Day 41 - Saturday, May 11 - Milepost 3705 - Birdcount 200 - Dawson Creek, British Columbia

(BF's Journal). We leave early for a full day of traveling northwest through Alberta and just beyond the border into British Columbia. We are still in a populated area, mostly farms, but the towns are more separated. Rolling fields punctuated by poplar, birch and spruce edges are the dominate vistage, similar to central Wisconsin sans lakes. The barren ground has been cultivated but not yet seeded. Each small town has an identical layout: towering grain elevators on the south, adjacent to east/west directed railroad tracks, adjacent to the highway we travel, bordered by storefronts and gas stations and small houses and mobile homes lying to the north.

(SF's Journal). 7 AM and we are already on the road with the sun brightly smiling on the pavement ahead of us. We make tracks north through rather rolling landscape. I drive for a couple of hours with only the trees and an occasional car or truck coming the other direction to keep me company. I pass through Crooked Creek with a population of 10 and 2 Mule Deer and 50 cows. The 70 miles from Whitecourt to Fox Creek is called Moose Alley. Apparently so many moose are hit on that stretch of pavement that the highway department put up life-size moose every 20 miles or so with warning signs to watch for the critters. I do not see any moose but do see a coyote. We pull into Dawson Creek at 3 PM and pay our respects to the local information center and museum. It seems everyone coming into this town does that same thing since the Mile Zero sign for the start of the Alaska Highway sits on the corner and of course pictures, snapshots and videos must be taken at this historical sight. "Where are you headed?" "Where are you from?’ is the standard greeting of the people as they step out of their RV’s. After we too take pictures we stop for the evening at Tuby’s RV Park. The couple we met in Calgary pull in shortly behind us. We unhook and the car will not start again. While Bert washes R TENT, the camp host looks at the battery and says it needs water so I proceed to add some to each cell. By the time I am done I have added almost a pitcher of water. After that I drive to our spot for the night and now the car is making a squeaking sound, not at idle but whenever going forward or reverse - something else to worry about.

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