Day 70 Friday July 8, 2022 Yesterday when we pulled into our site the lady in the site on our right asked us where in North Carolina we were from. We told her and she said they were from Jacksonville NC. Small world.
This fairly small town has two Tim Hortons less than a mile apart and one was calling our name this morning so we went. While we were there a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman came in for coffee and was standing near our table and spoke to us. I asked him about a automated car wash. We have some road debris in our brakes and needed to get a wash where it sprayed water on the undercarriage. He told us and he wanted to know where we were from. He told us he was from Newfoundland but stationed here now. They are allowed to transfer every 5 years and he had worked in several places. We told him we visited there in 2019.
After lunch Tom and Gloria rode with us to the historic Kiskatinaw Bridge. It was part of the original Alaskan Highway but the highway has been rerouted in some sections to make it better, This bridge is a curved (9% curve) wooden bridge and it is getting in poor repair and so is the section of road that leads to it. It took as long to build this bridge as it did the entire highway. When we were here in 2015 we had the option to drive across it but we didn't and now it is closed to any vehicle traffic do to structural repair needs.
Then we drove back into town to the Mile “0” sign to get our tourists photos taken.
At 4 PM we had an informal social with part of the caravan group that is here. 13 of the 22 RVs that are part of the group are here tonight. We were supposed to have 25 RVs. Two canceled due to health issues, one had a vehicle accident and one blew their engine in Alberta before getting here. There were people on the waiting list to fill some of these vacancies but at some point the company has to stop taking replacements.
Two couples, Tom and Gloria being one, has a Teacup Maltese dog named Sugar. What are the odds.
Day 71 Saturday July 9, 2022 Tim Hortons was calling us again this morning for breakfast. Tom and Gloria joined us then we all went to the Walter Wright Pioneer Village here in town.
It took us about 2 hours to tour all the buildings and watch a 30 minute movie about the construction of the Alaska Highway. It was an old movie that was filmed during the construction of the highway. Those men endured some tough working conditions. It is amazing what they did in 8 months. 1500 miles through some really difficult area. The road was built by military personnel and then civilian contractors came behind and did major improvements. The highway was built as a supply road to get supplies to military bases as a deterrent to Japan from invasion from the North.
We had another social this afternoon with hor d'voures supplied by the Wagonmasters (WM) and Tailgunners (TG). There were two birthdays today, Mrs. Wagonmaster and one from the group. There are four couples here counting us that were together on the 2019 Canadian Maritime Caravan. 10 couple from that caravan had signed up for the Alaska Caravan but when COVID hit everything got all changed around and some canceled, etc. The WM and TG gave us some information about how things would work on the course of our trip.
Day 72 Sunday July 10, 2022 Today is the official first day of the Caravan. Only one couple is coming in today. The others are all ready here. We got here early because when you are coming this far and something happens you need time to fix it so you will not get left behind on a trip you have already paid for.
This morning Lena and I went downtown to the Mile “0” Cruisers car show. There were probably 400 or so old cars/trucks and two campers in the event. We didn't realize that Canadians were into these kinds of event.
We took a lot of photos and the cell service and WiFi in the campground is not very fast for uploading/downloads a lot of photos so we stopped at Tim Hortons for a refreshment and use of their good WiFi. Then it was onto Walmart and Safeway for some groceries before we leave here tomorrow. Lena is going to try a beef stew in the slow cooker while we travel tomorrow since we have about 6 hours to our next campground. When we told Tom and Gloria about using a slow cooker they wanted to try it also but their slow cooker they had with them was too large to sit in their sink while they travel so they went to Canadian Tire in town and bought a small one similar to Lena's and they are going to try it also. Sure is good to have a hot meal ready when you stop after a day of driving and no restaurants nearby.
We had an orientation meeting at 3PM with the group. Two of the staff from the nearby Visitors Center gave a nice presentation about Dawson Creek and the Alaska Highway. Then the WM and TG gave us more information about the trip. At 5:30PM we drove over to the Pioneer Village for a catered meal put on by the Meat Doctor. A local meat business. We had pulled pork, beef brisket, bake potato, carrots, salad and blueberry pie.
After eating we walked back over to the museum exhibits to take a couple of photos I missed yesterday. One was a “M” John Deere tractor just like the one my Daddy had that my brother has now. The other was a Trapper's Cabin.
Day 73 Monday July 11, 2022 We had our final meeting before leaving on our first travel day tomorrow. Then Lena and I went to the Visitors Center to tour the museum and wait for the group to meet there for a group photo at the Mile “0” Sign. While we were getting ready to take the photo the Mayor of the town was driving by and stopped to welcome us to the town and to thank us for coming. He even stayed and was part of the group photo.
Lena and I stopped at a bank to get some more Canadian dollars just in case. One of the three major telephone companies (Rogers) have been having major problems with their service and there have been some reports of people not being able to get fuel unless you can pay in cash because the credit cards will not process.
Then we returned to the campground to get ready to pull out tomorrow. I might not be able to update the BLOG for a few days due to poor cell service and WiFi. It is not great here but can get a few things done.
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