Down the Dusty road: Alaska Redux part 3

RAIN, RAIN, AND MORE RAIN!!!!!

A soggy drive to Grande Prairie led us to Country Road RV Resort The name suited it to a “T”.

Not only was it in the country, but we had to detour around road construction to get there. The 3 mile detour was all dirt and rutted from the persistent rain.

Is that a maple leaf forming in the sky?

As luck would have it, this little detour turned out to be a “fix-it” zone. Our ice maker had not been working for some unknown reason, but after bouncing over the detour it started working again.

Unfortunately for Steve, it didn’t work for him. When we stopped for a “potty break”, Steve discovered about an inch of water in the bottom of his electronic bay. Not good!!! Although the campsites were wet and muddy, Steve needed to find out why water was getting into the bay. Rob provided a blanket to lie on in the mud. Steve discovered a hole in the top corner of the bay. Saddle up! A trip to Home Depot was in order.

This RV Park is basically home to oil and gas workers with an occasional RVer thrown in. I think under ordinary circumstances I would give this park a “slightly above average” rating, but the rain combined with the trucks the workers drove made it muddy and rutty. Meagan, owner?, employee?, was friendly and informative, but became a little harried and distracted when 5 coaches pulled in at the same time. Oh well, it was fine for a one night stay and Meagan was working on Canada Day, which is actually Sunday, July 1^st, but was observed on Monday.

Moving on Tuesday to Coffee Creek RV Park near Fort St. John, we crossed into British Columbia and Pacific Daylight Time. Of course we had to stop in Dawson Creek long enough for the obligatory photo at Mile 0.

This is the beginning of the Alaskan Highway. More on that later.

As we left Dawson Creek we descended into the Peace River Valley, across the Peace River.

The road was steep and windy.

On the way both Jeannie and Gerri, each, spotted a moose (or is that meese?) grazing back off the roadway in two different locations.

Gas and oil production was very evident with pipe lines crossing the river

and a processing plant on the bluff overlooking the river.

All along the highway we saw more and more evidence of gas and oil explorations tucked way back into the forest.

To house the crews working the “gas patches” hundreds of mobile lodging facilities have been brought in. These are “trailer-like” mobile structures that reminded me of dormitories. Some were set up in a camp with more than 100 units, others were set up by one or two in a commercial RV Park or motel.

Because British Columbia is on Pacific Daylight Time we gained an hour and pulled into the Coffee Creek RV Park in the early afternoon. This is a new park laid out like a drive-in movie theater. For those who don’t know what this means, ask your parents. A clean park with lots of spaces although none of them seemed level. Only one other RV was there, but more showed up as the day wore on, most of them small class “c”s or campers. There was one camping trailer also on their way to Alaska. We “hop-scotched” with them on the road after leaving the park.

The Alaskan Highway (previously referred to as the AlCan) was the result of an “executive order” (we all now know what those are) to provide a military road to Alaska. Construction began officially on March 9, 1942. By June more than 10,000 troops had moved into the area. The route was determined by the War Department in Washington, DC along a route of airfields from Edmonton to Fairbanks. Winter roads, summer pack trails and winter trap lines were used. Recon parties used local guides to show them paths through the forest and over the mountains.

The crews worked 7 days a week, 16 hours a day even during harsh conditions of winter, or mosquitos and black flies in summer. The Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands in June 1942 making completion of the road urgent. Construction ended on October 25, 1942 with official ribbon-cutting on November 20, 1942. Since then, a few sections have been relocated to avoid excessive curves or climbs on grades. The road to Fort Nelson was in excellent condition and had numerous places where we could pull off the road…mostly to let the train of cars behind us get around the slow coaches.

We’ve been alternating dinner responsibilities on this trip and Coffee Creek fell to Michels. Since it was raining we ate in their coach leaving Nugget to fend for himself in ours. He’s been really good so far, mostly sleeping while in the coach, not eating the furniture or cabinets, but occasionally throwing his toys and jumping on them or running with them the length of the coach. Wouldn’t you know he would take this opportunity to prove he’s still a puppy. He had found my rice filled hand warmers to play with. By the time we returned to the coach rice was scattered everywhere.

It took two days of pooping rice balls to clear his system. After Rob gave the rug a thorough assault with the vacuum cleaner not only was the rice gone, but so was the dirt and mud Nugget brought in earlier after his walk around the park.

Morning, July 4, came early (5ish maybe earlier) and sunny for a change. Today’s destination was Triple G in Fort Nelson. Small American flags had been set in planters around the park and red, white and blue bunting was draped on the door to the restaurant/office. For our celebration dinner Rob bbq’d rib eyes and sliced potatoes in foil. Jeannie contributed raw and cooked carrots.