Day 87, Thursday, November 3, Ferry to Seattle
Donner did not take well to the sea swells today. He had thrown up in the Defender by the time i got there to walk him at 9:30. The sea was rough this morning.
When not in a port, they have car deck calls every eight hours so we can walk our dogs. At first i thought it was pretty chaotic for Donner to be around so many dogs in a confined space, but he is surprising me with his friendly reaction. The problem is that he thinks these walks are for him to socialize with the other dogs. He does not understand that they are for him to do his business. On this final port-less 36-hour stretch, despite three walks, he did not relieve himself for almost 22 hours. Finally, this afternoon, he did.
A crew member took sick this morning and they had to take him off the ship to a hospital in Canada. The captain decided to wait for the crew member to return to the ship. We are now 4 hours behjnd schedule, which puts me into the garage in Seattle at 3:00 p.m., too late for me to go to the garage to get everything done, and it will not be open until Monday. This poses a serious problem for me since I cannot drive at night with one headlight, my hand brake is broken, and there is no spray for my windshield. Bad call on the captain's part to wait for the crew member and putting his entire passenger complement at great inconvenience or safety risks. This really throws a monkey wrench in my plans. I chose this ferry because it was supposed to get in at 8:00 and these ferries have never been late.
I received a visit from a crew member at 5:30 p.m. today. Donner had broken out of the Defender again. I have no idea how he did it since he was secured on a leash and the gate was on the back door and secured with bungee cords. If there was any chance that the rear panel on my new roof could be repaired, that chance was lost with the additional damage Donner did to it in getting out. It will cost more to repair than to replace it. Unfortunately, when i retrieved him this time, he was not walking right, which tells me that he might have injured himself this time when he leaped the five feet to the concrete floor of the boat. I suspect that all of the noise from the nearby engine room is driving him crazy. Whatever it is, i am about to take my last leg of my last trip on the Alaskan ferry. Or the next time, i get Donner certified as a service dog so the two of us can ride in style in a state room like the two dogs on the ferry now.
If you have not figured it out yet, this is one of the two parts of my long trips that i dislike, and not because of the problems that cropped up this year, . It is not a pleasant ride and this year's experience makes me wonder if the alternative isn't that bad after all. Of course, another alternative would be a cage in the rear of my Defender for Donner, and that might be coming sooner rather than later.
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