July 3 - in Haines, AK

What a morning.  My whole rhythm was thrown off when the wifi wasn't working.  It showed a strong signal, but wasn't connecting.  If it had no signal, it would have been easier.  Spent way to much time trying different things to get it to connect.  After I got dressed & went to the office, I found it was out all over Haines and Skagway.

Ok, adapt.  Since they don't want you to even wipe/clean your windshield in this park, we were trying to come up with a plan for the very dirty motorcycle.  Normally I clean most of it on the rack (easier to reach things).  Worked out a plan to just wipe the seat and hand grips and drive it across the street to the car wash.  Only thing is, it wouldn't start.  Found the charger.  After about half an hour, of which I fretted and fussed, cause I should have been able to clean the darn thing in that time while it was charging, we decided to bike into town and see the museum I had on the "to do" list.  

They had a great kids "Discovery Center".  Very low tech, but with dolls and crafts and bright colored chairs I think Addisyn and Piper would approve.

I thought the percussionists in the family might be interested in this drum.  It was used in the local high school band 1959-1970 (making it older than their parents).

They had a special exhibition of a local artist, Donna Catotti.  She had a paragraph or so talking about each piece on display.  She seemed to play down her talent, and most of the models were people she knew.  I enjoyed the "history" as much as the art.  {http://www.donnacatotti.com/}  While we were there, Donna came in.  I enjoyed talking to her.  After we talked for a bit, I felt comfortable letting her know she had a typo on one of the descriptions.  She was very gracious and asked me to point it out, so she could fix it.  I didn't see the price list for the works until I left the display room.  Way out of my price range.  On the website, the pictures don't come to life the way the originals looked.

She and her husband (also an artist) adopted two boys from Bulgaria about 10 years ago.  She said she studied the language for the 17 months they waited for the adoption to go through.  Now she speaks it better than the boys.  Very interesting and talented lady.

Out front, carvers were working on a totem pole.  

The man on the right is the master carver, working with an apprentice.  The yellow cedar log was approximately 1900 lbs on arrival.  They expect the totem pole to be finished next year and weigh in at about 400 lbs.  We have more info on the design; if you are interested, let me know.

They used an interesting mix of old fashioned and very new specialized carving tools.

Speaking of tools.  They have a hammer museum in town.  This bicycle is one of the "made from hammers" displays.

After the bicycle ride diversion, we started the motorcycle, and I took it to the car wash.  I thought the RV park gravel roads felt squishy with the mh.  They really felt soft with the bike.  The car wash bay should be an easy thing, except I don't even use a hose on the bike normally.  The garage queen Kawasaki is really getting abused this trip.  It was convenient not to have to wear a helmet here.  No place there to put it except on the ground.  Met an interesting couple about our age cleaning their bikes.  They live in Homer, AK.   He had a full dress Harley and she a BMW 650 Adventure model.  The roads were a breeze for her. It was an intriguing bike.  They ordered it with a lowered frame for her.  I didn't know you could do that.

David walked over to help.  Am I ever glad, cause there was no starting her after getting her clean.  He pushed it up to the street, and we tried bump starting.  Nope.  It must have looked pretty funny as one nice guy came out of somewhere and offered to help.  By then we'd decided it had to go back across the street under human power.  Fortunately it was only a short distance.   It rolled easily on the pavement, but that soft gravel was difficult.  The park was pretty empty, and we managed to get to the grass "spaces" where it rolled easier and limit the gravel travel.  Basically David got a stress cardiac test and with a short recovery did just fine.

The car wash is in the background.  It looks close, but is on the other side of Main Street (a main street in Haines).

His disposition was somewhat stressed trying to figure out why it wouldn't start.  Been awhile since he'd taken off the seat.  We had to get the instruction book out.  Jumping it off the mh didn't work.  He was convinced it was dead for the remainder.

It looks like a garage sale on motorcycle parts.

I convinced him to put it back on the charger.  It is only the trickle charger, not really designed for charging it fast.   It was after four when it started, so we got a late start heading to the ferry landing.  The timing was great though.  We watched them load a motorhome and several other cars.

Two ships make this route.  I think we will be on this one's sister ship.

Hard to imagine it going in this door on the ship.

Pretty impressive looking ship.

Some pretty impressive looking houses in this neighborhood too.

 How do you like all the stacked rocks at this house?

Very overcast.  So much so, it actually gets dark here.

 Can you see where there was a little land slide?

All the dirt under the roots is gone.

This cruise ship is coming up the channel I think we'll be leaving Haines through this same channel on Friday, July 5th.

 

 We got a new neighbor in the RV camp (on our left).  He just uses a ramp to put this scooter/bike on the back.  I couldn't get to much information about it as they spoke French.  I think not speaking English is an advantage.  He just cleaned his bike off at the park.

I was glad to hear from all my girls today.  Glad the traveling ones are home safe and sound.

One bad thing about this no cleaning of RV's rule...that is how I got talking to most of the people I've met in the campgrounds.  The motor home on the right of us is the same one that stayed at the rest stop with us on Monday night.  I walked over that night to tell them their headlights were on.  Haven't gotten more than a "hi-howdy" from them here.

Time for bed.  Lots of Fourth of July activities in town tomorrow.