went ashore for 15 minutes, long enough to buy a couple of post cards. I was surprised to see how big all three of these ports were. They are all isolated by mountains and the only way to get to them is by ferry or plane, yet all three of these communities have about 30 miles of roadway each and substantial populations. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip despite the weather.