Mile After Mile

~Friday, September 23, 2022~

Day 831 (Travel Day)

Day 95 of Alaska Trip

We now transition from the Caribou Highway to the John Hart Highway, both part of Highway 97 making our way south with another very long day of driving. Today was Jeff’s turn at the wheel (he insisted). It’s been a major grind in putting on those miles to get to Whistler to make our good weather window Saturday thru Tuesday). It will also be our last opportunity to see the Aurora Borealis, so we’re doing the Northern Lights dance at least once a day to bring us good luck in seeing them. According to our app, it should be right over us in that timeframe. And there’s no setting an alarm there since I’m usually up until 2:00 a.m. anyway.

Prince George was a good place to reorient ourselves to go over our maps and list the provincial parks we want to hit in the coming days. As we thought, there is a longer camping season in Canada the further south you go with most ending their season on October 31st. So, we WILL have to be mindful about arriving on weekdays and booking ahead the next 3 weeks. Already on our list, Lac-La-Hache Provincial Campground in Lac La Hache, B.C. would be our “home” for tonight, possibly 2, depending on how we feel in the morning. I know Sadie would prefer NOT getting back in the car that soon. She’s really been a trooper.

We passed through the very cool town of Quesnel, which looked stop worthy, but we had to keep driving. Situated at the confluence of the Quesnel and Fraser Rivers, this town has a rich history of forestry, ranching, agriculture and mining. In fact, it was the commercial center of the Cariboo Gold Rush. It’s been so fun driving through these quaint, historical towns that we otherwise might have never known about, making note to pay them a visit on the next round.

Arriving late afternoon to our campground without a reservation (most of the provincial parks will not allow you to book within 2 days of your arrival), we were greeted by park attendant Ken. They don’t have fee boxes at this one so you get a bit more of a personal greeting by park staff. He thanked me for having Canadian currency since many campers seem to think he’s a bank. Depending on how soon you’ve crossed the border to a provincial campground, I can see how that would be an easy mistake. Once again, it was a fairly late arrival, early dusk and a light rain. So we immediately went into set up and cooking mode, starved, and eager for a good night’s sleep. All this driving is definitely wearing us out. 😩