Alaska Highway

Monday 7/18/22

We arrived at Dawson Creek and seek out the “Mile Zero” landmark to the Alaska Highway.

According to Wikipedia:  The Alaska Highway was constructed in 1942, during World War II to connect the contiguous United States to Alaska across Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon.

Length: 2,237 Km (1390 miles).  However, we don’t be driving this entire length of the Alaska Hwy for this epic expedition.

After taking all the obligatory pictures at the Mile Zero junction, we stopped for lunch at Juice Five-0 restaurant, a Vietnamese small bistro inside an art building at Dawson Creek.  I had a small appetizer, egg roll, and Paul had the rice vermicelli for lunch.  After we had finished, the owner comes out to check in on us, we strike up a conversation, and she found out that I am Vietnamese, from California.  She gasped and said “if I had known you were Vietnamese, I would not recommend the egg rolls for you since it was not deep fried, it was cooked in the air fryer so it’s not going to meet your expectations since you’re from California.  We found out there are only two Vietnamese families in this region.  Nguyên, her husband Trí, and two children Sophia (I didn’t meet the other child) reside here.  I said it’s pretty gutsy to open a Vietnamese restaurant in this area since there’s such a small Asian population here.  She said they are doing ok, but July and August are like a ghost town for their business.  Then she treated me to a bowl of the Pho broth for me to sample.  After all the chatting, we showed them BAT and our travel plan, and Nguyen said “you’re living my dream.  When the kids are in college, we can travel like you.”

On the road again, next stop, glamping at “Walmart” parking lot for the night.

Tuesday 7/19/22

After being on the road for about 200 miles, we pulled into the Alaska Highway Prophet River Airfield to camp, and just around the corner, Paul spotted two overlanding rigs just like ours – Joe & Elfi from Germany and Jacky & Hansi from Switzerland, both are in the MAN trucks.  One couple is heading north like us and the other one is heading south.  They are full time overlanders.  Jacky and Hansi have been on the road for 3 years, their truck is their home.  I wanted to stay and chat more but I was being attacked by bugs and mosquitos, which my body doesn’t respond well to these bites.  The ladies warned me that as we head further up north, there will be a lot more mosquitos.  In fact, it’s been five days since they are able to sit outside a bit without getting their blood drawn by these pesty insects.  Urgh!!! Is that what I have to look forward to?  So I apologized and ran back inside the truck to seek refuge from these blood suckers.  Meanwhile the chatty Paul brought his camping chair and a beer out to sit and chat with the guys.  Interestingly, they have also been at AJ’s place, whom they also met via social media.  Small world right?!

As Paul continued his chat session with the new friends, he came back to BAT and drag me outside to chat with the ladies and hear their interesting stories.  I manned up, sprayed myself with the repellant and came out.  I had a great chat hanging out with the ladies, while Paul and the guys checked out each other’s equipment (lol).   The ladies showed each other our tiny homes and had great laughs wrt our similar habits in keeping our rigs clean, but ourselves cleaner, especially with Jacky,  her living unit is like a designer studio.  It’s interesting how each unit has their own layout, all functional in their own ways, but pros and cons in all the units.   It’s a matter of how much does one want to compromise to make their tiny home comfortable while on the road.

Wednesday 7/20/22

The two MAN trucks took off just as I got out of bed around 9:30.  Auf Wiedersehen, until we meet again new friends.  Joe & Elfi, however,  are heading north as well so I’m sure we’ll bump into each other again.

Along the road, we’ve seen bears, mountain goats, deer crossing the road like they owned it, and yes they do. This is their land!

Sure enough, later that afternoon,  as we were up in the mountain,  crawling and stopping due to the highway construction,  Paul spotted Joe’s truck as we were only 3 cars behind them. Eventually Joe found a camping spot for the night while we moved in to the “Riverside ” along the McDonald Creek with a grand view of the Rockies, big sky, green trees, and babling water soundscape…winning combination!

After settling in, Paul got his drone out for a few footages, and then we took a walk along the creek to stretch our legs to unwind from the road.   The weather was just perfect, slightly on the cool side.   Then we realize that we’re in “bear country” and we can’t run at all on these rocks/gravel so we went back to our camp after taking a few pictures of this grand view.

There is something so very special being out in the wilderness and enjoying the serenity of nature.   At home I have to use the artificial soundscape from an app that simulates the sounds of nature to fall asleep.   Here I am, sleeping under the stars,  next to a creek with a slight breeze and soothing sound of babbling water.   It can’t get any better than this.   So to all, a good night…

Thursday 7/21/22

The road is scenic and peaceful with lakes, rivers, mountains, pine trees, birch trees.  Then mother earth revealed the tranquil Muncho Lake just around the bend.  The water is so calm and clear with beautiful reflection of the mountains and sky.  We pulled over to enjoy this quiet moment amongst the vastness of nature.

We eventually arrived at the Liard River Provincial Park with a hot spring, a famous spot for tourist.  As we drive to our campsite, we can see the park ranger driving around in the gulf cart wearing mosquito net, not a good sign right?

We changed our clothes into our bathing suit and then geared up with mosquito net and spray.  It was about a 0.25 mile walk to the hot spring.  They built a board walk for guests as we have to cross several swamps to get to the hot springs.  So this is where the mosquitoes breed.

The hot spring was built up almost like a swimming pool on one side and the natural environment on the other side like a river bed.  The water was nice and warm like a bath,  not hot at all.  The sulfur is quite strong though.   I wonder what effect does sulfur has on your skin,  good or bad?  Here’s the answer: “Thanks to the high amount of silica in the water, it can also soften rough or dry skin. Plus, the mineral content of sulfur springs has been shown to help persisting skin conditions like psoriasis, acne and eczema.”  There were several guests in the spring, maybe about 20+ people.   We stayed in the spring for about 20 minutes, took a few pictures to check the box and then walked back to our campsite. 

I have to say it’s a very nice boardwalk and enjoyable walk, despite being sweaty in the extra layer to prevent the mosquitoes from feasting on us.  So we’ve done it, in and out of the hot spring and escaped without a bite. Yeah!