A Hole in My Pocket and a Lost Filling at Mile 0

After a long day of driving, I have made it to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, where the Alaska Highway begins. For those of you who don't know, the Alaska Highway, or "Alcan" as it was called back then, was built during WWII to provide a land route to transports goods and troops to Alaska to help defend it against the Japanese. It begins in Dawson Creek, BC and travels for 1532 miles to Delta Junction, AK, just southeast of Fairbanks.

I'm sleeping in a (sort of expensive) Comfort Inn tonight because the campground did NOT have the grassy sites it promised, and I just didn't have it in me to pitch a tent on gravel at 10:30 p.m., even though it was still light out. So I may have to eat Oodles of Noodles until I get to Alaska, but at least I'll have one last comfy sleep before I have to spend then night with only a thin sheet of nylon between me and the grizzlies (can you tell I'm a little nervous about this?). And I get free breakfast, plus the chance to do some re-packing/organizing and laundry.

I was not in a picture taking mood today. I stopped in some towns along the way-Williams Lake, Quesnel, Prince George & Chetwynd, but mostly I just used the washrooms in the visitor's information centers, which are, as far as I'm concerned, Canada's best tourism invention. They have all the info and brochures you could want, plus friendly people who tell you things like how stupid it is to drive from Hell's Gate to Prince George in one go if you're starting at 5 pm, and best of all, clean bathrooms, free wi-fi and computers for you to check your e-mail. So unless you wanted to see the washrooms at the VICs or tons of lodgepole pines, there wasn't much to photograph.

I had gotten a tip from the fudge shop lady at Hell's Gate (Why do they sell fudge in all tourist attractions-I don't get it?). She told me the IGA in Chetwynd made THE best cinnamon buns. So I went in to have a look, but they didn't have icing, which in my book doesn't qualify them as proper cinnamon buns, so I bought some oatmeal peanut butter cookies instead. And as I was driving the last 50 or so kilometers to Dawson Creek, munching away on a cookie, a huge chunk of the filling from where I had a root canal (well, actually two root canals in the same spot) two years ago fell right out of my tooth. So far it doesn't hurt, so please pray it stays that way. Guess I shoulda gone with cinnamon buns after all, eh?

I feel weird not leaving with you a picture, so here's one from Yellowstone (which currently is winning the "My Favorite Place" award):

Have a good night, and I'll try to post again tomorrow. Comment, comment, comment-it makes me happy:-)!