A few days ago I asked if anyone knew what the "thing" was in my shower. My learned friend Philip has provided this description: "I believe this is an Asian longhorn beetle,they are slowly spreading all across the country and are damaging a lot of Canada's forests. My older brother says he has been bitten by them and it's quite painfull, he was in northern Manitoba at the time. As with all bugs they willl only bite if they are being threatened or injured. Shake out your clothing. " Thanks Phil.
An update on the animal count
Lynx 1, Coyotes 2 Black Bear 2
I was up early and took a few photos of the campground I was at, and you can see that we are in RV country . Lots of fifth wheels as well as A Class motorhomes.
I then went for the obligatory photographs for Dawson Creek. There is what I call a Tourist location marking the beginning of the Alaska Highway near the original railway station with its grain elevators, and then the real location at the intersection of two main streets. While setting up for a photograph at this intersection a young lady working for the city of Dawson Creek asked if I would like her to take the photograph. Very nice of her to offer. At this intersction is the famous Alaska Hotel with ts unique paint job. Then I asked what place she recommended for breakfast, and off I went to a small restaurant and had their special of french toast with the best bacon I have ever had.
Eventually I made my way onto the Alaska Highway and just west of Dawson Creek there is the Kiskatinaw Bridge that was built in 1942. It is interesting because it is 534 feet long and curved.
A few Kilometers later is the steep descent into Taylor British Columbia. You can see by the photos that the grades are as high as 10% in some places .
See the large strong man who is representing the Clarke Sawmill.
An interesting stop is at Pink Mountain where there is a store that is a gas station, RV campground, post office, coffee shop, hardware store and just about anything else you can imagine.
There was some road construction requiring us to wait twenty minutes, but we were blessed by having this lovely young lady keep us under control.
Soon after this I saw one huge black bear along the side of the road. He or she didn't want to pose for my camera, so you'll have to take my word.
Then it was time for lunch so along comes the Buckinghorse River Lodge that says it keeps the truckers happy so in I went for their beef sandwich special.
One of the things I have always wanted to do was to ride the original Alaska Highway over Trutch Mountain,, but I have never had the right bike to do it. Well today it happened. It was challenging, but it was done, and to top it off I saw my first black bear. I even have a short video to prove it.
For you trivia buffs the lowest point on the Alaska Highway is the bridge over the Muskwa River just before arriving in Fort Nelson .
The skies were bright, very windy and cool all day, but just as I pulled into Fort Nelson it started to drizzle again, so off to the tourist information bureau where I found out about Demity's B&B. So here I am, working on line at the B&B, the laundry is being done while I enjoy a cup of English Breakfast tea. Life is good.
I need to explain the milepost markings. When the Alaska Highway was originally built all distances were in miles and to help people understand locations, the address were milepost 34 for example. As time went on some sections of the highway were improved and the highway actually is shorter, so for a purist the mileage posts are no longer accurate. But there are still some of the original mileposts along the highway. To add even more confusion Canada uses the metric system which adds a whole new wrinkle.
Distance travelled today: 493 Km