June 10, 2014 – On the Ferry, 0 road miles
I realize that most people doing this trip don’t take the ferry – it’s expensive, it ain’t quick, and…you’re not enjoying your bike when you’re on the water! But one of the milestones we wanted to see was Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, and for that you can only get in by air or sea.
With that rationalization out of the way, here’s what happened on a rare day completely off the bikes.
First, for those of you curious what the rooms are like on the ferry. They’re sparse, but comfortable enough.
As I mentioned before, Bui decided to tent on the top, so we set out to catch up with him the next morning. On the way to the top, we found this room where people had brought giant air mattresses. This might have made me laugh so hard I was worried I’d wake someone up.
Vy sits on the helipad as she waits for Bui to get out of his fantastic 25 year old Eureka tent (the blue on the side). That guy takes incredible care of his gear, which is much more than I can say for myself.
Captain Phillips does not seem like a good movie to show on a large boat full of people.
As we pulled into our first port of call, some seaplanes decided to join us.
We got into Ketchikan and decided to explore a bit. I swear that every dog in Alaska was just like this – totally free and without a care in the world. They never barked at you or even really looked at you.
Ketchikan is best known for Shakes Island and its Totem Poles. Though the main building on the island had a beautiful front wall (with an interesting choice of location for the door), it was unfortunately closed.
Still, we were able to go around to the back and see several totem poles on the ground. No idea why they weren’t standing upright somewhere, but this one was one of my favorites.
We did managed to see “Totem Pole Park”, which apparently just has this one in it. Vy decided to add Baby Jack to the set of figures.
This photo makes me laugh every time I see it. I’m convinced it’s a mural of a stripper mermaid entertaining several marine animals. Look at all their creepy smiles! I don’t care what you say, you won’t be able to change my mind.
This bar provides you with a helpful flowchart for a question where the answer is always no. Though I’m not sure “Fireball? FIREBALL!” is the way to get there.
Another door at the same bar.
I can’t imagine she has much competition, but Jennifer would earn my business just based on the name of her shop alone.
A little panorama with our last view of Ketchikan before getting back on the boat.
Vy noticed that “normal operations’ were a significant risk of attack. Say again? I thought this was some sort of oversight but then I saw the same sign at several other ports along the journey.
Back on board, we came across a custom Econoline that had been setup by Roadview to measure things like road surface quality, deformation size, and more. Check out this site for more about their setup.
So close, yet so far.
Enjoying a little lean as we wait in port.
Caught some marine life as we headed out.
I rushed this photo because I was so embarrassed of taking it in front of a bunch of old people. Still, Baby Jack does his best Titanic impression.
This is pretty much the closest to a bike picture you’re going to get from today – we chat it up with Mike and Jana (the couple on the 48 state trip). He was on a R12GS that was fully loaded, and she was on a F700GS that was basically brand new. I think they had originally planned on going to Copper Center, but Bui kept trying to convince them to head even further north. It worked – they eventually made their way up to the Arctic Circle!
As you know, the further you get up north, the lighter it stays at night. Took this at about 10:30pm and called it a night.
Continue on to Day 8
Day 8 – June 11th, 2014 – Juneau, AK – 0 road miles
Go back to Day 6
June 9, 2014 – Vanderhoof, BC to Prince Rupert, BC ~385 miles