Well, at least we saw a caribou, several deer, and Dave saw a bear, though, I was day dreaming out the other window…. The highway from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson marks the beginning of what is referred to as the “northern wilderness.” It’s gas and timber country and in some ways resembles the old west, at least as it’s imprinted in my mind. And there are more than a few horse farms (read ranches, I guess) to boot. There are plenty of one story buildings with a second story facade that sometimes even read “saloon.” I haven’t seen any with swinging doors, however, and I guess it’s just too cold up here for that….Speaking of which, the temperature reached 85 degrees today and at 8:00 PM it still feels that hot! The weather tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous again…. After leaving Dawson Creek today we dipped down into the Peace River valley, famous for its scenery and it’s apiaries, as in bees and honey. But the ride down into the valley is on an unbelievably steep and winding road and pretty much at the edge of a cliff and there’s no money for guardrails in British Columbia. Everyone was in low gear and going about 20 MPH, although up here I guess I should be giving that to you in kilometers. The valley is hemmed in by cliffs which are significantly eroded and must be a geologist’s dream, except that all the geologists up here are working on oil and gas exploration…. What we traveled today is called the Alaskan Highway. It was built in nine months in 1942 after Pearl Harbor when a Japanese invasion was thought possible and there seemed to be a need to link the west coast areas of Alaska, Canada, and the good ole US of A. The amazing thing is that all 1400 plus miles were surveyed, designed, and built in the nine months alluded to above. The army engineers tried to make it as utilitarian as possible so there are many straightaways that at least in that respect resemble the roads back on the plains…We’re still aiming for Dawson City and a two or three day break this weekend, so tomorrow we push on to Watson Lake. It may be a spectacular drive as we cross the Canadian Rockies— and again a lot of wildlife is supposedly within view….. If we get on the net tomorrow, I’ll let you know…. Till then….
June 13, 2006