Day 4 – Blue Lake to Dawson Creek and Day 5 - 1^st Day on Alaskan Highway

Some very good things happened today.

1)      I got my pipe fixed

2)      I got propane and gas at the same time easily, and

3)      I washed the van spick and span!

4)      I  saw a Black Bear

When I got up at the boondocking campsite I was well rested-it was so peaceful and quiet there. Some cows were in the meadow enjoying breakfast and there was some blue sky for the first time!

I cleaned up and got out of there early after making coffee and hit the road.

The first town I came to I saw an RV Sales and Service sign and pulled in to get my pipe repaired- figured it was time to pay an expert instead of McGyvering. The owner was chatting with a couple when I pulled up and so I took my time getting out not wanting to interrupt them. When I started to walk up they excused themselves as they were friends and not customers. The guy’s name was ‘Steve’ and I asked him if he could help me with the plumbing issue, he said, “No, we don’t have time for that today”. I didn’t see anyone around working on  anything so I pleaded a little- “Gosh, it will probably only take you an hour, it’s a small job”, but he said, “No.” He did suggest that I try a block down where there was another RV Repair place,’ Hutch’s’.

I drove to Hutch’s and met the owner, Adam. He said they would help me. It was a much less fancy place and did not sell rigs, just did work and restorations it seemed. He had a worker with him and soon they were under the van pulling my crummy job apart and rigging a beautiful, fancy and secure plumbing system just like a big boy rig!

It took them about an hour and when they were done the water flowed perfectly. All new piping was running from the sink to the one good repair I had made on the far side and it was secured on both sides so it can’t come down. They also secured a wire bundle that was under there that I had noticed yesterday and had electrical tapped around some worn spots. Damages were $ 135 US which is good for peace of mind. Money well spent. I asked Adam where a coin car wash was because the van was filthy with soot and dust and bugs and I wanted to hose off the Solar Panel.  He said there was one just a couple of blocks away and it was $2 Canadian for 5 minutes. I spent six bucks and rinsed and then brush washed it with the foamy soap and then a full rinse again- she sparkled! Solar panel output jumped up too.

I left the little town intending to go to Prince George- a major town about 275 miles away, but the driving was so easy and I got there so soon that I decided to move towards Dawson Creek, the official beginning of the Alaskan Highway. I told myself that I would just head down the road towards it and that I could always pullover and find a campsite on the way. I pulled into a small independent service station to get gas and was stuck behind a guy at the pump when I saw that they had attendants pumping the gas. When my turn came the young woman attendant asked me if I needed Propane. I hadn’t even thought of that in spite of using it on the fridge and on the stove and so I asked her to fill it as well. I decided to pay inside and wandered the small store area. At the counter they had locally made two foot long Caribou Pepperoni sticks for $3.50. I had to try one of these so I bought it for driving snack/ lunch. It was delicious.

After getting gas I pulled onto the highway and when I hit the point where the speed limit went up just outside of town suddenly a big black bear broke cover on the left and ran across the highway only 100 feet from me. I had to slow down to let him across! He was a full grown bear and rushed into the brush on the right side of the road. He’d probably been Yogi’ing some trash cans for picnic baskets in town. Funny.

I should describe the scenery and explain why there are not more pictures of the surroundings. It is because this part of the trip is about the Driving and getting up to Alaska ahead of any bad weather so I don’t stop to take snapshots or sightsee much. You get to see what I get to see.

I ended up driving 7 hours and going the full distance to Dawson Creek and the scenery on  the long drive was amazing- first along lakes and small towns with small ranches and looked a lot like driving outside of Boise, then I entered a mountain pass and had huge granite peaks all along one side of the road and canyon walls on the other as I ran by a meandering creek as well. Over the pass and then onto a high planes area which looked like the areas outside of Ketchum. All beautiful and not too much smoke!

When I finally arrived in Prince George I was too tired to even go into town, I stopped at the first RV Park I saw and got a tent space form $21 bucks and they had WiFi and Showers for a dollar every three minutes. Heaven.

Sleeping there was harder because there are rigs so close around me. On my left side was a hedge and a road so at least that side was free. Got an ok night in and woke at 6 am cold. It has been getting cooler as I head North (of course) and the days are up to high 70’s to 80 degrees and the nights are getting into the 50’s. It will get much colder and probably wetter as I head to Fairbanks- rain is in the forecast for Whitehorse and North of there soon so I am racing to get as far as I can before then.

Today (Day 5) was the beginning of the Alaskan Highway so I celebrated by buying breakfast in a Diner. Seriously, it was a Diner like Ray’s on State Street in fact almost identical on the inside with the booths and 50’s stuff on the walls. Weird. Not a great breakfast, but good coffee and I took a fill up in my big go cup for the road. 

The van ran really well with speed limits at 60 mph (100 Kph) and traveling through forest with Aspen trees and firs. One area had been burned last year and you could see miles of black stumps. Their fires here are becoming a new normal and very upsetting since they come during some of the only prime weather for outdoor activities and tourism. I took some pictures from the driver seat so I will post the scenery with this blog entry.

Day is not over yet as I am writing from an A&W Rootbeer place in Fort Nelson and still have not found a place to spend the night.

Hope you are all well- tomorrow it is on to the next place down the road.