A great drive today! Left Edmonton around 7:30AM under dark skies, rain and a chilly breeze, but the sun was out by 10:00AM. I saw my first "Moose Crossing" sign around 9:30AM but, even though Alberta Route 43 is known as "Moose Alley", I did not see a single moose today.
Route 43 is just a great road...four lane, divided highway, Interstate quality...with the exception of one 10 mile stretch that narrowed to two lanes, I was able to do 70-75 mph all the way from Edmonton. Terrain went from rolling prairie to densely wooded forest as I approached the foothills of the Canadian Rockies
When you start studying the Alaskan Highway, four towns stand out along the way...Whitehorse (Yukon), Watson Lake (Yukon), Fort Nelson (British Columbia) and Dawson Creek (British Columbia). Today/tonight, I'm at the Ramada Inn in Dawson Creek. Dawson Creek is the official "beginning" of the Alaskan Highway (see photos). It's also the end of the 'prairie" and the beginning of the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. From here on, it's going to be all beautiful scenery up and over the Rockies. All of the driving up to this point was just the "appetizer"...starting tomorrow, we're on to the "main course". I'm excited about tomorrow's drive to Fort Nelson because this is the part of my trip that I've really been looking forward to.
I'll be taking lots of photos.
I listened to some great music on today's drive...Amy Winehouse (about whom I would never know were it not for my good friend, Kammi Whatley, from Shreveport, Louisiana), Zero 7 (The Garden), Buddha Bar Chillout in Paris...and Mahler's 5th Symphony, conducted by Georg Solti and the Chicago Philharmonic. I had forgotten how much I love that piece of music...I first heard the "Adagio" movement as an encore at Pine Knob and, even though I didn't know what it was, it blew me away.
I had also forgotten how friendly the Canadian people can be...like the cute little gal with the cool piercings who pumped my gas and cleaned my windows in Grand Prairie, Alberta...
"Where you heading?", she said.
"All the way to Alaska".
"Wow, you'll be going through the Yukon, where I'm from".
"I'm looking forward to that".
"Make sure you don't close your eyes because, if you do, you'll miss something beautiful."
A few observations on "equipment performance" as I near the halfway point of the Alaska leg of the trip...
Things that worked well:
Rola Cargo Carrier...I had a ton of choices for rear cargo carriers, but went with the one recommended by U-Haul...a great choice. I was worried about stability, but it's performed like a champ.
Sirius Radio...before I left, XM was my favorite, but I have not lost the Sirius signal once during the entire trip.
Things that did not work so well:
XM Radio...I don't have a signal nearly half the time...pretty annoying when you've listened to something for a half hour or so and then miss the last five minutes.
Garmin/Escape "built-in" navigator...In Jamestown, the Garmin directed me into a dead-end in the middle of some farmer's field...nice. The "built-in" navigator in the Escape is even worse...it shows me in an "off-road" condition half the time, AND it repeats an annoying message every ten minutes or so..."Your route contains incomplete data. Safe driving is the responsibility of the driver."
Daily "Wound Report"
All the surgical wounds are still looking OK...well...let me rephrase that...they look ugly, but they're healthy...healing up, no sign of infection.
That's it for today. Tomorrow...the Rockies!
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