July 14 – Cracked Up

Last night was not an unmitigated success. I attempted to sleep in the passenger seat, and I wound up tossing and turning all night. I woke up at 3 AM and noted that it was already becoming light out. Around 7:30, I got back on the road and headed towards Dawson Creek. The drive was unremarkable, except for my second moose sighting, and I got to town around 10 AM. Dawson Creek definitely has that feeling of frontier town. The Wal-Mart parking lot has deep ruts, and places where the pavement has heaved up a foot or more and then just been left there. The store billed itself as a Supercentre but I think Awfulcentre is nearer the mark. I bought some bottled water and headed to the Safeway, where I gassed up. Noting the sunny, windy, mosquito-free parking lot, I took the opportunity to rearrange the back seat so that I could try sleeping there tonight.
I spent an hour shopping and rearranging, then made my way over to Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. I took my photo under the sign, then walked a block to the famous Milepost Zero. A local offered to take my photo in exchange for the change in my pocket, although it wasn’t worded as crassly as that, and I accepted her offer. I also get the impression that the region is down on its luck, economically speaking. At long last, I was on the road to Alaska.
As the day wore on, the scenery gradually changed from flat and monotonous to a more mountainous landscape. I gassed up again at Fort Nelson, and while cleaning my windscreen noticed that it had a fleabite in it. The quantity of insect debris that accumulates on windscreens up here must be seen to be believed. Every time I get gas I clean it up, but within 10 kilometers it’s filthy again. At one point this afternoon an entire grasshopper was stuck to the front. And it’s not just the insects. The road itself is littered with dust and rocks. Every time a truck passes it leaves a little cloud of dust and flying crap behind it. And there’s nothing you can do to avoid it, because there’s just two lanes, one coming and one going. All you can do is hope for the best, and at some point your luck will probably run out.
A ways north of Fort Nelson, the terrain became more interesting. High buttes and mesas began to poke above the forests, and in the great distance, a snow-capped chain of mountains seemed to be running parallel to the road, horizon to horizon. It was a beautiful drive and I had intended to press on to Muncho Lake, where there is a campground. However, around 6:15 I came upon a campground in a beautiful spot, called Summit Lake.  I later found out it is the highest point on the entire Alaska Highway.  There is a large, bare mountain directly across from me. It’s perfectly framed in my side window as I lie here on my makeshift bed. I could easily have gotten at least another 400 km in tonight, as I’ve been here three hours already and it’s still broad daylight here at 59 degrees north. But I’ve already logged about 800 km today, 600 or so of them on the Alaska Highway since I left Dawson Creek. I don’t know why I decided to stop here tonight, but I’m settled in and paid up, so here I shall remain. Once again, there is no internet service so this will be posted later.
Just a few minutes before stopping, as I was going around a curve a tanker truck passed me and threw four or five rocks at my windscreen. One of them cracked the windscreen on the driver’s side, lower left. A star pattern, maybe the size of a dime. I hope it can be repaired. It’s left me in a bad mood. I knew window damage was possible, but on my first day?! It irritates the crap out of me. I wonder how many more cracks it will have when the trip is over. I think I should have bought a used car instead, because now I will be obsessing over the damage, of which I am sure this trip will inflict plenty. I’m starting to wonder if this whole cockamamie scheme was a big mistake.
I expect I will make it to Whitehorse tomorrow, and possibly even beyond. The Yukon is just a few miles north of me now.