The Alaskan Highway…….Part 1

Recorded June 2, 2009

We left Dawson Creek by mid day on Monday June 1st headed for a fuel stop at the Shepard’s Inn who boasts the best bakery items around. We bought the fuel & passed on the baked goods then were on our way. We paid $.82 per ltr this time which was about average for our trip so far. In Calgary it was $.90 and we have paid as little as $.73. Oh yes this calculates to $2.81 to $3.46 per gallon of diesel. As far as the exchange rate from U S Dollars to Canadian Dollars, well we are loosing. Before we left the exchange was 1.29 American to 1.00 Canadian. Now it is getting closer to even again.

Having the high part of our day over, or so we though, we settled in for some driving. The big decision was where to spend the night. We went for economy this time and were pleasantly surprised with the Sikinni River Campground. There was not much there but they took our 425 cash and just like their ad said Bill & Linda got a nock on their door and their $25 back! You see if the have more then 15 campers for any one night, they have a drawing for a full refund. The Moorhead’s were the big winners!

That was not the best part. The weather had returned to shirtsleeve perfect and remember, the days are getting longer & longer. It stays light now until about 11:00 PM, so we made a cook out! The Sikinni River Campground, though not much to it, sits at the bottom of a long 6% to 9% grade on both sides. It is a picture perfect little spot. We were next to a raised area where we made a fire and cooked smoked sausage over it & sumoue’s. An end to one of our best days yet!

Highway 97 better known to us now as the Alaska Highway continues northwest through really glorious country where there are very few people & towns or even outposts and most of the ones that do crop up over the years, fail. Tuesday brought us a difficult day for a few reasons. First the driving was tough the road was patchy most of the way. There were no real stops to break up the day for the guys and our destination for the night ended up being the story for the day.

We stop at about 4:00 PM on June 2nd and in need of fuel. The Northern Rockies Lodge fit the bill and it sits right on the most beautiful lake in the world ….so they say. The bad news started when we fueled up. The $1.69 per liter came out to $6.50 per gallon. Highway robbery! It set a bad flavor for the rest of the day. The lodge was great, with floatplane fly-in fishing etc. just extremely expensive. They definitely do not want to become a statistic.

It ended up being a lovely warm day so Lindsey & I took an extra long evening & morning walk. Muncho Lake really was beautiful & we were lucky to see the ice break up. The evening we arrived it was icy and the next morning the ice was gone. The floatplane folks whipped around in their speed boat to help it along however.
Next stop Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory.