On the Road Again

 

Eagle at the ferry terminal

Mark V got up early in the morning to check out the ferry situation.  The ferry was gone!  We found out later that the cable had snapped and the ferry drifted downstream.

We went for free breakfast at the community centre.  A traveller from Quebec had gotten a head's up that a local would ferry vehicles across for $100.  Word came that the boat was ready to go but the price was now $400 for vehicles, $200 for motorcycles!  We had to scrabble $800 in cash between us or wait till the Coop to open to access the ATM.  Luckily, we managed to scrape it together. We rushed back to the campsite, packed up and headed for the ferry landing.  

Love these old style plywood river boats

Our Quebequois friend had already gotten across and Mark was first in line.  The boat came back across but then took off downstream to tow the ferry back up.   A lineup of travellers was forming behind us.  There were also transport trucks stuck until the ferry service resumed.  Locals were showing up and waiting to see if the ferry would be towed back up.

We talked to two women and when we told them what we were paying they were disgusted.  Apparently Isaac of L&R Contracting is not very popular among the locals.  That guy, he's one of us but he's only into it for the money, only looking out for himself.  They told us not to pay.  They were thinking of bringing food out for the stranded people.

Everyone here was so nice, but not nice enough for us to spend however many days till ferry service resumed.

Word came down that a biker had sent up a drone and saw the ferry being towed up the river.  And eventually, Isaac's boat came around the bend towing the ferry behind.

They got the ferry moored and Isaac resumed his lucrative ferry service.

Mark was the first to go.

We'd removed our trailer hitches so we could fit in.  There were a couple of Germans in big rental pickup campers desperate to get across (they had unreasonable plane tickets in Whitehorse to meet) but there was no way they'd fit on.

We were next.

Off we go

Lineup on the other side:

Arriving on the opposite shore:

The young  couple from Prince George behind us were in a pickup with a small (6 ft box) camper. They were the heaviest vehicle he'd ever taken across.  They left the ramp partway down and water was coming into the boat.

Then it was a 3 hour drive to Eagle Plains. We'd looked into motel rooms but there was no vacancy of course because Eagle Plains was full of travellers and truckers waiting to go in the other direction.  The good news was camping was free because they couldn't provide enough electricity or water for all their guests.

Motorcycles parked outside the restaurant

The campground is just a big gravel parking lot but it's actually in a great location on the height of land. You have a 360 degree panorama of the surrounding mountains. 

We had supper in the restaurant. They had a very small menu, probably running out of supplies.  I had a porkchop with fresh carrots and brussels sprouts, mmm, real vegetables at last.

I can't remember where we saw the Pacific loons.

Birds of the Day!