>North to Alaska – 10
>
>June 29, 2007
>
>With a relatively short day planned we all met for breakfast at 7:30 
>and were on the road by 8:30. We continue to target back roads with success.
>The 200 mile road around Edmonton was great! The traffic was light, the 
>road surface was good and we could travel at good speeds.
>
>We left this morning as one group of 4. We stayed together for about 
>150 miles. Then it was back to two groups of two. Tom and Al ride a bit 
>more aggressively so it is likely we’ll start and end the day together. 
>We are in different motels tonight because Jim and I are cheap and we 
>didn’t want to make reservations ahead without seeing what was 
>available. Will we win or loose? Today we won. Less cost for a 
>comparable room but we didn’t get a spa. We are staying at the Blue 
Belle….I wonder if they have hourly rates?
>*(I'm glad he didn't find out!!!)
>
>The weather today started out great. It was a bit cool, in the fifties, 
>but clear with partial high cloud cover. We didn’t get warm till about 
>1:00 when we stopped for lunch. The roads we are traveling now have 
>distances of up to125 miles with no services. We do need to plan a bit 
>for fuel, rest and food stops, and where to stop for the night.
>
>After lunch we had about 120 miles to go. It wasn’t long before we saw 
>the storms that were forecasted off in the distance. At 3:30 we stopped 
>to get ready for rain. We went through 2 storms. The first was over 25 
>miles wide with a lot of rain. The second was smaller but still 
>annoying. The first storm covered Dawson Creek which is where mile 
>marker 0.0, the start of the Alaska Highway, is set in the middle of 
>the town. Even in the rain there were many RVs and people taking each 
>others pictures. We didn’t even think of stopping.
>
>Wildlife was scarce today. A couple of deer crossed the road ahead of 
>us this morning and we saw a herd of caribou. I didn’t even see a Prairie Dog.
>
>I usually make a route sheet in the evening for the next days ride. It 
>has each road, the direction we will travel and the mileage for each leg.
>Tomorrow it is rte 97 west for 420 miles. There aren’t many roads up here! 
>It is an easy plan but we may not actually do that because it is 
>supposed to rain all day tomorrow. We’ll see.
>
>*two cents from Faith