Monday, June 30, 2014

Roberta and I had a wonderful trip, but it is long and grueling.  There are no shortcuts; once one is on the road, it's either all or none.  We were most interested in the history of the ALCAN Highway, and how quickly it was built.  It was just a trail through the woods and mountains, built by the Army in 9 months.  What I didn't know, was the the Public Highway Administration had 6,000 civilian employees there to improve the road, over the next few years.  There is one section of the road, 2 1/2 miles, that is original, down to the wood built culverts, and surface.  It is a National Historic Place and is located in Alaska.  The first bridge built is a huge curved high timber bridge just outside of Dawson Creek, BC, and is still in use, although as a side road.  It took 1 year to build, so it was finished after the road was finished.
Some observations of the trip.  Everything is very expensive in Canada, with their GST, Government Sales Tax, and PST, Provincial Tax.  The farther up the road we went, the more courteous the people were.  We paid $7.25 a gallon for gas in Muncho Lake, BC, and paid an average of $4.97 for all the gas we purchased.  The trailer worked very well, and Roberta and I could either break camp, or set up in about a half an hour.  Phoxie Lou survived the trip very well.
We had no issues with how people drove on the ALCAN, and Roberta and I actually passed five vehicles, so we weren't the slowest.  The only RV park that we didn't like was west of Watson Lake, YT, and we stayed there twice.  The park was O.K., but hosts weren't.  We enjoyed meeting lots of enjoyable people, driving or towing lots of different RV's. 
The scenery was stunning, and every day brought different scenarios.  I like the Destruction  Bay area on Kluane Lake, YT, and  the Stewart, BC/ Hyder, AK valley is beautiful.  Anchorage, AK was our least liked place; it's a big city in a picturesque setting.  Fairbanks, AK is a nice size, and easy to navigate. 
Another nice place is Whitehorse, YT, which sits on the Yukon River.  We had three areas of very bad roads, one from Destruction Bay to Beaver Creek, YT, one from GlenAllen, AK to Tok Junction, AK, and the first one hundred miles of the Cassiar Highway was rough, narrow, with no shoulders, and no lines.
We thourally enjoyed the trip and are looking forward to planning the next one.

Mal, Roberta, and Phoxie Lou Soare

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