We have made it to Dawson Creek, BC, the start or in our case the end of the Alaska Highway.
Dawson Creek is still 1400 miles from home. We waited until we got here to decide whether to continue on to Banff/Jasper parks or head on home. Well, the weather is not going to get any better for the next 4-5 days so we have decided to head home.
The last 3 days of driving have been dodging rain storms while being amazed at the countryside around us. On the 18th day (July 19th) we left Whitehorse for Liard Hot Springs. The drive was great and the rains held off pretty much. With Terry in the lead we drove around a number of menacing storms and made it to Liard Hot Springs in time for Terry and Marilyn to take a dip in the springs before the gates closed. When we went to climb into the tents there were thousands of gnats and mosquitos trying to get at us. It felt like they were lining up in formation for their turn. We were lucky during the day and missed out on most of the rain, however it rained on us overnight so we got to pack away wet tents and damp sleeping bags.
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| Great roads and views but the clouds were starting to build up. |
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| Great drives but the clouds just kept getting heavier as we went along |
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On our 19th Day (July 20th) we left out a bit soggy and stopped in Fort Nelson to throw the sleeping bags in a dryer. Many times it looked like we were heading directly for a downpour, but the road would turn and all we would get is a light sprinkling. We drove through some absolutely gorgeous sections of the British Columbia Rockies alongside lakes and tumbling rivers. We ran into some more road hazards, more Bears, Moose and Buffalo.
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| Thank goodness this guys was "busy" or he would have been in the road with us. |
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| Clouds just kept getting heavier as we rode along the top of the Rockies. |
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| Riding past Muncho Lake, a Jade Green Lake from the Glacial Silt in the water. |
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| Great winding roads through the Canadian Rockies!! |
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| Looking back at clouds coming in over the Rockies |
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| Rain moving in toward us, time to get to the camp site!! |
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| Camp set up at Bucking Horse Provincial Park |
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| Mother Nature playing a trick on us by giving us a great sunset. |
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As the sun went down we had a bit of sunshine to give us hope for the next day. Unfortunately that was just not in the cards for the 20th day (July 21st). It rained hard over night, so hard the water ran off of the roadway and made a river under our tent. Thank goodness for waterproof ground tarps and tents with waterproof floors. Edie and I did get woken up about 1:30 in the morning to water dripping on Edie's face. We had left the small end window in the tent down just a little to help prevent condensation and water started coming in around the ends of the window area. After putting in back into the up position it did not leak any more, but the rain just poured like someone was using a water hose on us.
The rain paused long enough in the morning for us to pack up our soggy tents and head out for Dawson Creek. The sky was so overcast you could not tell where the sun was. It was so dreary I did not even feel like taking pictures!! We ran into quite a bit of road construction and lots of big rigs heading in and out of the oil and gas fields. Our bikes are covered with mud thrown up by the other vehicles on the roads, even our clothes are splattered. After eating lunch in Dawson Creek and checking the forecast for the next week we made the decision to head for home instead of the Banff/Jasper area. The rain started pouring again while we were looking for a hotel. We found one here in town and are taking showers and doing laundry. This will also give us a chance to dry out the tents!!
We will head out in the morning for Prince George area. The road to Prince George was washed out in multiple places 2 weeks ago but has been re-opened. We will probably have some long construction delays getting through. Time for bed, a nice warm dry bed.
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