July 11,2019 – We are in an a provincial campground (Queen Elizabeth) in western Alberta for one night. Tomorrow we will be in British Columbia and starting to look forward to Alaska. It’s raining heavy with thunderstorms as we get ready for bed.
July 12 – Yesterday we arrived on the Alcan Highway in Fort St John, BC. The more than 1,300 mile long road Alcan, Alaska/Canada highway, was built starting in 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor as a supply route was needed between the lower 48 and Alaska. It was a huge and complex undertaking involving some 20,000 men, more than half of which were military.
At one time, the Alcan was a real adventure – gas stations hundreds of miles apart, mud and gravel roads, breakdowns were common, no motels, no restaurants, and NO BATHROOMS. Now, it is completely paved, motels and restaurants everywhere, campgrounds with cable TV, WiFi, power, and turnouts/rest areas every 10 miles or so.
Mileposts are frequent telling you how far you’ve come from the beginning, Dawson Creek in Alberta. Here at Fort St John we join the road at MP 47. Delta Junction is the end of the Alcan (MP 1390) but we turn at Tok (MP 1340) and head for Anchorage.
July 13 – We drove 100 miles to Camp Sikanni, on the river of the same name. There was a black engineering squadron here that built the bridge crossing this river in 1942 that was still in use until 20 years ago when someone burned it. We were here in 2014 but the camp has gone down hill. Good fishing, normally. Not now, all rivers are at or near flood stage.
July 14 – Another easy day of about 150 miles to Fort Nelson. One of the best bear days as we saw 4 in the first 30-40 miles this morning. We have been here twice before. Today we did laundry, gassed up, and filled our propane. Diesel fill up cost $150 today, the most so far. Last time, in 2014, the fill up was a few cents less than $200. Luckily we got here early as this RV park is almost full now, 6pm.
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