After a short drive we made it into British Columbia. The first city we got into was Dawson Creek which is the start of the Alaskan Highway. This highway has so much history but the most amazing part is that it was built in only 9 months during 1942. It was originally 1700 miles built thru tough terrain and extreme weather conditions and horrible bugs and animals these men were able to complete this highway. After only being on it for one day I can only imagine what their conditions were like during their day. Even today most of the area is isolated and not very populated. The main source of income appears to come from many many oil and gas wells. Since there are not many people nor housing these companies have set up "hotels" for workers. They are metal container type buildings that are set up in individual rooms like hotels. They are very interesting and just stuck on side of road and they even set up their own service stations and restaurants in them. Basically a self contained compound. I wish i had gotten more pictures, but I was fascinated looking at them. Another interesting thing these companies do is put up advertising signs on there roads, not just one or two like 25!
Here are a few pictures from the road and from Dawson Creek. The sign in the road is the actual original start of the highway and the other is beside the new highway about a block over. It is a big hit with tourist and there is always someone there getting pics.
This is one of the "hotels" for oil workers.
Although, there are campgrounds along the road most are dirt lots and either have no hookups or just hand pump water and generated electricity. We both carry our own water and generator so we elected to stay on an abandoned air strip
No comments:
Post a Comment