I left Bellingham, Washington on July 25 at about 6 PM under sunny skies and this morning at 4:45 AM, I rolled my bike off the ferry in Juneau, Alaska. It was barely light and raining a light, steady, all-day kind of rain.
It was not the arrival I had imagined, having to ride in the early morning in a steady rain. Still, I was happy to be on the bike again and as I rolled onto Highway 7 towards downtown Juneau, I realized I had just completed my goal for this bike tour: I had ridden my bicycle in Alaska. Alaska, the forty-ninth state, becomes the forty-ninth state I have ridden my bicycle in. The only one remaining is Hawaii, the fiftieth state.
Under the awning of the ferry terminal, as I was putting on my rain gear, I met my first Alaskan. He said “You should wait until it stops raining.” Helpful advice. He continued “Of course, you might have to wait fifteen days or so.” That wasn’t such helpful advice. He said they’ve had fifteen days or so of rain everyday. He said that’s unusual for this time of year.
The three nights and two days on the ferry was quite an experience. There were people from all over the world on that ferry and people of all shapes, sizes and flavors. It was a interesting maneuver to strike up a conversation because I never knew if the person I was speaking to actually spoke one of the languages I spoke. By that I mean English.
During the day, the ferry had some of the feel of a motel and some of the feel of a tourist attraction, depending on what deck you were on. On the Upper Deck and Cabin Deck felt like a motel, although very cramped. The Ship Deck and Bridge Deck were above that. There, you had access to outdoors and it definitely felt like you were on a ship, but it also felt like a tourist attraction because people were taking pictures of the scenery and wildlife all day long. There were half a dozen or so whale and dolphin sightings, but I was only able to see one of them and then I was only able to get a single, blurry photo of a couple of fins sticking out of the water. I quickly learned the difficulty with whale-watching: the ocean, even the teeny bit you can see from a ship, is a very big place and you can’t possibly look everywhere. To me, it seemed largely a matter of luck as to whether you were able to get a decent photo of a whale or dolphin.
At night, the ship began to feel like a refuge camp. I didn’t know this, but there are areas set aside for campers to set up tents. If you do this, bring lots of duck tape otherwise you risk having your tent and all its contents blow overboard. There’s also a heated, covered area — the Solarium — where people would sleep, mostly in deck chairs. This is where I imagined myself sleeping except by the time I got my bicycle stashed and I arrived at the Solarium, the place was packed and there wasn’t a single empty deck chair in sight. That left me, along with quite a few others, scrounging for a recliner or floor space in either the TV Lounge or the Forward Lounge.
The first night, I slept on the indoor/outdoor carpeting of the TV Lounge. It had the unfortunate characteristic of a floor that vibrated in an irregular pattern. It kept me awake for part of the night. The second night, I tried the Forward Lounge which seemed to have a steadier floor, but it was linoleum. It’s amazing how much harder linoleum is than even a basic indoor/outdoor carpet floor covering. It was also drafty and right next to the cocktail lounge, so the third night I went back to the TV Lounge and had a much better night except for having to get up at 4 AM to get ready to disembark at 4:45 in Juneau.
I’ve got a bunch of photos I’d like to upload to add to this posting, but for some reason, I’m unable to do that here at the motel where I’m staying. Until I figure out how to do that, this post will have to remain photoless.
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