My day started with a kiss and a "Happy birthday!" from Marsha. Got out of camp about 7:30, but went grocery shopping and spent some time in the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake, so we only drove 286 miles today. We wanted to get off the road early, as usual, so we'd have plenty of time to grill my birthday steaks that we bought in Watson Lake.We ate lunch in a rest area atop the Continental Divide today. I forgot to take a picture. It was chilly out, so we ate "indoors" again.
Other than the Sign Post Forest, the day was pretty uneventful. Some buffalo along the road and some Alaska Highway construction were the highlights of the day. I haven't had Internet access for the past two nights, so I'm posting days 11, 12 and 13 tonight. Be sure to catch up.
We left Ft. Nelson this morning at 8:30, knowing that this was going to be a short day. It was only 190 miles to Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park and we knew we wanted to bathe in the springs. So, after driving in and out of rain showers all morning and getting our first windshield chip (right in my line of sight) from a passing RV, we arrived at the park about 12:30. We also have a new record for gas. We paid $1.589 per liter. You do the math. I can't stand it!This is the first time on the trip that we have camped with no electrical hook-up. We switched the fridge over to gas and we're good to go. After we bathed in the springs, we came back to camp, heated water on the Coleman stove and washed our hair. A guy from Washington, IL (near Morton) came by to shoot the breeze and compare notes for about an hour. Then we cooked burgers over a wood fire and enjoyed a great dinner. I managed to squeeze in a few beers along the way, so I hope this post turns out OK. No Internet here, either, so it will be another day before it hits the Web. Tomorrow, it's on to Watson Lake and the Sign-Post Forest where we will hang our sign, so watch for it. It's only about 200 miles from here, so we'll probably move on down the road after that. Hard telling where we'll end up. Marsha said we should go out to dinner since it will be my birthday, so I hope it's someplace that has a decent restaurant, or better yet, decent prices!
We covered 370 miles today to get to the Westend RV Campground in Ft. Nelson, BC (Mile 284). The WiFi doesn't work here, so I'll be late posting this - maybe tomorrow if we're lucky. About 70 miles after we left Grande Prairie we rolled into Dawson Creek where we took pictures at BOTH Alaska Highway Mile Zero signs. Stopped at a gas station convenience store where we paid $4.56 per gallon ($1.199 per liter) for gasoline and bought a half gallon of milk for $3.99. Later in the day, we stopped for gas again, but out in the boonies, it was $5.13 per gallon ($1.349 per liter), but it's a good thing we stopped there because the next station, 140 miles down the road, was out of fuel, but we probably would have run out of gas before we got there anyway. We saw our first moose today. It was lying on the side of the road with all four legs pointed toward the sky. We're hoping to see some livelier wild life soon. After we set up the camper, we walked next door to the Ft. Nelson Heritage Museum. There are several buildings and outdoor displays covering everything about the area from a stuffed albino moose to an old Caterpillar bull dozer used to construct the Alaska Highway. It was interesting. BTW, the daily temperatures have been 65 - 75, depending on how much sun we got, and high 40s at night. Good sleeping! We ate dinner in the camper this evening, but we thought we'd go to the campground bar & grill for a nightcap. Two Bud Lights = $10.50!! I'll stick to my cooler from now on!P.S. Remember, you can click on any picture to enlarge it.
We left Edmonton at 8:30 this morning after saying goodbye to our new Minnesota friends, Jim and Bonnie. We decided to take a scenic route going north thru Westlock, Slave Lake, High Prairie and Valleyview. It added about 70 miles to the trip to Grand Prairie, but it was a pretty drive that was suggested by a girl at the Alberta Visitor Center. The total was only 353 miles.
We had such a stiff headwind for the last hundred miles or so that I couldn't drive in overdrive on level ground because O.D. was to high a gear to push the car thru the wind. So I just drove in 5th most of the time. I started the day getting about 21mpg, but the headwind knocked the overall average down to about 16.5 by the time we got to Grande Prairie. We'll cross into British Columbia tomorrow morning and after two days in B.C. we'll be in the Yukon Territory unless we decide to take off on another scenic route, but it looks like the choice of routes is starting to narrow and they're all pretty scenic.Oh, by the way - It gets dark here at about 10:30 and starts getting light at about 3:45! Check out the last photo.
