Mile "Zero", Dawson Creek

Started our day with Auggie's morning constitutional, a walk until he has, well, never mind.....wow, this is when I really miss having Cindy here! I

This morning was a little cold and foggy!! Yes, foggy, don't ask me how or why, all I know is it was foggy! Maybe from cold air over Charlie Lake?? It was too foggy to tell....

Even though we suspected that the view might be compromised, we drove out to what is known as Site C, the third BC Hydro dam project on the Peace River. This project is so big, even in the fog we could see the progression of work. It started in 2016 and is due to complete in 2024. Onsite worker housing is in place for over 3,000 employees, and they are working on the diversion tunnels, numerous riverbank re-enforcements, and infrastructure. The project, as with ALL dam projects, is highly controversial.

We had hoped to get to another nice overlook of the Peace River valley back in town, but with the fog, we didn't even try. And then we discovered the local museum was closed on Sundays, two strike outs...so we went to Tim Hortons and got more breakfast treats and coffee!

Hit the road for Dawson Creek which was only 50 miles away. We did have a very interesting stop at Historical Milepost 21, the Kiskatinaw Bridge. (I had to get my brochure out to spell it correctly) This is the only original wood trestle bridge left from 1942. It really is a beautiful curved bridge, and we walked on it as well as drove. It is no longer on the current highway because this is one of many sections of the Alaska Highway that had been re-routed.

This section of the country is now just gentle rolling hills, lots of agricultural, and definitely looks like cowboy country. No mountains to be seen, but still very green! They grow a lot of hay here, and grain used for canola oil, besides oil, natural gas, and timber. So pretty rural looking.

Arrived at mile "zero" about noon and checked into the visitor center for camping rec's and city tours. With our Dawson City "master" museum pass we also got a "free" commemorative pin and certificate of completion.

Sundays are VERY quiet here. Most all locally owned business are closed. Had some lunch at a franchise restaurant, Original Joe's, which is like the pub version of CPK... excellent tomatoe bacon soup with crostini! Water instead of beer because I was trying to be frugal. (And the beer list didn't look that interesting) Tom stuck to fish, but in a taco format for a change.

Then spent the afternoon at the Alaska Highway House, a museum dedicated to the story of the highway. Watched a PBS film about the construction that was really good, and was a nice ending to our experience with the highway. From here south we will just be on one of several "access" highways to the actual Alcan as it used to be named. We also got another "free" commemorative pin!

Since it was 4 p.m., we headed slightly out of town (9 miles) to our camping spot for the night, Farmington Fairways Golf Course and RV Park. I think this must be a public course...Not bad, a little tired looking and showers were not very warm. I guess the premise is that you can vacation right at the golf course. So several of the sites had an RV and a golf cart. And some of these sites look like the occupants are here for the whole season...but there certainly is plenty of walking space for Auggie and I!

Fish, pasta and a glass wine, done for the day!Read more