MV Columbia, in Ketchikan last SeptemberCopyright 2007 Lydia Hinshaw
DENALI NATIONAL PARK, AK -- Our ride to the Lower 48 blew an engine this week.
We'd been looking forward to our trip on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry M/V Columbia since we booked our passage in June.
We would drive to Skagway, where we worked last summer, visit friends there, then board the ferry for Bellingham, WA, which is two hours north of Seattle.
For three days we would cover miles without having to drive them. We would not have to search for cheap motels or campgrounds. We would not have to pack and unpack the car daily.
Those plans got dashed this week when a piston rod failed in one of the Columbia's engines. The ship will be out of service for the rest of this season, and Saturday we learned there are no acceptable ferry alternatives for our trip home. Because of the dates our jobs end, we would have to either race the 800 miles to Skagway or somehow kill six days traveling the same distance. And neither of those ferries goes all the way to Bellingham -- they would only get us as far as Prince Rupert, BC, still a three-and-a-half day drive from Washington State.
Last year we took the much smaller M/V Taku from Skagway to Prince Rupert, and loved the relaxed atmosphere on board. In Ketchikan, we met the northbound Columbia and took her picture.
I guess we should consider ourselves lucky we weren't on the ferry already. The Columbia is now stuck in Ketchikan, a city not connected to the rest of the continent by road. Probably take several days to get her passengers and their cars ferried out.
As for us, we'll be getting home with the help of an old friend, the Alaska Highway. And on the bright side, Prince Charming now has a nice fat credit balance on one of his credit cards.
We'd been looking forward to our trip on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry M/V Columbia since we booked our passage in June.
We would drive to Skagway, where we worked last summer, visit friends there, then board the ferry for Bellingham, WA, which is two hours north of Seattle.
For three days we would cover miles without having to drive them. We would not have to search for cheap motels or campgrounds. We would not have to pack and unpack the car daily.
Those plans got dashed this week when a piston rod failed in one of the Columbia's engines. The ship will be out of service for the rest of this season, and Saturday we learned there are no acceptable ferry alternatives for our trip home. Because of the dates our jobs end, we would have to either race the 800 miles to Skagway or somehow kill six days traveling the same distance. And neither of those ferries goes all the way to Bellingham -- they would only get us as far as Prince Rupert, BC, still a three-and-a-half day drive from Washington State.
Last year we took the much smaller M/V Taku from Skagway to Prince Rupert, and loved the relaxed atmosphere on board. In Ketchikan, we met the northbound Columbia and took her picture.
I guess we should consider ourselves lucky we weren't on the ferry already. The Columbia is now stuck in Ketchikan, a city not connected to the rest of the continent by road. Probably take several days to get her passengers and their cars ferried out.
As for us, we'll be getting home with the help of an old friend, the Alaska Highway. And on the bright side, Prince Charming now has a nice fat credit balance on one of his credit cards.
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