On the Alaska Highway

July 1st. Canada Day Holiday

Day started out really fine leaving Grande Prairie. Clear and Bright – not a cloud. We passed through Beaver Lodge and saw the worlds largest Beaver – see pic. I even got a sticker for the car that says Canada, Plenty of Beaver. Then on to Dawson City – official start of the Alaskan Highway. The plaque says 1523 miles to Fairbanks. Dawson Creek is at 55.45 N, 120,13 W. I have driven 3,716 since the Midlothian Kroger.

Almost every vehicle up here is a quad cab 4WD 250 series diesel. Wonder why? The women drive suburbans. Territory is really starting to change – shortly after leaving Dawson Creek, I got a picture of a momma black bear and 2 cubs walking across the road. Then, as I was trying to get the camera to take a pic of something, Ron Crawley called. While we were talking a big deer – maybe a caribou? Ran across the road in front of me. I’ll tell you, too much scenery – I’m snapping a picture every couple of minutes. Missed other pics of more bear and more deer.

Drove on and it started to pour. And get cold. So we stopped at Andy Bailey Provincial Park. No Showers. No running water. Just plain soaking wet. At the entrance, we ran across some Hoka Hey Challenge riders on their way to Homer Alaska from Key West Florida. They had to ride their Harleys all the way and they had to camp – could not sleep in a hotel. Winner got $500,000.

So, 12 km of muddy road and Leo and I had a quick dinner of buffalo sausage boiled up with some Ramen Noodles. Moron dog swam in the lake – water temp was maybe 40. I tried to fish but all I caught were roots of lilly pads. So, after getting both of us wet, we went to bed. Ahh – another night snuggled up to a wet dog. Leo started to shiver, so I covered him up with my poncho liner.

Milepost also says that Andy Bailey Park is the most mosquito infested place in the world. They were right. I was swatting them in the car for 2 hours after we left. Glad to get out of there. 368.2 miles, Andy Bailey is at 58.38 N, 122.30 W. Now in Pacific Time