I got up early this morning and borrowed the phone in the office of the RV park we were staying in so I could call our insurance company about the broken window.  We got a claim number and went to Peace Glass company, but they said it would probably be several days before they could get the glass.  They said they could put a Plexiglas patch in for us, so that’s what we opted for.  A young man named Daniel patched our window while we watched.

Daniel takes out the last of the shards and the stripping that held the window in

He puts caulking around the hole

He puts in the Plexiglas

And then puts the stripping back in to hold the patch in place

After the window repair, we were on the road over an hour later than we’ve usually been leaving, but we were grateful not to be stuck in Fort St John.  As we left town we went up a 10% grade.  That’s the steepest one I think we’ve ever encountered.  We were on virgin soil because on our way up we had cut off the corner to Dawson Creek and went through Hudson’s Hope instead.  Having seen the end of the Alaskan Highway in Delta Junction, this time we decided to go to Dawson Creek and see the beginning of the highway.

Dawson Creek is practically right at the border between BC and Alberta.  It’s a cute town.  Whereas the End of the Alaskan Highway marker is in a large parking lot of the Visitor Center in Delta Junction, the Beginning of the Alaskan Highway marker is in the middle of town, and is in fact, in the center of an intersection.  We parked the RV at the visitor center a block away and walked to the corner where the marker was.  Mark had to walk at an angle in the intersection to stand next to the marker so I could take his picture.  It wasn’t even on the highway itself!

Beginning of the Alaska Highway

Mark in front of the beginning marker in Dawson Creek, BC

By comparison, me in front of the End of the Alaska Highway marker in Delta Junction, AK

Dawson Creek was the furthest east of our trip.  From there we made an about face and headed west again and hit Chetwynd where we’d turned last time to go to Hudson’s Hope.  I hadn’t recalled that Chetwynd is the Chainsaw Sculpture Capital of the World.  Every year in June they have a chainsaw sculpture competition, and they have all the sculptures from every year on display in town.  I forgot to take pictures until we were almost through town, so I had to shoot through the front window which was already buggy.

One of the chainsaw sculptures in Chetwynd, BC

We’ve been heading more southward ever since McLeod Lake.  We were still among the Rockies, which Mark is getting extremely tired of driving through.  I noticed some changes though.  For one thing, we began seeing farms.  I hadn’t seen farms with rolls of hay since going to Alaska.  There was something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on at first, but then I realized that the autumn colors were more subdued.  There is still a lot of green around here.  Autumn hasn’t hit these parts as fully yet as it has further north.

We made a stop at a pull over and I took advantage of the time to stretch my legs and take some pictures of a small river surrounded by trees.  It was very peaceful with the sound of the wind through the leaves.

Autumn by the river

Autumn close up

We stopped in Prince George to get gas.  Then we parked the RV in a grange parking lot and walked over to a trailer selling Tim Horton’s donuts.  I had heard about this before leaving for Alaska last spring.  Folks who are in the know say that Tim Horton’s is famous for their donuts, but they only have Tim Horton’s donuts in Canada.  The story I heard was that in some fairly recent war where Canadians and Americans were fighting together, Tim Horton’s sent their donuts over for the troops.  When the Canadians went home, the American soldiers missed their donuts.  Mark and I decided to try a cultural experiment so we each bought a donut we’ll have for breakfast tomorrow morning.  I’ll let you know how the experiment goes.

We have been usually leaving camp before 10:00 every morning and pulling in for the night between 7:00 and 8:00 pm.  Today we left Fort St John around 11:00 and we still made it to Quesnel by 7:35 pm.  And that was in spite of all the climbing we did!  Tomorrow will be our last day in Canada, hopefully for a very long time.  It’s been beautiful, but tough going for an eight hour day of driving.