July 28, 2013 – It rained all last night. It is the first
time that we have stayed in the trailer for that much rain. The trailer is like
sleeping in a tin roofed barn; you hear every drop hit the roof. This morning
it is cloudy, windy 23 mph and low of 52 F.
We are still in Dawson Creek (mile 0 of
the Alaskan Highway
(old ALCAN Highway). It is an interesting
place. Dawson Creek
was a little 600 person town in the spring of 1942. It mainly grew grain and shipped it out by railroad. In a matter of weeks the town had 11,000 US troops and 16,000 Canadian civilians to work
on the ALCAN Highway. The highway was needed
to protect the US and Canada from an invasion by the Japanese in Alaska during World War
II. War supplies needed to go to Alaska
but there was not a road. In 8 months and 12 days (completed Nov. 20, 1942) the
road was constructed from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks (1,523 miles). They used 7000 pieces of equipment and built
133 bridges and 8000+ culverts. The men worked in temperatures as low as -70 F.
The equipment ran 24 hours a day so it would not freeze. In the summer there
was permafrost, muskeg, mosquitoes, and gnats which cause the men to have to
wear netting at all times. We will be driving along the highway to and from Fairbanks. However, much of the highway has now been rebuilt and shorten by 35 miles. It will still be fun
to see history as we go. I can not even think as low as -70 F. I am glad I live
in Florida.
We did laundry today. It takes about 2 hours to do laundry. It was $2.50 to
wash and $.25 for 12mins of drying. I drove around Dawson Creek and took photos. High
temperature today was 72 F.
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| Downtown Dawson Creek, BC |
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| Mile 0 sign in middle of Dawson Creek, BC |
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| Sign on traffic circle as you enter Hwy 97 to go north from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson |
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| The Surveyor -center of Alaska Highway Traffic Circle |
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| Traffic Circle at start of Alaskan Highway |
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