Dawson Creek

Dawson Creek

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We left Prince George yesterday (Friday) in misty rain. The trip to Chetwynd, which is the chainsaw capital of the world, was supposed to be less than 200 miles. Once again, the ride was enjoyable and the sun came out which made it even that much better. The greens are so green, and the clouds so white against the blue sky that we feel as if we're driving through a painting. Of course, all the time we're driving our eyes are pealed looking for critters along the roadway. It's kinda a mixed bag of thoughts-we want to see animals, but don't want them running across the road in front of us. It's not good to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a huge animal-things tend to fly through the motor home if that happens. If you don't slam on the brakes, things get kinda messy on the front of the motor home and the critter ends up having a really bad day also. So, to avoid that, we bought this little gadgets called Animal Alerts. Guess what they do? They alert the animals that we're coming by using wind to create a sound (undiscernible to humans) but one that animals can detect. So, they know we're coming and stay off the road, but they also run into the tress so we can't see them. A real case of 'damned if you do and damned if you don't'!
But, with all that said, Dominic did spot a big black bear (running away from the road into the trees). I guess those darn Animal Alerts work!
We also saw snow capped mountains, iced over rivers, tons of waterfalls, our first frost heaves on the road, construction tie ups and a huge bridge. So, our trips are chock full of tons to see.
We arrived at Chetwynd before lunch and stopped to see the chainsaw carvings in town. Since it was only another 50 miles to Dawson Creek, where our friends Diana and Ralph were meeting up with us, we decided to continue on.
Arrived at DC and went into town to explore the beginning of the 1500 mile Alaska Highway. The highway was started in 1942 as a combined effort with the Canadians and the US. The history is very interesting (even to us, who are not real history affecionados). We took pictures at the Mile 0 marker (tons of pictures. I only included a few in this blog!). We also have been stopping in the visitor's centers in each of the towns we go to. The centers always have useful information about the area, with extremely helpful and knowledgeable folks (usually young kids in their late teens or early 20's). They often have a museum attached. Today we went to the VC and watched a lengthy movie explaining how the Alaska Highway was developed and created. It was extremely enlightening.
Diana & Ralph arrived, we caught up with the latest news between us, talked about the next phase of our trip, and then went to dinner.
It's been quite a good few days....

Tomorrow we're off to Fort St John (only 45 miles north)..hoping to visit a few dams from there. More to come..............