TUESDAY, JUNE 4

TUESDAY, JUNE 4:

     Woke up to steady rain.  We ‘d been instructed to arrive at the ferry dock by 1:30 for the 3:00 sailing, so we had time for a leisurely  morning.  Made blueberry pancakes.

      I finished my book about the POW.   Was an excellent book.  Thoroughly researched and a straightforward, unsentimental narrative of Louie Zamperini’s amazing, heroic, near tragic life, redeemed from the despair & brokenness & darkness into which he sank after being so unbelievably brutalized for 1 ½ years in  Japanese POW camps, by God miraculously bringing him into Light at a Billy Graham crusade in L.A.   A truly powerful story of how Christ miraculously saved him from himself and set him free.  But not a typical, simplistic “advertisement” of Christianity . . . in fact, it’s impossible to know from the book whether or not the author herself embraces Christianity.  She just tells his story, in honest and vivid detail,  as well as that of other people whose lives intersected with his, for good or evil, in the crucible of war.

     Then it was time to drive over to the ferry.  I felt a little giddily nervous . . .  this was the real start of our adventure into the unknown!  Bill was his usual calm self.  We did get on the ferry – and one of the guys who’d talked with Bill yesterday when he brought the rig in to be measured was there and immediately recognized him (or was it that he recognized the truck – unique with its 2 kayaks on top, 2 recumbent bikes in the front?) and was obviously rooting for us to get on and not have to be turned away.

     The ferry was fantastic!!  Huge – several decks, including a large enclosed observation lounge, an upper deck with lounge chairs under a solarium with heat lamps, a separate lounge with reclining chairs, a dining room, and more.  And of course the vehicle deck, where it was amazing how they stacked all those vehicles in, just inches apart, many of which resembled ours in size.  And they had to stack them in terms of who was getting off at Ketchikan, and who was staying on.   They had to really know what they were doing. 

 

 

     The 6 hour cruise went very quickly.  Spent time on both the solarium and observation decks, as well as just walking around some on the outside.  Also enjoyed a cafeteria  meal in the dining area.  Don’t know at what speed we were going, but looked pretty fast to us! And very, very smooth – sometimes hardly felt like we were moving at all!   Met and chatted with 2 or 3 very nice couples, including running into Mike from the campground.  This boat had a National Forest Service naturalist on board, who gave a couple of nice talks – one on Alaskan bears (the differences between brown and black), and one on Ketchikan itself.  We thought that was a very nice feature . . . not surprising, knowing how much we admire our National Park & Forest Service rangers for the nearly always interesting information they pass on. 

 

     Even though it was lightly raining and misting, for the most part it didn’t hamper the scenery – only for some of the trip was the fog and mist so thick and grey that you couldn’t see anything.  But most of the time, the curls of mist just enhanced the atmosphere.

 

 

 

    And, another miracle gift – as we approached Ketchikan, one of the rainiest places in the world, the western sun just ahead of us broke thru some clouds and was dazzling in its brightness.  The combination of sunbeams and mist was splendid. 

 

  Was very much fun to see the town come into view.

 

  And then fascinating to watch them guide the boat in to the dock, perfectly in place so that those behemoth vehicles like ours can me it off.

     Drove to the only campground on the island with hook-ups, at least that I could find.  About 12 miles out of town.  The main road of the island, and the one to the RV park, parallels the ocean, and we’d have occasional sublime views of mountains, mist, twilight, and glassy water.  One of our first Alaskan feasts for the eyes!

      After driving past the campground turnoff and having to turn around at the end of the road, we found it.  The RV park bills itself as a fishing resort, with an RV park.  Well . . . “resort” is a stretch . . . but definitely a fishing place.  And the motel or lodge portion looked fine . . . but the RV part had to be an afterthought.  All back-in’s, extremely small sites (if you have 2 RV’s which both have slide-out’s side by side, one of them is gonna get clipped!), no picnic tables, just dirt and mud . . . I’d be tempted to say it was the first “dump” we’d ever stayed in.  But, as I said, it has to be a man’s fishing camp, and amenities such as pleasantly laid-out sites don’t really mean much.

     No office personnel were there to assist nor direct us . . . a good ole boy, just another camper, stepped out and advised us just to take any place we wanted, and we could “settle up” in the morning.   Bill had a heckuva time getting the RV in place.  Thank goodness it wasn’t raining, was still somewhat light, and the temperature actually felt very comfortable (a  plus for me as I attempted to guide him in).

     We took poor Pappy out, who’d been in the truck for hours (the ferry only allows dogs inside your vehicle).  Walked down on the dock.   It was actually very pleasant and nice-looking down there.  We’ll see more of it in the morning. 

     Will probably be here for 4 nites.  If the weather cooperates, we’d like to go to Misty Fjords one day, and to some of the Totem displays another.  Since the next sailing to Wrangell, our next port, isn’t until Saturday, that gives us a cushion day.