Today is a warm sunny morning in Grande Prairie, AB with the temperature already at 52 degrees (which would reach a high of 78 degrees before the end of day). After dumping the holding tanks, and getting everything back in its place to travel, we are off to journey to the start of the "ALCAN" Highway in Dawson Creek, BC.
We left at 9:30 a.m., and drove to the Napa Auto Parts Store in Grande Prairie, where Mel was to pick up a jack handle wrench (spare tire tool kit) that he had them order. We arrived there at 10 a.m., but had to sit and wait for the truck from Calgary to arrive around 10:40 a.m.
After that, we were on the road again at 10:50 a.m. on Alberta Highway 43 West.
And soon we were at Beaverlodge. Beaverlodge has a population of 2,365 and an elevation of 2,264 feet. It serves as a regional center for grain transportation, seed cleaning, and seed production. Cereal grains, such as wheat, barley and oats, are the main crops in the area. The icon for Beaverlodge is the 15-foot high beaver sculpture that vies for Canada's biggest beaver monument title along with Dauphin, Manitoba.
We continued down the highway to Dawson Creek, BC. It wasn't too long before we crossed over into the province of British Columbia.
British Columbia is the most western province in Canada -- bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Rocky Mountains and the Alberta border on the east. There was a time change in British Columbia -- as we set our clocks back an hour.
It took us about three hours on the road for us to arrive at the campground in Dawson Creek, BC (but only two hours on the clock due to the time change) that we would be staying at -- Tubby's RV Park & Car Wash. (We had originally wanted to camp at Mile 0 Campground but there were not open yet.)
As Mile "0" RV Park was not open, we went over to Tubby's RV Park. Their water was on in certain areas of the campground, but not all. (See the heater on the water pipe.) We stayed at Tubby's RV Park & Car Wash for two nights on site #23 ($37.80 CA/night or a total of $75.60 CA).
* TIDBIT ON DAWSON CREEK & ITS HISTORY *
Dawson Creek has a population of 11,583 and an elevation of 2,183 feet. Located at the junction of the Alaska Highway (ALCAN) and Highway 97 (Hart Highway). Construction of the ALCAN highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta, Alaska was undertaken during World War II (1942) to provide a supply route to Alaska in case the Japanese gained control of water routes.
Dawson Creek (like Dawson City in the Yukon) was named for George Mercer Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada, whose geodetic surveys of this region in 1879 helped lead to its development as an agricultural settlement. The Northern Alberta Railway reached Dawson Creek in 1931. As a railroad station, Dawson Creek was an important funnel for supplies and equipment during construction of the Alaska Highway (ALCAN) in 1942.
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After getting set up, we left to go sightseeing at 1:15 p.m. Our first stop was at the Dawson Creek Visitor Center located in the Northern Alberta Railway Park (NAR Park) at 900 Alaska Avenue in Dawson Creek, BC.
This is the commemorative location of "Mile 0 Cairn & Arch" of the Alaska Highway.
We had the photo opportunity at the commemorative Mile "0" cairn under the arch all to ourselves as not too many tourists have arrived here in Dawson Creek yet.
The Surveyor Statue in the center of the traffic circle is a tribute to the engineers who arrived in Dawson Creek in 1942 to survey a route for the Alaska Highway. Standing in the traffic circle that leads to the famous highway, the surveyor points northwest along the path that became first a mud track and finally the paved Alaska Highway.
Within this four acre park, besides the Visitor Center, we also found the Dawson Creek Station Museum and the Dawson Creek Art Gallery located in the big Alberta Pool Elevators.
Dawson Creek Visitor Center and Station Museum not open on Monday. We will come back tomorrow.
We left the truck at the visitor center and walked to second mile zero marker in Dawson Creek. It is located one block west of the traffic circle and is in the center of the street between 102 Avenue and 10th Street. Once again, we were able to get our pictures taken by this icon without other tourists.
ABOVE: Mel at the original Mile "0" Marker, and BELOW: Shirley at the original Mile "0" Marker.
After our abbreviated walking tour, we stopped at Rockwells Pub Club where Mel sampled Lucky Lager, which is a brewed Canadian lager since 1934. Interesting sign outside of Rockwells Pub Club (see below).
On our way back to the campground, we stopped at Bobs RV Parts & Supplies for Mel to get a few washers. Next, we drove to the Wal-Mart in Dawson Creek to pick up some groceries. We got back to the campground by 4 p.m., put the groceries away and decided to go for a bike ride on the bike trail nearby (Dawson Trail or Rotary Walking Trail). We started our bike ride at 4:30 p.m. and in a little over an hour, we had rode a little over 7 miles.
The path below from my Garmin shows where we rode.
We ate dinner of teriyaki sauced chicken thighs and twice-baked potatoes at 7:30 p.m. It was a wonderful day!
Shirley & Mel
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