Days 10-11: From 100 Mile House, BC to Dawson Creek, BC and the Start of the Alaska Highway

We ran into rain shortly after leaving 100 Mile House on August 17, 2007, Day 10 of our road trip to Alaska; and it rained on us all day, even though we often glimpsed clear skies behind us.

We drove into Prince George a little after 3:00 p.m. and reserved a campsite at Hartway RV Park, a little north of town. It was early yet, so we went into town for an early supper at a restaurant and to get an oil change for hard-working Harvey.

The rain had stopped by the time we returned to the RV park, so it made parking and hooking up at the campground easier. The site was level, so Doug didn't have to mess with that little chore. And we didn't hook up water or sewer, just electric.

The RV park was very nice, with extra-clean bathrooms and showers, and campsites separated with pine trees.

Our campsite at Hartway RV Park in Prince George, BC

This weather advisory board was hanging outside the office at the Hartway RV Park. Unfortunately, I was concentrating so much on capturing the words on the sign that I missed taking a picture of the small rock tied to a rope that was hanging next to it. You kind of need to know about that rock in order for the sign to make sense.

We stopped at a McDonald's the next morning (August 18, Day 11), to get Doug started off on the right foot with a cup of coffee and a muffin. Did you know that the McDonald's restaurants in Canada serve delicious muffins? I mean real muffins...like blueberry or cranberry or orange. Ever since our trip, we've been looking for them here in the States, but we have yet to find a McDonald's that has them on the menu.

There were many beautiful Provincial Parks along our way. It would have been fun to camp in them, but there were no hookups; and we really wanted to at least have electricity. We had a generator, but it was very noisy and consumed fuel. We would have used it in an emergency but preferred not to.

Bijoux Falls at Bijoux Falls Provincial Park

West Pine Rest Area, BC, where we took a lunch break. Rest areas often consisted of nothing more than trash barrels. Sometimes there were restrooms and, occasionally, picnic tables.

We had been passed on the highway by a truck and trailer advertising Nascar driver, Casey Mears. When we stopped for gas in Dawson Creek, they were at the same gas station. I took a picture of the truck, and one of the drivers joked with me that the picture would cost me three dollars. He told me that they were hauling a show car to Alaska for the state fair.

Truck hauling Casey Mears show car to the Alaska State Fair

We were disappointed to find that the Walmart in Dawson Creek wasn't a Supercenter. It didn't have much in the line of groceries; so we couldn't restock our supplies to the extent that we had planned. We located a KFC restaurant and bought some chicken that we put into the refrigerator for a later supper.

After that, we were ready to begin our drive on the famed Alaska Highway.

There was construction underway in the vicinity of the Alaska Highway sign in Dawson Creek. It didn't do anything to enhance my photograph.

Here is the official mile marker zero at the start of the Alaska Highway.

We camped that night at Rotary RV Park at Charlie Lake, just beyond Fort St. John. We went for a walk after supper but came back in a hurry when mosquitoes swarmed us. Those Canadian mosquitoes were vicious!