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Day Fifteen
At some point during the month of planning, we begin to pencil in the actual miles of the trip. We drove in to Alaska last summer and we are pretty excited to be driving out again. We logged long hours between Edmonton (AB), Fort Nelson (BC), White Horse (Yukon), and Palmer (AK), but what an adventure it was! We saw our first Alaska moose along the Glenn Highway, so we are looking forward to repeating that adventure.
As we began to plan this trip we had a few concerns. The Alaska Highway is a nice highway to travel and to view critters or scenery. However, in our northern neck of the woods this time of year, we won’t have a lot of daylight. It was going to be dark until after 9am and the sun would set again around 3pm. This would mean we would need to make sure to take it slow and not ‘overdrive the headlights’ as we traveled out of Alaska. This part of the route was also pretty mountainous. Hubby had to be well rested and paying attention to his driving. [image source_type=”attachment_id” source_value=”2376″ align=”right” size=”medium” autoHeight=”true”]Another consideration has to do with the weather. In this northern region, we are looking at single digits for the first few legs of the trip. This meant we had to make sure we had emergency gear, blankets, and even some dried meals so that if we ended up in the ditch out in the middle of no where, we would be able to survive the experience. This meant we needed to put some thing up in the car topper while keeping the emergency items in the actual cabin of the vehicle. This all comes with the briefing my hubby received during his PCS briefings.
As we were doing the research part of this troop movement, we looked at our Milepost book for information. This book gives the hours of operation for all the visitor’s centers and gas stations along the route of the Alaska Highway. It also plots out points of interest along the route by mile marker! You can follow your route from the Dawson Creek side of the route, or the Delta Junction point.
For instance, our Milepost book told us some very interesting historic tie bits about Fort Nelson, BC, Canada (y’all know how much we love history!):
[blockquote align=”center”]The current Fort Nelson is actually the 5th location for the town. Named after Lord Horatio Nelson, Admiral of the British Navy, most well known for his victory over Napoleon Bonaparte’s navy in the battle of Trafalgar where he gave his life to save England from naval invasion. The first Fort Nelson location was destroyed. The second Fort Nelson was attacked by First Nation warriors who killed the small band of soldiers and settlers in the Fort. The third and fourth Forts were demolished by natural disasters, which finally led to the fifth and final, successful, foundation of Fort Nelson, BC.[/blockquote]
Because the Alaska Highway was constructed by the United States Army to transport troops to Alaska for our defense against invasion from the Pacific Ocean, the highway boasts many fascinating fun and historic facts. For instance, soldiers who were homesick during construction in the 1940’s began a sign post forest that still stands today. You are free to add your own post to the forest and be sure to wander around looking for tidbits from your home town. You are sure to find them!!
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Kay's Little Korner 