The Alaska Highway

After driving into Canada for several hours, we stopped in the town of Dawson Creek, BC. This is the where the start of the famed AlCan Highway, know simply known as the Alaska Highway, starts. In 1942 the US and Canadian governments decided that the Japanese might try to use Alaska as a staging point to attack the United States and so in only 8 months, built a road through the wilderness so that materials and troops could be sent north. Michelle’s grandfather, Leo Brazel Clark, was one of the men who worked to build the AlCan Highway.

The Alaska Highway is 1,422 miles long and over the course of our trip we will drive it all – but not all at once.

We learned a valuable lesson in Dawson Creek. We paid for a night at the Mile “0” Campground for the night. We drove the RV to Mr. Mike’s restaurant for dinner and when we returned, someone else had taken out spot. Of course the office was closed and occupants of the trailer in our site were not at home, so we had to park on the grass without electricity for the evening. In the morning, we explained what had happened and did get our money back, but from now on if we leave a site that we plan on returning to we will leave some chairs or other items behind so that it looks like the site is taken.

Patrick and Conor got a treat when we entered Canada. When we stopped for gas in a small town, they disappeared for a few minutes only to arrive back with 4 cans of Molson Canadian beer that they were able to buy for themselves (the drinking age here is 18). They were very proud of themselves and later also bought a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream.