DAWSON CREEK, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Highway

As we said before, the Tracks to Adventure tour to Alaska met at Dawson Creek, “Mile 0” of the Alcan Highway.  The story of this highway is amazing.  For those of you who don’t know the story this road was built from March 9, 1942 to October 25, 1942 during World War II after the Japanese bombed Hawaii.  The US and Canada had been discussing this project for some time but with the threat of Japan they finally agreed it had to be done and done quickly to keep Alaska and Canada and all of North America safe.  They brought in 30,000 US Army soldiers and civilians to the little town of Dawson Creek, population 600.  Along with the Army troops they hired civilians, engineers, surveyors and what have you.  Most of these men had no idea how to build a road or operate the bulldozers and other heavy equipment necessary and some of them could not read or write.  The weather conditions ranged from 60 below 0 to 90 above.  They had many obstacles and conditions to overcome as they forged through forest, mountains, snow, mud, etc where no civilization had been before.  1528 miles of rugged road completed in 8 months and 12 days --- as Bill says they have been working on it continually for the 70 years since.  It is actually not a bad road most of the way.  Some rough spots but you have that in Michigan.  LOL.  The stories on this endeavor are truly amazing --- the history makes the travel on this Alcan Highway even more exciting.  We had our picture taken at both Mile 0 signposts.  The one was in the middle of a busy intersection, which made it difficult to find someone to take our picture or to set up the tripod.  Fun!

Okay, sorry for the history lesson, I am just really impressed.  We arrived at the Campsite Saturday morning to meet up with the rest of the group.  After setting up our site everyone met to have a snack and get to know one another a little.  We met a great couple who enjoy playing cards and spent a couple hours with them learning how to play Square Nine (or “Shoulda”).  We have been practicing since then every chance we get.  Sunday morning we attended a Community Church, went out to lunch, ran some errands and did laundry.  I remember why I don’t like Laundromats.  We Skyped (free video & audio link from computer to computer) our kids and grandkids ---- talk about a mind-boggling invention!!!  To be able to talk to them and see them, almost like being there, is incredible.  It was great to see them all but the little ones were so much fun. I think they were as excited to see us as we were them.  Well, probably not.  But we are looking forward to doing it again soon.  With the difference in time zones and the sketchy internet service not sure when that will be but hopefully soon.

Monday we went to the Alaska Highway House to see a movie on the building of the Alcan Highway, had lunch with a couple from the group at Boston Pizza and stocked up on groceries.  We tried a Canadian store called “Xtra Foods” (I liked the leaves on the sign) The prices here make me cringe…but we are in new territory.  Had trouble finding things we were looking for but the next day we found a Safeway and that had a lot more variety although the prices still scared me.  

At 4PM we met to take a bus to the Sewell Valley Game Farm.  They served us venison stew, wild boar, buffalo meatloaf with sweet and sour sauce & bison roast along with many sides of vegetables, salads and desserts.  Okay Jennifer you should be proud of me…I tried a little of everything although I was close to becoming a vegetarian….can’t say I would ever eat any of it on purpose.  LOL.  After we ate the critters, we went around and saw many of their cousins not yet carved up for dinner.  Elk, musk ox, mountain goats, wild boar, buffalo, turkey, donkeys, peacocks and many other small animals.  Many of them had babies and that was cool.  We took an old fashioned hayride out to the buffalo.  That was really neat as we drove right up to them and almost every female had a baby, ages ranging from 2 days to 2 or 3 months.  We got a really close look at them.  They have learned to pose very well.

We were glad to be back at the motor home to relax and watch a DVD before calling it a night.  We would be leaving the next morning to our next destination, Sikanni Chief River Campground, Pink Mountain, British Columbia, Canada, 157 miles up the Alcan Highway.