Alaska with the Brewer's 06

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One side story re the building of the Alaskan Highway.  When the Japanese invaded one of the far our Alaskan islands (US territory)  we immediately sent the Army into Canada to build the highway.  Later, both the US and Canada realized that under international law we had invaded Canada because Army units and not Marines had entered. To fix this technical detail the Canadian Parliament passed a law or resolution or whatever giving the US permission to move Army units into Canada and then they "back dated" it to a date prior to when US Army units entered Canada.  They knew we would go home when it was over!

A similar situation occurred when we moved General Douglas McArthur's Army into Australia during WWII.  Many Australian's have told both Ardra and I that the  reason the US was given permission to do this was because Australia knew that we would go home after the threat of a Japanese invasion was stopped.

JerryF
 
Terry and Betty -

Your trip log is the first thing I read each time I log on to the forum.  We're reliving our 2000 trip through your excellent postings and wonderful pictures.  You're doing a terrific job of "taking us along with you". 

Margi and Tom
 
Betty Brewer said:
Within 2 minutes Terry had their video up and running and we saw the fascinating one-hour story of the construction of the Alcan Highway.

That's our Terry! ;D
 
Betty:

    It was good that Terry repaired the video, but you could have seen this story at a couple more places along the road.  Almost every museum has a similar, if not the same, film.

    How are the fuel prices?  Or haven't you had to refuel yet?

    You can get a fuel discount card their in Dawson Creek at one of the fuel stops, that will help a little.  Ask around.

 
JerArdra said:
One side story re the building of the Alaskan Highway.? When the Japanese invaded one of the far our Alaskan islands (US territory)? we immediately sent the Army into Canada to build the highway.? Later, both the US and Canada realized that under international law we had invaded Canada because Army units and not Marines had entered. To fix this technical detail the Canadian Parliament passed a law or resolution or whatever giving the US permission to move Army units into Canada and then they "back dated" it to a date prior to when US Army units entered Canada.? They knew we would go home when it was over!JerryF

Jerry,
This issue was covered in the video as well.  Seems lots of politicing was done over many issues between the two countries and private cotractors. Nothing is easy is it?
Betty
 
Here are some pics of todays walking tour of Dawson Creek's murals.
 

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Pretty cool. And how were they able to paint you right into the mural, Betty??? Looks just like you :)
 
Day 12    June 4, 2006    Dawson Creek Day 2

This morning I chose to sleep in rather than accompany the group to breakfast at o?dark thirty.  The RV Park here is very peaceful and the neighbors are very quiet, as one of my photos will illustrate.  Lorna and I set off on foot to explore the Pioneer Village next door.  It was a very well done restoration of buildings from 1928 to the early 1940?s.  The homes were circa log cabin moved here by the historical society.  My favorite was the school building with desks on rails and in a row.  Notable were the maps on display.  Certainly the Canadian Province maps were appropriate but seemed odd to someone who always saw US maps on display in schools. A car show was being held and the cars were from an era long ago and well restored.  We kept seeing items from the past that brought back family memories.

Later in the day Terry and I did the Dawson Creek walking tour. From a city of 600 the population grew to 10,000 overnight when troops arrived in 1942 to build the Highway.    In it?s hey day it was most likely a hopping place.  Today I would say it could use a bit of ?downtown? revitalization. One place marked on the tour as an Inn that became licensed to sell alcohol is still a bar and the building holds the distinction of being type of business occupying the same building for the longest period.  We noted a good deal of blood just outside the front door on the sidewalk and it trailed down an alley.  My CSI powers took over, arousing much curiosity.  A few minutes later a police car with lights flashing parked outside the bar.  We still don?t know what happened so we can only guess.  The life size murals painted on the sides of the buildings depicted life in the by gone era and were fantastic. It was like a life size art gallery.  You may note that as it is Sunday I had Terry catch me returning from the ?church? in one of the paintings.

Statistics:
Motorhome Miles driven, 0
Temps:  High 68  Low 48.  Light  winds with  gnats and flies Wildlife sightings:  0

 

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One thing it's not here, is o'dark :)  I was up at 0500 but it was already light at 0400.  It's now 1940 and the sun isn't anywhere near to setting.  We're getting closer to the "land of the midnight sun".
 
Ron from Big D said:
? ? ?How are the fuel prices?? Or haven't you had to refuel yet?
? ? ?You can get a fuel discount card their in Dawson Creek at one of the fuel stops, that will help a little.? Ask around.

Ron,
With diesel prices now listed in litres it is a bit hard to know just how much it really costs.? We are filling up in the morning at a place we scoped out with prices of 96.9 per litre.? We? are putting the cost of fuel? on our Visa and letting? them figure the exchange rate. I'll give you a report in tomorrow's log. We'll keep a running total of fuel money spent? and report it at the end of the trip. We both cringed as we chugged up some of the steep grades and the Silverleaf tells us we are getting 1.9 miles per gallon.? Of course downhill looks a lot better.

Betty
 
Betty and Terry, I have been lurking and reading everything in this thread. If you remember we followed you on the Copper Canyon trip. Now we will be following you to Alaska. We meet our caravan in Great Falls, MT on July 3 for a 60 day trip to the Calgary Stampede and Alaska.

If you have Excel and are interested, the attached file may be of some help in determining the cost of fuel in Canada.
 

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James

>>If you have Excel and are interested, the attached file may be of some help in determining the cost of fuel in Canada.<<


Thanks, that works great. I saved it on my desktop.? Do you know any way to get it on my Palm?

 
Terry A. Brewer said:
James

>>If you have Excel and are interested, the attached file may be of some help in determining the cost of fuel in Canada.<<


Thanks, that works great. I saved it on my desktop.  Do you know any way to get it on my Palm?


Terry:

Google QuickOffice, an add-on program for Palm OS that works wih native MS Office files.
 
Betty, you said

Mile ?0? RV Park and Campground? ...Did I tell you that this park has free wi-fi

I would like to add this park to my file of parks with free wifi but I can't find a web site for them. If you have any spare time would you ask if they have a web site and what the URL of it is.
 
With diesel prices now listed in litres it is a bit hard to know just how much it really costs.

Russ has (or used to have) a spread sheet that converts $C/liter to $US/gallon.  Handy tool until you brain gets re-oriented to Canadian currency & measures.
 
James:

Thanks very much for that conversion spreadsheet.  We are not going to Canada this year, but it surely is in the offing.  I saved that sheet to my laptop for future reference.
 
Betty Brewer said:
Day 8    May 31, 2006  Jasper, Alberta  Canada

Terry guided us to Whistler Campground that he had heard many people report successful stays.  If your definition of success includes access to a clear view of the southern sky and internet access, this was not such a camp ground.  We wove our way through the tall trees and into our site with no hope of a signal for TV or internet. Terry hates this place and drove around the entire park looking for a better place but all are in the trees. Terry calls this the hell hole. 

Jerry and I loved your comment about Terry's hell hole.  I hate to be the one to tell him, but there will be many more beautiful hell holes before you get back to the lower 48.  Jerry said to remind him that Soldier's Summit may be your last satellite access until you again reach Soldier's Summit on your return trip.  That's because it's at somewhere around 4,000 feet elevation and the campground is relatively free of trees.  One of the funniest memories I have of our last trip to Alaska was that everytime we pulled into a campground, Jerry would hopefully raise the satellite dish.  As soon as it went up, a group of men would suddenly appear and all had the same question, "Did you get a signal here?"  Of course, none of us did.  Looking on the bright side, no satellite usage gave us more time to enjoy nature and the various attractions.  ;)  ;)

ArdraF
 
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