Date: November 24, 2005 - Kilometers Traveled: 550 Weather: Warm and Sunny

I’m writing this in a motel room in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. We crossed the border from Alberta today and with that cross we entered the tenth and final province of this country. We are still a good thousand kilometers or so from the Pacific Ocean. We aren’t going that far though. It’s north from here…way up north! It’s been a great trip so far, but I have a funny feeling that the true adventure is yet to come. We heard today that parts of the highway between northern BC and Whitehorse are closed, mostly for bad weather, but at least one section because of an avalanche!! I only have one thing to say to that…COOL!!

The drive today was mostly unremarkable. We did see another Coyote and a herd of Elk. We didn’t stop to take any pictures though. We had progress on our minds.

Dawson Creek has the feel of a real frontier town. The buildings and streets look like those you might see in any movie about the Klondike, or the gold rush. Trains seem to make frequent trips right through the middle of town, and they like to announce their presence with several loud and long pulls on the whistle. Now that’s something you don’t hear every day in Newfoundland or PEI !! Everybody seems to know everyone else (well that’s not so different from home), and we got a few funny looks around town today. I bet Dawson Creek gets a lot of visitors in the summer, but maybe not so many this time of the year.

This is mile zero of the Alaskan Highway. The Americans built it in the middle of the Second World War to ship supplies and people to their bases in Alaska. From what I have read about it, it is an incredible piece of engineering with hundreds of bridges, and more than 2300 kilometers long – all completed in less than nine months! I will have more to say on the highway in the days to come.

Tomorrow, we have reservations at a hot springs hotel in northern BC. We are told they have natural hot springs just outside the hotel. We have thoughts of ourselves submerged up to the neck in the hot water while the air is cold and crisp, and we sip wine while watching the majesty of the Northern Lights. Only time will tell if those visions will come true.

Hotels with services are getting harder to find. Most of the small towns we have past in the last few days have lots of hotels, although many of them are closed for the season. I am not sure if the hotel we have booked for tomorrow night will have internet access or not. Rest assured, I will continue writing these updates on a daily basis, they just might not get posted every day. So check back often, and keep those comments coming, it’s great to hear from you all.

Cheers for now!