THE BEGINNING OF THE ALASKAN HIGHWAY – 8/7/14

We left Hinton early in the morning not knowing what kind of road conditions we were facing to make it to Dawson Creek and on to Fort St. John.  We saw a few deer along the road and some Caribou, but no Moose or Bear.  The road over the mountains to Grande Cache and Grande Prairie were long and winding.  There were a lot of oil fields and work camps on the way over the mountain. 

We saw our first “this way to Alaska” sign when we were in Grande Praire.  This is where we re-stocked our supplies at WalMart in Grande Prairie, but were sadly disappointed when they didn’t have any frozen biscuits, tube biscuits, grits, meat marinades, or Great Value Hazelnut Creamer.  How can a southerner survive without these essential “staples” on hand?  However, they did have the best looking sirloin steaks – 2 for $7… so guess what we will be having this week for supper? 

Our first major destination was obtained today….Dawson Creek and the Alaska Highway.  

The road from Dawson Creek to Fort St. John flattened out a lot.  The roads so far haven’t been too bad.  The worst roads we have experienced was on the Ice Fields Parkway and the road across the mountains through Grande Cache, Alberta.  We arrived in Fort St. John and there was a memorial to some American Army Soldiers behind our campground.  These soldiers helped with the construction of the Alaskan Highway and were accidentally killed in 1942 when their pontoon boat overturned in Charlie Lake where we camped.  

We stayed at the Rotary RV Campground that was started many years ago as a fundraising project.  This was the first campground since leaving Georgia that had coin operated hot showers.  They must still be “fund raising” anyway they can to be charging for $1 for 3 minutes of hot water.  Tomorrow we are headed to “Toad River” which is north of Fort Nelson, BC.