We walked around the grounds of what was once FortSeward, the first military presence established in the wild territory ofAlaska. This was many years before Alaska became a state. A lot ofcool old buildings and Alaskan Indian arts and totems. It was about foursquare blocks.
We checked out the weather for Haines and it varied from light showers torain for the next 10 days! Ugh! We’re outta here!
On our way out, we checked out the prices on a few flights from Haines toGustavus (Gus-TA-vus) to catch a tour of Glacier Bay. We didn’t want tospend $500. for flights and then the price of the boat tour, if all we would seewould be clouds.
We headed out on the AlaskanHighway. We were forced to rethink our ideas of remoteness we hadexperienced in the desert. Haines is over 700 miles from Anchorage, a realcity. We’re on the only road into or out of Haines. The only otherway in is by plane or by ferry (like we did). We drove 44 miles andcrossed the Canadian border into the Yukon Territory. The Canadian Border Patrolofficer was pretty funny. Since I was driving, I got to answer. He asked how wegot to Haines. I said, in a sleepy stupor, "The ferry". Heasked where we got on the ferry. I said, "Uh, Belling…ham?"and looked at Andrew for approval. He said, " The Saturdayferry?" I said, "Saturday? Was itSaturday?" He said, "Yeah, you were on the Saturdayferry. You won’t wake up until Monday" He’s apparently aware ofwhat a 3:45am ferry arrival does to a traveler.
This part of Canada is truly beautiful… and remote. We passed thru acouple of small towns that only existed to supply travelers with gas, snacks andsouvenirs. A couple of restaurants and motels completed the attractionsalong the highway. We stopped at a rest area to make dinner on thetailgate and someone in a motor home also stopped there came out to chat. Billy Woodfin is a full time RVer from Texas. This is his third trip toAlaska.
As we headed down the road, we saw several RVs and campers at numerouspullouts, camping for the night. We prefer to camp slightly further offthe road. we found a spot shortly before dark and went to bed. It’snow getting dark about 10:30-11:00 at night. We haven’t slept in the truckfor perhaps a week and it was like coming home.