Day 80 – May 29– Dawson Creek

It is 2:50 a.m. and Sadie is pacing at the bottom of the bed.  She finally jumps down and I follow to see what she is up too.  She is not above a little tinkle on the floor.  This time she is just looking for a drink of water and comes back to the bedroom, and looks at me to pick her up so she can go back to sleep.  I lay there like a kid on Christmas morning waiting for the day to start.

At 4:30 a short rain shower falls, lasting maybe 2 minutes.  Some people would feel it was an omen of the start of a bad day.  I think its angels tears of joy as they share my excitement for the coming day.  For two years I have been researching the trip: following threads on RV websites, reading other peoples blogs and reading every book I could find on the highway and Alaska.  Now it was all coming together and just seemed unreal to me.

I finally fall asleep some time after 5 only to wake at 5:35 (I was looking right at a clock).  Again I fall a sleep and wake at 7 and wait until 7:15 to start the generator so Dorrie will have hot water for her shower.  At 7:30 we are all up – the dogs want to go out.

We drove down the washboard they call a road out of Tudyah Lake Provincial Park around 9 and headed toward Dawson Creek, BC.  On the way we drove through mountain passes where at some places there was still snow in the shaded area of the trees.  At one point we stopped at a rest area over looking a lake that still had ice and snow on it.

We stopped at the town of Chetwynd, which is known for chainsaw art works.  They are all along the road and at the visitor’s center the town has a large display of some of the winning pieces from the competition the town sponsors each year.

From Chetwynd we continued on our way to Dawson Creek, the starting point of the Alaskan Highway.  We got campsites at the Milepost 0 Campground, set up the campers, and then drove into the main section of town to find a place to eat.  The winning restaurant was named Stuies and was a 50s style diner.  We all ate the Marilyn Monroe burger – it had a special sauce somewhat like that used in coleslaw.  Afterwards we went to the visitor’s center to watch a film on the construction of the highway, toured the museum, and got some souvenirs.

The sun is shining bright at 8:30 p.m.; it doesn’t get dark here until about 10 and then the sun is up the next morning around 5.  After 80 days on our journey to Alaska we are finally at mile zero of a trip of about 1,200 miles from Dawson Creek to just inside the Alaskan border.