Back to Haines. I am in the lobby of the hotel waiting to check in and this guy wanders out. He looks like he might know what is going on so I tell him I just want to check in. He tells me his name is Matt and he doesn't know where the guy went. He has been in town 3 days waiting for the ferry and is totally bored. He asks if I am here for the ferry. (the only reason to be in Haines in the dead of winter is to catch the ferry) So I tell him yes and we talk for a bit. He just got out of the army and is moving to Florida. At some point cabins come up and he asks if I got one. I hadn't. So he says that I can stay in his if I want and he promises not to touch me if I do. Yeah right. I thank him and tell him I'm good and continue on to my Haines adventure.
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| Ferry Terminal! |
8 pm rolls around the next day to so I head to the ferry terminal and check in. The lady tells me to park my truck in the second row for staging. I look at the staging lines and there is one line and a bunch of cars randomly everywhere. I park in what I best figure is line 2. Not to my surprise, this later turns out to be wrong. I'm waiting and Matt shows up again. So we talk some more before they start loading up cars onto the boat. We decide to meet up on the ferry later and continue our conversation. I get directed to the correct line and drive onto the ferry. I grab my stuff and wander the boat. I meet up with Matt and we go to the bar. He was given two keys for his room so he gives me one and tells me to use it if I want he doesn't care either way. He says he is just trying to be nice and wants to give me the option of having a room if I want one. I am still extremely skeptical of his intentions. Anyway, we are at the bar and he asks if I have ever had a duck fart. I haven't and it doesn't sound bad so he asks for two duck farts. The bartender (Jo) tells us they can't serve that. He asks why and she explains that Alaska state law won't let her serve any drink with more than 2 different alcohols in it. The three of us then have a long conversation about what else the laws say. Apparently no Red Bull is allowed on the boat at all and she can't serve Yager either. Finally we order a bud light (ew). At which she demands our IDs. She then informs me that my coffee thermos is not allowed in the bar since it is an open container. I shove it in my backpack. We sit there and a few other guys come in and we all talk some more. Another bartender relieves Jo for a little bit. Matt asks him for a duck fart and is again rejected. We discuss the state laws regarding alcohol on a boat yet again.
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| The car deck. All 3 lanes were packed by the time we had made all our stops |
We head back to the boarding dock and the gate is locked. I check my watch and we definitely have another 45 minutes before we have to be back on the boat. We run into the terminal and breathlessly tell the guy working that we are locked out of out boat. "Uhhhh well, it is probably refueling" he says. We run back to the gate and look at the boat. This really doesn't make any sense that they would lock us out of the boat. Matt notices the gate isn't locked so he opens it. We run down the dock and into the boat. I am instantly more confused. We were also told that to get back on the boat we had to have our tickets on us and photo ID. No one checked them. Also, there are no cars. (you get on and off through the car deck) I see a guy that works on the boat and ask him if he wants to see our ticket. "Uhhh, how did you get on here?" he asks, confused. "We walked in the gate" says Matt. Turns out we were on the wrong boat. The way the ferry terminal was placed, it all looked like one boat to me. The guy follows us out and locks the gate behind us. We run to our boat and get back on board.
After all that excitement, I suggest going to sleep. I jump up on the top bunk. He tells me not to worry about waking him up in the morning since he is a heavy sleeper. I hear him snoring and decide that it is safe to go to sleep. I wake up the next morning and hop down and take a shower. The shower is about 2 by 2 feet. It is an interesting process. It is kind of like peeing on an airplane. Except you are standing up and you are showering. You kind of get tossed around a lot. I fell into the walls and almost out the open side a few times. I wander upstairs to find some food. It's about 11:15 and the cafeteria is closed from 11 to 12 every day. I am hungry and not so happy about it. I wander around the boat and take some videos and photos. The cafeteria finally opens for lunch so I get some food. I then grab my book and head to the observation deck for some reading.
I read until about 5 and then Matt shows up. He has not brought anything with him to entertain him on the boat and wants to talk. I give up on reading and talk to him. After a while we head back to the bar. Jo is happy to see us. We talk to Jo and have a good time and then the two guys from last night show up. We properly introduce ourselves this time. Their names are Jarred and Alex. They are also military and being relocated. We talk for a while and I head off and get some dinner. I bring it back to the bar and eat there. After a while we decide to go hang out in the room. It's cheaper than the bar. So we hang out there until some crazy hour of the morning. They leave and Matt tells me that they were asking about my availability when I had left the room. He hopes I don't mind that he told them that I was unavailable and off limits. No, I don't mind at all. Thank you for making my life that much easier. Ya know, you seem to be a pretty decent person Matt.
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| Cold drinks anyone? |
I head back to the observation deck with my book. This time Alex comes to talk to me at around 5. We all end up in the bar. However, tonight there is an exciting new topic of conversation: the hot blond girl sitting outside talking to some older guy. Alex is totally into her. While this conversation is going on, some random guy asks us for our opinion on the tap beers. Well, there are two: Alaskan Amber and IPA. We tell them they are both good. He orders a pitcher and grabs a table. A short time later he comes back and is pleased with our beer choice. I talk to him for a bit. His name is William and it turns out he is an inventor. He is helping his Uncle John move down to Sacramento. I mention that I have an idea that I am pretty sure hasn't been created yet and ask him if he could help me turn it into a patent. We talk for a while and I get his card. He then joins in on the conversation about the blonde girl. Everyone gives Alex similar advice: just be yourself. Eventually he heads off to talk to her.
Next thing we know, we see her walk by the bar and he is nowhere to be found. Matt wants to know what happened. He comes back and reports that Alex is now talking to the older guy and she is outside on the deck. Up for the challenge, Matt announces to the bar that he can get her in the bar in 10 minutes. He leaves. And about 12 minutes later she shows up. Her name is Oceana and she is does commercial fishing. Apparently he had told her that he was in the bar with some friends and his wife (Me?!?! Matt tells everyone on the boat I am his wife so they won't bother me...) and that she looks bored and should join us. Alex eventually shows up. We all have a good time. There are pitchers and shots all over that no one really seems to know where they came from.
At some point Bob the betta comes up in conversation. Matt mentions that Bob enjoys bars so next thing everyone knows, Bob is sitting on the bar. Jo is amused and doesn't seem to mind the open container. Bob has some beer throughout the night.
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| Bob with a shot |
Everyone gets their cheeseburgers and is happy. Alex works his "game" on Oceana. Eventually they disappear. About half an hour later she comes back without him. Apparently he had told her his room mate locked him out of his room and asked if he could sleep in her room. She let him in. Apparently he is now passed out naked in her room. Oh well, the rest of us keep having a good time. Eventually the party moved back to Matt's room. (Matt, William, John, Oceana, and Myself) William brings over a $100 bottle of wine. Matt insists everyone try his favorite drink of Southern Comfort and Mountain Dew. It's well received. Oceana mentions that Alex is still passed out in her room. Matt and William decide to take care of the situation. I stand in the hallway with her while they go to her room and wake him up. Apparently he is really really drunk and has no idea what happened and thinks he is in his room. He then wants to keep partying. They tell him it's 4 am and he had better go to his room and sleep it off. (it's probably actually about midnight) He wanders off.
We head back to our room and keep partying. (yes, in the 5x7 cabin) There is a knock at the door. It's Alex and he wants his chair back that he had left the night before. Oceana hides and William tries to help her hide. He gets his chair and leaves. At some hour of the morning everyone departs and I go to sleep. I am awoken a few hours later by a huge crash. We are in rough waters and everything that was on the mini table is now on the floor. Half empty cups, the Southern Comfort bottle, cans, and the $100 bottle of wine are all on the floor. Shit, I hope nothing broke. I don't want to deal with it now so go back to sleep.
I wake up a few hours later and go to shower, Good, nothing is broken but the floor is sticky. I am washing my hair and am frustrated by my shampoo. After 3 days, it still is not lathering. At all. WTF!?!?! I look closely at the bottle. Turns out, I have been washing my hair with conditioner and conditioning it with shampoo. That explains a lot. I wash my hair with the correct bottle of hair product. I go and get some food. The cashier asks me if I had a good night. Great, he remembers me. I tell him I did and that the cheeseburgers were great. I eat and head to the observation deck for some more reading. I see Alex and he doesn't speak to me. I have no idea what he remembers from the night before but I get the feeling he may be slightly embarrassed about the whole thing.
The captain then announces on the intercom that we are headed for open water and it is about to get choppy again. I ignore it. About 15 minutes later I start to feel like shit. The boat is rocking like crazy. Watching the window, it goes from only ocean, to some land, to only sky. The boat is also randomly dropping over waves. I am concerned about the cars hitting each other below. They are packed like sardines down there. I mean I have inches between the bumpers of T Rex and the other cars. I hope everyone pulled their e brake well. Anyway, I am feeling dreadful. I stop trying to read and stare at the horizon. It doesn't help.
It's worse looking out the side window. I couldn't get it to focus unfortunately.
William shows up and he looks terrible as well. We try to talk but we both feel too awful to say much. He asks where the bathrooms are and then disappears fast. He comes back about 20 minutes later looking much better. Apparently he had gotten some food poisoning. I still feel awful. So he talks and I listen and stare at the horizon. The captain announces he is going to try to steer for calmer waters. Excellent. Within an hour the ship's excessive heaving has subsided and I feel better. I go back to my book.
Guess what happens at 5? I end up back at the bar! This time is was William's fault. I insist on getting some food first and everyone agrees that is a good idea. I am the first one to the bar with my food. "Sorry Jo, everyone else is coming too...." She laughs. Everyone shows up soon thereafter. Most of us want to be low key since we all have to drive the next day. Jo thinks this is great and refuses to serve any of us shots. At some point I get Bob and bring him up to the bar. After a while, we say goodbye to Jo and head to William's room this time. We open the bottle of wine. (the one that luckily didn't break when falling off the table) William kicks us out around midnight and Matt and Oceana and I go back to Matt's room. William insists that we take his bottle of whiskey and 2.5 OZ bottle of Captain Morgans. We stay up for a while and then everyone heads to bed. I am not excited about my drive to Vancouver tomorrow.
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| Scenic shot... did I already post this one? |
I believe this is now caught up to day 7! :)
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