Welcome to Dawson Creek

(Posted by Layne)



2,773 miles down, and 1,547 miles to go.  The work is progressing.

Made it to Dawson Creek in the early afternoon.  This is the first stop where I felt like stepping out and exploring a little.  Up to now, the focus has been on getting here, so I can get the interesting part of the trip started.  Tomorrow we'll head up the Alaska Highway.



That's one big beaver, eh?
Pic taken in Beaver Lodge, Alberta, as we drove through today.

I guess it's worth the time to recap the history of Dawson Creek and the Alaska Highway for anyone who is unfamiliar. Before WWII, Alaska had no road connecting the Lower 48 to our Northern-most state. So in 1942, in an attempt to better defend Alaska from Japanese invasion (the Japanese did in fact invade Alaska in the Aleutian Islands, and held territory there for part of the war), Canada agreed to let the U.S. build a road through Canada - from the Northern end of an existing railroad in British Columbia at a small town called Dawson Creek.  From there the road would go across British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, and into Alaska. It's a U.S.-built road, through another country. Nearly 1,700 miles of road were laid down on top of frozen bogs and perma-frost through some of the most rugged topography on Earth. The Greatest Generation did it in less than a year - - sadly, I doubt we could match that feat today. Luckily for us, it was built, and provides some of the most beautiful and remote road-trip scenery imaginable.

The road is navigated from milepost to milepost, and a copy of the popular mile-by-mile instruction manual of the same name is considered required gear to make the trip. Especially in Winter, when many of the services are closed for the season.  It tells you where to slow down for frost heaves in the road, and where to watch for likely wildlife crossings.....and is amazingly accurate.



Here's me learning to use the selfie stick Jolene told me to buy.  You can see my ALCAN instruction manual sitting on a bag behind Dino in the picture.  Your passport and a copy of the Milepost - - both are required gear to traverse the ALCAN.



We'll start up the ALCAN tomorrow, but I couldn't resist wandering over this afternoon to take some pics at the iconic start sign.





Dino seems to pose better when he's in the warm truck.  He's going to have to acclimate quickly - he becomes an outdoor dog again as soon as we reach home.

On the topic of wildlife:
Saw some elk today, but they were fenced in and looked to be farm-raised.  A very furry/healthy coyote watched me for a while from a nearby treeline, but he was too shy for a picture.  Saw some bald eagles overhead, but no moose yet (saw a few road kills and tracks in the snow, but no live moose).

Random thoughts:
I had no random thoughts today. Either that means my thoughts were well organized, or I just wasn't thinking.  Probably the latter.