Day 46 -- Onward to Juneau by ferry

Travel   From: Haines, AK   To: Juneau, AK   Distance: 6 mi (10 km) by truck   Travel time w/brks: 0 hr 18   Distance since start: 9,507 mi (15,287 km)

Saturday 8/5/2006

We tried to get up somewhat early. I had learned from the port in Haines that our boat to Juneau was a bit delayed and it had been recommended to us that we need not show up for staging until 9:30AM. We already had our tickets and we also knew what lane we were staging in. Although I asked them earlier, Isabella and Erik woke up at 8AM and realized that they did, indeed, what to give fishing in the river one last chance. I drove them down to the river and then returned back to our campsite to get ready for departure. Lilli made sandwiches for everyone and an extra breakfast set for Isabella and Erik. Just after 9AM we rolled out of our campsite and minutes later we were at the narrow road by the river. The kids were waiting for us. We loaded their gear into the truck and headed for the staging lanes. It was foggy outside.

Our ship to Juneau comes in

After a while we could see our ship come in. We were wondering how we would be loaded into the boat. We could see a gangway and then realized the boat moored along the docks with an opening in its side. I was scratching my head and thinking about how to load our long trailer into the side of the ship. When our time came, we were indeed asked to go down the gangway and be loaded from the side. The tide was fairly low, so the gangway had a nice slope to it. One of the crewman coached me down the gangway and made us take a 90 degree turn left as soon as we got into the ship; we doubt a 34ft could have made this turn. As the truck kept turning and the trailer rolled off the gangway, we scraped in the front (somewhere around the chains), followed by the front tires of the trailer being *suspended* as the trailer dragged its rear due to the steep slope of the gangway. But we made it in. We felt glad that we were now pointed towards the nose of the boat; this would make it much easier to get out...

We made a sharp left from the gangway and parked on front of the brown Astro-van to the left in the picture

Leaving rainy Haines, AK, behind

The weather was mixed overcast and drizzle. The ride from Juneau into Haines was about 4 1/2 hours. When we arrived I stood on deck and watched the ship get moored along the docks. Huh? How are we going to get the trailer out now? We could only think of one thing: we were either going to make a 270 "around the block" inside the fairly narrow ship or they'd ask us to somehow back out of our spot, turn on a dime, and then pull out of the boat. It turned out to be the latter. The crew of the boat directed me as I looked at how incredibly torqued the tires on the trailer became. At one point I was concerned that the truck's tail lights would get crushed against the trailer. But, we made it out. A bit of scraping of the front underside of the trailer as we rolled up on the gangway.

Backing out in an s-curve and then jack-knife the truck/trailer before we could make the sharp left through the side-loaded ferry

It was raining outside. The campground's owner greeted us a few hundred feet after we had rolled off. She gave is directions for how to find the campground. It did not take long for us to get up there. We got help from the campground to find our site and get backed in. Everything was soaking we on the campground from all the rain. By about 3PM we were parked and set.

Downtown Juneau, AK, hugging some very steep hills

Lilli and I had talked about going out for dinner together for some time, but we had not gotten the time so far. And this was our last chance during this vacation. So we took off into Juneau while the kids stayed behind. The Juneau area is somewhat stretched out along the shore. Basically, there are tall mountains along the shore and the land between the water and the mountains is what is used by Juneau and its surroundings. The southern part of the area is where the actual city is located. It gives you the impression of being a sort of island, since you can only get to Juneau by boat. We took a drive through down-town. It was tight to get the big pickup through some of their streets. After a while, we parked near the Warf. Beyond it you could see at least one cruise ship. We walked in the city for a little while. Most of the restaurants that we found were pubs. We eventually settled for one in the Warf. We had a pretty good view of the harbor from our table. We saw two cruise ships in port. We had a First Mate Plate for dinner (combination of Halibut and Salmon). It tasted great.

Eating dinner in Juneau

Two cruise ships sit in the port of Juneau, just outside the window of our restaurant

After dinner, we returned back to the trailer, where Lilli packed her suitcase for returning back home. Her flight was leaving Juneau for Seattle at 1:30AM, with a checkin around midnight. I tried to stay awake as long as possible so that Lilli would not need to wait by herself too long at the airport. But at around 11AM, I started to get so tired that we headed down to the airport. Tired, I went to bed after midnight.

Campground   Name: Spruce Meadow RV park, Juneau, AK   Our hookups: 30amp, sewer, water, cable   WiFi: Yes   GSM service: Yes   TV Channels: Don't know   Cost: tbd/night   Reservation mode: Phone

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All Pictures (c) 2006 Hamnqvist, Background features the Yukon Sky.