Day 41

The ferry to Skagway was scheduled to leave Haines at 8:30 PM so we arranged with the RV park to checkout at 6:00. They charged us $14.00 but it was well worth it because we didn’t want to haul the trailer around town all day.

We drove out to the Chilkoot River and Chilkoot Lake. Bears go fishing for salmon in this area but, we were two weeks early for the salmon run and only saw one grizzly bear. The lake’s camp host told us that in 2 weeks there will be abundant fish and the bears will be out in large numbers. The bears are pretty used to humans so a lot of people forget they’re wild and get too close trying to take pictures. They haven’t had any incidents but the camp host gets very nervous when he sees it. He also said that when the salmon start running, about 1000 fishermen will show up and the highway to the river and lake will be packed with cars. On the bad side, we were too early to see the bears; on the good side, we missed the crowd. We’ve noticed bear scat on the roads all around Haines. We thought they went in the woods – who knew. We also got to see a Merganser mom & ducklings and an eagle up in a tree watching them. We think he was waiting for the opportunity to grab one of the ducklings but thankfully, that didn’t happen while we were there.

We went back to the trailer and Jan visited with our German neighbor, Martin. Jan invited him to come to Prescott when he’s on his journey through the U.S. He has to go back to Germany for a few weeks but will return and plans to visit some of the warmer states during the winter. It’s pretty interesting hearing his stories about Germany. Microwaves are not as popular as they are here but the younger generation is starting to use them more & more. He has fallen in love with the microwave in his RV. Since he’s travelling alone, he buys – oh what do you call them – yes, frozen meals – and cooks them quickly. He also has an Espresso machine in the RV – I’m thinking that’s a European thing.

Now for the highlight of the day – the ride on the ferry! We left the RV park at 6:00, made our way to the ferry dock, and got in line. We didn’t have to be there until 7:30 so I made dinner and we ate in the trailer while we waited. Getting on the ferry was pretty hairy (I’m a poet) because the turns were very tight. I had to watch to make sure the trailer didn’t hit the back window of the truck. The ride was fun (we’re so easily entertained); what a great way to get from Haines to Skagway. It was much better than having to drive there. We arrived at Mountain View RV Park (a very mediocre place) around 10:00, hooked up the electricity and went to bed.