Pains in Haines and A Scary Ferry

(2018 Alaska Ep 46)

We have been abundantly blessed during 5+ months and almost 19,000 miles of traveling.  The sights, experiences and people we’ve met have been amazing!

There have also been challenges along the way, but we count those as blessings as well.  They are opportunities to trust God and see Him at work.

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The road construction north of Haines and potholes on the campground road took their toll on our camper.

We smelled hot brakes coming from the rear right wheel as we set up camp at Chilkoot Lake State Recreation Site.   We discovered the wheel was too hot to touch.  It was radiating heat!

I removed the wheel and found the inside wheel bearing had failed. Part of the bearing housing was shredded into small pieces and bearings were all over the inside of the wheel hub.  That was not good!

Trailer bearings 101 –  in case you ever have a trailer:

We drove into town and purchased new bearings and grease for all four wheels.  The auto parts store had exactly four sets of bearings that fit our trailer.

Back at the campsite, I prepared to replace the bad bearing but could not remove the inner sleeve of the bearing from the spindle – see picture above.

The trailer could not be towed and we anticipated having to have the camper taken into town for repairs on some sort of flatbed trailer.  This would not be easy considering the potholes and crowded road.

We made arrangements for a mechanic to came to our campsite and he was there in just over an hour (we were glad he was immediately available).  He removed the stubborn inner bearing sleeve in less than two minutes using something called a slide hammer. We were ever so thankful!

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Before boarding the ferry the next day,  we had bearings on all four wheels completely redone.   Shortly before noon we lined up at the ferry landing for the trip to Skagway.

The ferry arrived and campers, including us, were loaded first.

To our surprise we had to back our truck and camper down the ramp onto the ferry and then make a 90 degree turn.  Some people seem to have an amazing talent backing a trailer – NOT ME!

Thank goodness the ferry workers told us exactly when and how much to turn our wheels.  We didn’t hit any cars, people or parts of the boat.

God’s timing is perfect!  Had we left the day before, we would have backed onto the ferry in rain.  Instead, when we backed on to the ferry the rain had just ended and the sun came out.  The boat ride to Skagway was beautiful.

The folks we met at Haines were very kind – at the auto parts store, the local hardware store, the mechanic who came to the campsite and the man who redid the wheel bearings.  We were blessed…