Day 30 July 31, 2024 Pink Mountain RV Park British Columbia to Grande Prairie Alberta 221 miles
We got an earlier start today. We were on the road by 8:00 am. It’s mostly cloudy this morning.
Natural gas was discovered along the route today. We see plants and work camps. The find was huge. They can pump 271 trillion square feet per year for 100 years. This area supplies natural gas for most of Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
The traffic has really picked up. The number of semis in particular. They also seem to be going well above the speed limit. We must have seen at least 10 prefab buildings going north. They look like some kind of housing. Perhaps a big construction project or more to do with the natural gas. At about kilometer post 138 one of those north bound trucks threw a rock into our windshield in the lower corner on the driver’s side. Shards of glass landed on Rob’s face, hand and leg. They also landed on the seat. It left a huge star in the windshield too. All those miles on the Dalton Highway without a rock chip and now on pavement we get a big one. A new windshield is now on the project list for when we get home.
On the better side we saw two deer grazing on the grass in the right-of-way. They were well off the road and didn’t move much with all the traffic.
The wind has picked up again and the clouds look more like rain. In fact it did start raining before long. Luckily not too hard but there is enough dust or something in the air that the passenger window is quickly impossible to see out. This is important since the chief navigator sits on the passenger side.
We crossed the Peace River Bridge. This is the longest bridge on the Alaska Highway at 2,130 feet. Unfortunately for us it is a metal grated floor and this time the traffic is nearly bumper to bumper. We go slowly but luckily there are not too many behind us. We did get over the bridge before the rain started.
Right after the bridge was a long steep climb up a hill. We didn’t have our speed up because of the bridge so part of the way was in first gear. Thank goodness the temperature outside was cool so the car didn’t overheat.
Today in the mix of semis were logging trucks. We haven’t seen them since we started. They must not log as much on this highway.
The rain was nice enough to stop when we got to Dawson Creek. That is where the Alaska Highway starts. We found the sign marking the spot and took a picture. Then we ate lunch with a couple of bikers we met along the way. Fun diner called Stuie’s. It was all decked out for the 50s.
Not far out of town a doe and a fawn started to run across the road. Rob honked the horn and they turned around. Thankful for that because we most likely would not have been able to stop in time.
Some of this land today has been farm land. Mostly pasture or some kind of grain. The mix of green and gold is really pretty. Too bad the windshield is so dirty. One of those farms appeared to be raising elk. Might be the cheapest way to get your elk meat. Oh, we saw some elk today.
We arrived in Grande Prairie about 4:15 but had to take quite a detour for road construction to get to our hotel. The person or persons upstairs above our room are walking back and forth a lot. We are both pretty tired tonight so some noise will not bother us.
Spoffords Travel 