Made it to Dawson Creek

You know we had big grins on our faces when we saw this sign even though Alaska is still a long, long ways!  Something like 1400 - 1500 miles I think.

We made it to Dawson Creek which is where the Alaska Highway begins.  The highway is about 1500 miles long and was built during WWII to facilitate the movement of troops and support from the lower 48 to Alaska so that the US could protect itself from the Japanese.  The Japanese actually did occupy a small portion of Alaska along the Aleutian Islands.  I will bone up on my history of this famous highway tomorrow when we visit the museum!

We were driving through Alberta most of the day today and just entered British Columbia before calling it quits for the day in Dawson Creek.  We left the praries where we saw so much canola, barley, wheat, and hay growing and entered the rolling hills where you see lots of telephone poles, black spruce, birch and aspen trees, and only the occasional house.  We also saw many large herds of cattle and even a few bison herds.  Still we could tell that there has been alot of building in the area and the towns look to be thriving with lots of new construction.  We were told that there has been an oil boom in the area and that has cotnributed much to the increased town size and populations.  It is beautiful country here, the sky is so big and the vistas go forever.  For part of our drive we could see the Canadian Rockies to the west and that reminded me alot of Colorado where the mountains just rise off the prarie.  Many of the mountain tops were snow capped and it was so beautiful!!

We drove through some rain yesterday and our Canadian friends lived on a dirt road so the lower part of the  motorhome is a muddy mess now but that is to to be expected along the Highway.  Near the end of the Alaska Highway, RV washing is a big business as everyone comes off the road looking like they've been 4-wheeling in their RVs!  There is a lot of road construction going on and that entails driving on gravel and dirt roads at times.  They water the road to help keep the dust down so even if there's no rain, you still get good and muddy!

Well it is 10 pm and still quite light out.  We may be in total daylight by tomorrow night.I'm glad we've got good shades in the RV!

Well I must get to  bed, tomorrow is another fun filled day on the road!