Fort St. John British Columbia, CA - Tuesday, July 12,2011
On our last run yesterday evening, the Honda Element decided to rebel. It started bucking like a wild horse and we began to wonder if we’d make it back to the RV. But, we did. Fortunately Frank had installed a device called ScanGauge. It takes data from the cars computer and turns it into useful information like speed, rpms. water temp, fuel consumption, and so on. It also has the ability to read error codes. So, using the error code, we got on the internet to determine what the problem was. This error translated as a VTEC oil pressure switch problem. We picked the easy remedies first to no avail, and finally called the only Honda dealer between us and Alaska. It is in Fort St. John, BC about 48 miles away. Just to put it into perspective, there’s 1124 miles between us and Alaska.
Frank told them the problem and what part he thought needed replaced. They said that part hardly ever fails and they didn’t have one in stock anyway. They mentioned that a dying battery and voltage fluctuations might be causing the problem. After we talked to them we took another run in the Element and when it started bucking again, the ScanGauge showed that the voltage was going crazy. Hmmmm, maybe a new battery is in order. Back to Walmart for a new battery.
Long story a little shorter, with the new battery installed the problem seems to have gone away. But, now the radio doesn’t work because it needs a security code. We’re stopping at the Honda dealer in the morning in hopes that they will have a code that unlocks the radio.
But we didn’t spend the whole day on Element problems. We also visited the Alaska Highway House Museum in Dawson Creek. We didn’t realize that the highway was built for defense during WWII. The Japanese had a foothold in the Aleutian Islands causing the US and Canada to fear an invasion via Alaska. The highway was built in 9 months and its purpose was to open a route to get military supplies and troops to Alaska to fight off any invasion. The route was also used to facilitate airplane deliveries to Russia in a Lend-Lease program to assist in their battle with Germany.
The agreement was that after the war, the US would turn over ownership of the highway to Canada, at which time Canada would become responsible for its improvement and maintenance.
Talk about hardship, the soldiers worked pretty much from sunup to sundown (which was about 20 hours a day) because there was so much to do. They slept where ever they could find a flat spot. Their meals often consisted of leftover World War One rations. At times, they had pancakes three times a day. Mosquitoes were a huge problem in the summer. Often the road surveyors were only 10 miles ahead of the bulldozers. That seems like a lot, but the surveyors were on foot and the bulldozers were clearing 3 miles of roadway a day. We were both really impressed with what was accomplished in such a short time.
The effort that went into building the road will make us respect it all that much more as we continue our travels to Alaska along this highway starting today.
We also exchanged some US dollars for Canadian Dollars. We went to two different banks looking for the best rates. It still hurts to only get 93 cents per dollar.
It was 5:00 Mountain Time and we decided to head out for Fort St John. Frank wants to be at the Honda dealer first thing in the morning. It turned out to be a good decision because the road construction along that stretch was predicted to cause 20-30 minute delays at each of 4 areas, but being after 5pm the crews were gone. Traffic wasn’t bad and the condition of the road was ok.
Along the way we went over the Peace River Bridge. This is one of the rivers that has had a lot of flooding.
We did out first 48 miles on the Alaskan Highway in about an hour and a half. And lo and behold we found another Walmart “campground”.
| BG Miles Today | 52 | BG Total Miles | 4234 |
| Eat Out total $ | 328.43 | BG Total Fuel $ | 2182.30 |
| Entertainment total $ | 112.10 | Total Camping $ | 541.88 |
| E Miles Today | 19.3 | E Total Miles | 1556.15 |
| E Total Fuel $ | 303.59 | Day # of Trip | 42 |
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