b'FOGHORN FOCUSA door by the landing is how passengers signal to the captain across the river that theyre waiting for a ride. Morrison has been with the ferry since 2012 and for as longin winter and that both boats had carpets on the floor as she can remember, the community has been getting theand potbelly stoves to keep guests warm. The Falcon III boats out of the water for dry dock and back in at the startstill has a stove onboard, though its no longer used. At of each season. The National Guard used to help, but forone time, the ferries carried locals on their commutes to whatever reason no longer do, at which point the commu- work or to get where they needed to go, their function nity decided to do it on their own. While she acknowledgedwas utilitarian. As bridges were built in the surrounding that it could be easier and more could be automated, shearea, the purpose of the vessels transitioned to sightseeing pointed out that the camaraderie is special with everyoneand vacation time. coming together to do the work, share memories, and keep the ferries running.As any operator knows, its no small feat to keep ships, well, ship shape. The Roaring Bull V and The Falcon III This past fall, it was the week before Christmas when theare U.S. Coast Guard inspected and the team at Millers-PHOTO: MILLERSBURG FERRY BOAT ASSOCIATIONboats were finally pulled out of the water for dry dock.burg Ferry has built a strong relationship with their main While not an ideal situation, with mild weather and goodCoast Guard contact. Each year, the boats are inspected spirits, We had a ball, Morrison said. We had a lot ofwhen they are pulled out of the water in the fall. How-volunteers come out and we just kind of made it into aever, before the Coast Guard arrives, the ferry crew does Christmas party. an initial inspection and uses a bright color spray paint to mark any problems they find on the boats. As Morri-Duringthespringlaunch,onemansharedamemoryson explained, wood on water, lets face it, is not a great from when he was a boy and rode the ferry at Christ- combination. But the team is in tune with the boats mas time. Melanie explained that the ferry used to runandcarefullychecksforanynecessaryrepairsthey FOGHORN 24'