Friday July 30th 2010 Bellingham to Home

Miles ridden today =  66.5
Total miles for the whole trip = 11,123 miles
A beautiful sunrise, and it looked like another great weather day. However, after about 30 minutes or so we ran into fog, and it was with us all the way into Bellingham, and part of the way home down I5. Still it was dry. No problems getting off the ferry, gassed up and headed the 70 odd miles to home. Trip over, just like that. It seems years ago I was riding the 4 Corners.

Sunrise:

Through the San Juan Islands:

Arriving in Bellingham:

The ferry journey was really something to be experienced, and we were so lucky with the weather. The best scenery was the first 3 days, yesterday became rather blah, and cabin fever set in. It really is like a mini cruise, and people are very friendly, like a little community. I am glad I took it, although I would recommend doing it northbound to save having to try to schedule around the southbound departure.

I didn’t achieve everything I set out to do, I ran out of time, really creating this myself due to the southbound ferry departure booking. The starting issues didn't help. I didn’t ride as much of Alaska as I had hoped, but it means I have to do it again. I’ll put a blog up later of lessons learned for the Phase 3 part of my ride.

As a matter of interest, the number of States I travelled through was 30, Provinces 6


States in order:
Washington       Georgia                New Hampshire
Oregon             South Carolina      Maine (end of 4 Corners)
California          North Carolina      Michigan (start of phase 3)
Arizona             Virginia                 Indiana
New Mexico     Maryland              Illinois
Texas                Pennsylvania         Wisconsin
Louisiana           New Jersey           Minnesota
Mississippi        New York            North Dakota
Alabama           Connecticut          Montana
Florida              Massachusetts      Alaska

Provinces
New Brunswick
Quebec
Ontario
Alberta
British Columbia
Yukon

So to those who have been following my ride, I hope you enjoyed the journey along with me. I have many photos to upload, and I'll do that later.

Be safe.

Thursday July 29th 2010 running for Bellingham past Vancouver Island

So I wake up, look at my phone for the time (it has been my only clock for years), and see it is 0415. OK so we are in BC waters, so it must be Pacific Time, that is 0515. So I get up and go to get a tea. I ask the attendant in the snack bar, it is Pacific time, right?. “No sir, on Alaska State Ferries, they are considered to be in Alaska, so we always keep Alaska time”. So that is why we arrive in Bellingham tomorrow at 0700 ship’s time, but 0800 local time. OK, I wanted to get up early anyway.

The day started overcast with low cloud everywhere, covering the tops of the wooded hills as we pass through the Charlottes, and down through the various channels of the Inside Passage. It is not until we near the northern tip of Vancouver Island does the sky starts to clear and we had blue skies late afternoon and evening.

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The Department of Agriculture lectures to-day were “Whales and Orcas”, and the "Lifecycle of the Salmon". These environment and nature lectures have been really great, very informative. The movies shown to-day were “Up”, Avatar, and “How to Train a Dragon”.
The ferry held a 'Man overboard' drill whilst we were steaming. It was an interesting exercise to watch.

We did see a few humpback whales to-day, but were a way off, and also a pod of orcas close to the ship.


Orcas:

One interesting sight was a small tug heading north, towing a 2 story house on a raft.

Sunset:

It is day 4 of the cruise, and I am getting cabin fever. Time to get off and hit the road. I haven’t really ridden much in a week, and it shows. Still tomorrow we are in Bellingham, and 70 miles or so of I5 and home.

Wednesday July 28th 2010 to Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan

Another hard day at the office. Another great day weather wise dawned. We have been so lucky on this ferry ride, according to the locals the best weather since May.

I had heard that the trip after leaving Petersburg was something to see, so when I woke about 5AM I got up to see it. It is the Wrangell Narrows, quite something and one of the advantages of being on a smaller ship like the ferry. A few people were up in the forward lounge to see the scenery, all older people. In fact most of those who spend a large percentage of the passage there are the older generation. Shortly after we arrived at Wrangell, then headed for Ketchikan down the Clarence Strait.

Wrangell:

En route to Ketchikan:

There were 4 cruise ships in port, including Radiance of the Seas. We have met that liner 3 times. The ferry dock is about 2 miles from town, so I walked in, and halfway back, then caught a bus. It was quite hot walking, and in town. I think the liners had been in most of the day as they started to leave when we got there. The town was still quite full though, and the tourist buses etc.. were busy. Having been to Ketchikan before, on the Radiance of the Seas, I had no need to do all the tourist stuff. Most of the stores sell the same goods as the other towns, just a different town name on them. Ketchikan is a fishing port, and so if one were there for a day, a charter would work.
One thing that was interesting is that I noticed the car deck was quite empty when I got back from town. A load of bikes, there must be over 30 on board, a few RVs and that’s about it. A cabin is a premium lot on board, with a waiting list at every port of call.

Ketchikan:

We left Ketchikan at 5PM, and headed south down the Revillagigedo Channel towards Chatham Sound and the BC border. Before hitting the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the inside passage of Vancouver Island, we crossed the stretch of open Pacific Ocean water, and as we had a swell on the starboard beam, the ferry did a bit of rock and roll as it has a shallow draft, not like large liners with their deeper draft and stabilizers.

Next port of call is Bellingham.