Finally on the ALCAN

So despite being on the road for two whole days, we only just hit the actual Alaska Highway around lunch today...or the time we would have had lunch if there was anywhere to eat in Dawson Creek and we didn't spend 40 minutes on the phone with our credit card company and our bank.  Thankfully the financials are all sorted out now and we made it to our goal of Fort Nelson, BC before dinner time (that would be pizza in the hotel room while the cats run around paranoid trying to hide under things).

Zeus is really upset that he can't get under the bed in this room.  

This morning we drove through the mountains for awhile.  Pretty much the only time we have seen snow on the roads.  We feel REALLY lucky with this weather.

Kind of looks like a Subaru commercial. 

I took that picture by a random Canadian "rest stop."  (It was basically a shack with a hole inside)  Before I went in Andy said, "you...are not going to like that."  He was right.

So after a morning in the mountains, we made our way to Dawson Creek.  Here's milepost zero of the Alaska Highway, which is also called the ALCAN.  According to my new bible, the Milepost book, it was built in 1942 and until then there was pretty much no easy way to drive to Alaska (not that it's "easy" now).  There's some trivia you can share with your friends.  This pole in the middle of the street's about the only interesting thing in Dawson Creek:

I looked everywhere for James Van Der Beek.  He lives in a different Dawson Creek apparently. 

After driving through what Andy has declared to be the worst possible place in North America (that would be Dawson Creek), we hit the mountains again.  Look at this cute gas station!

Oh! and today was a big day for wildlife!  After the gas stop we saw a lady moose and a coyote by the highway (they weren't hanging out or anything, just in close proximity to one another).  I didn't get any pictures because we were driving fast and Andy was being mean and wouldn't stop to let me take a picture.  Earlier in the day we also saw two wolves (we think).  They were bigger than coyotes but all white.  They were eating something dead on the side of the road.  They must be Canadian because they're too polite to hunt.

We've got another 12 hour day in front of us tomorrow - hoping to make it to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory.  We have heard Whitehorse referred to as the "end of civilization," which will make the rest of the trip pretty interesting.  In the morning we'll be driving through the Canadian Rockies - hopefully we can get some good pictures after the sun comes up.