Fox Creek & Grand Prairie, AB & Dawson Creek, BC - May 19 thru May 24, 2014
Finally, after we left the Cree River Casino, we spot our first Alaska sign. Guess this means we’re really on our way.
We make an overnight stop at the Fox Creek, Alberta visitor centre. The oil business has really taken off and we see sand trucks (used for fracking) and water trucks and maintenance trucks of all shapes and sizes. We visit the grocery store and see some of the truck drivers loading up on steaks, potatoes, canned goods. Lot’s of money being spent here.
EJ and I went for a walk around town, and it’s pretty much all devoted to the oil business.
Back on the road Tuesday, we make a beeline for the Elks Lodge in Grande Prairie. Frank sends out an email to the LG group letting them know where we are. Before too long, Chuck and Kathy show up and invite us to come by and visit at 4PM.
They were staying at the Rotary Campground which was a short walk from us. We took our chairs expecting to sit outside but it was too windy and they invited us into their RV. We also got to meet KC, Sheila and Molly (their sweet dog).
While in Grande Prairie we get caught up on the laundry and vehicle clean up then rewarded ourselves with a pizza and beer after we are done.
On the way to Dawson Creek we just couldn’t pass this up. Beaver’s Lodge of course.
We’re on schedule to met the Loosey Goosey group in Dawson Creek but we’ve already met 6 of them along the way. It’s good to know some of the folks instead of going in cold. In Dawson Creek at the Northern Lights RV Park we have our first meeting. There are 27 people and 14 rigs represented.
It’s a good get together and we even get a presentation from the Dawson Creek Visitor Centre. Name badges and Mile Zero pins are handed out.
Arrangements are made to meet for a group photo at the Alaska Highway sign on Friday at 11:30. Quite a crowd.
And we each had to have our turn at photo ops under the sign.
One of the group, who we refer to as Classy Mark because his name is Mark and he owns a Class C RV, appeared to be directionally challenged at first.
But then we got him pointed in the right direction.
Dennis is the man (orange flowered shirt) responsible for the coordinating the Loosey Goosey group. This is what happens when you let a few friends know you’re planning a trip to Alaska and love the color orange.
And the lady who made the presentation to the group came out to take pictures with all of our cameras.
After the group photo, everybody scattered in their own directions. Frank and EJ wandered off to see the Kiskatinaw Bridge. The only surviving curved wooden bridge on the original Alaska Highway.
As the stay at Northern Lights RV Park ended, most of the group were headed on up the road. EJ and I just wanted to catch our breath a bit. So after a visit to the Gas Bar and sucking down quite a few liters,
we settle in for the evening near Steve and Nancy (another Loosey Goosey couple) at the local Camp Walmart. Strange rain clouds in the distance. It looked like rain, but it never hit the ground. There’s probably a fancy meteorological term for that.
Steve and Nancy came over for a visit on their way to a dance. They’re staying behind to get some repairs made on their RV but, will catch up with the rest of us in Watson Lake.
It’s official, the journey actually begins now that we are on the Alaska Highway. We couldn’t resist and had to get one more picture at the Zero Mile Post located in the center of downtown. Delta Junction, Alaska is the end of the highway. Gee, only another 1398 miles to go!
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