Waiting to load bikes on the ferry. Typically we were last on first off, which was silly as far as I was concerned. We had to tie down or untie, which takes considerably longer than just getting in your car and starting it. Duh!
My bike loaded up with food and drink for the next three days. My tank bag holds two boxes of Bota Box wine!
The ferries that do the longer runs have a cafeteria, dining room, and a bar. The dining room is a formal ship dining room serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The cafeteria is open with a selection of pre-made foods and a special or two each day. It is reasonably priced, and if you need to charge electronics, there are a number of outlets at tables, so you can kill two birds with one stone. The bar is 21 and over, and has a selection of chips to accompany your drink order.
The cafeteria has microwaves available to passengers. Popcorn was a must for the movie theater, and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps made for a cozy drink out on the breezy decks. Not that we took alcohol on board--that's not allowed...
Once we got aboard, we found lounge chairs in the solarium where we set up Thermarests and sleeping bags and stashed our gear. We decided to do that under the heat lamps rather than pitch a tent on the deck below. A word of warning **a -5 degree sleeping bag is NOT NEEDED while sleeping on the deck** I think sleeping in a Snuggie would make one sweat under those lamps!
As we wandered the ship, checking where everything was (bathrooms, eating areas, movie theater and arcade, showers and laundry) and committing each deck to memory, the captain announced porpoises off the port side. We headed outside to the aft deck to check them out, and a woman came running out past us and took a couple of great pictures of them flying through the air. She was soon joined by three men, and we discovered they were the owners of four other GSs we saw when we loaded our bikes on. Brian, Chris, Blair and Mike were all from Aspen/El Jebel where they volunteer with the Aspen fire department together. They offered us drinks and we all stood around chatting and drinking boxed wine, which we had all managed to bring on board.
And was I happy or what?? Finally, another female motorbiker!!! Chris and I talked gear, underwear, and what it's like to do a trip like this with only guys. She rides a beautiful 1200GS and did her very best to talk me into upgrading. Over the next couple of days, we spent time with this group of people and one other rider, Ross on a V-Strom, from Utah.
We had one port of call in Ketchikan. We all disembarked and headed for the bus stop. The ferry terminal was two miles from downtown and we rode in, walked around the downtown area for about half an hour, and walked the two miles back to the boat. Ketchikan was my least favorite of all the towns/cities we visited. It is geared primarily to tourists, and though there are probably great things to do if you can stay a few days and leave the city, a few hours around town doesn't get you much.
Back on the boat, we made our first visit to the bar. Totally reasonably priced, well-stocked, and tended by Tony. Tony was AWESOME! He had obviously been tending bar for the ferry system for MANY years and was quite good at it. Remembered my name immediately and what I drank, so when I walked into the bar on the following days, he had my drink to me in no time without my even asking.
In the bar--they roll on kegs of Alaskan Amber beer. Sweet!
I found three days on the boat to be a bit tedious. I read a lot, ate a lot, drank a lot (cuz really, I wasn't gonna have to drive anywhere...) and tried to run around a lot to get rid of some energy. I also indulged in daily showers. That was nice. For everyone.
We would be leaving the ferry for good at 8am, so the night before I packed all my crap back up before going to sleep. That was when I discovered my motorcycle key was missing. I went through everything I had. Three times. I had a spare, but my real one was on my new mushing dog key chain from Denali, and I really wanted it. Finally it dawned on me that I had probably left it in the bike, as I usually do. But Josh said that no, I hadn't done that. The car decks are closed except for 2-3 times a day, when they are open for 15 minutes. I had just missed one, and it wouldn't be open again until midnight. So I set my alarm, met the people going down to walk their dogs, and sleepily went down to find it in my bike. Duh! It's not like the bike was going anywhere, so I left it and went back to bed.
In the morning, we met up with the Aspen crew after we all had our bikes and were off the boat. We exchanged contact info, said goodbye, and headed off towards Seattle, where we would spend the next couple of days with family.
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