Alaska 2008

What a ride. let me restate that, "what a miserable ride." This had to be one of the worst driving days we have had on this trip.

We left Dawson Creek at about 6:15 AM. We were both up and decided let's get going and we did. The temperature was about 51° and it was partly cloudy. When I looked to the east it looked as though it was clearing up. That was a mother nature teaser. The first 150 miles of the trip, going into Valleyfield, Alberta, were OK. It remained partly cloudy and the temperature rose to about 57°. We stopped in Valleyfield to top off the fuel tank and no sooner did we get back on the road, the rains and wind came. The wind hit us broadside for the next 240 miles which buffeted the truck and trailer and made driving a bit tense. To add to the tension, the rains were quite heavy at times and visibility, especially when we were passing large trucks or they were passing us, was limited. We pulled into the campground, located a few miles west of Edmonton, and set up in the rain. To make a miserable weather situation worse, the temperature on arrival fell to 51°. Because of the conditions we encountered, Susie's ever present camera lay idle on the center console of the truck.

The route itself was pretty good. Most of the trip on was on four lane divided highway. The highways up here, even the four lane roads are not limited access roads. You have numerous cross roads and some portion of the roads go right through some large towns, like Grande Prairie. For most of the trip the highway is relatively flat with some gently rolling hills. There are a few stretches where the hills are steeper. The biggest difference from the roads we had traveled since we got on the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia on July 5th is the traffic. There was a lot more of it, much of it commercial. Most of the trip is through farmland, albeit farmland that has oil and gas under it. We saw a number energy related facilities adjacent to the road. We also saw drilling rigs going up and down the highway, along with their support vehicles.

Susie's summary of the trip is, "We left early, it rained, we got here... thank goodness." Maybe I should just eliminate what I had written above and just leave that line.