Camping near Whitecourt

We got a text message on Tuesday night that said "we are camping five miles east of Whitecourt and doing good but it has been hot."

Mayerthorpe, Alberta to Calgary, alberta 244 Miles

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Bezanson, Alberta

We got a text message today. Matthew and Eric said " Eating lunch in the baseball dugout in Bezanson, Alberta."

http://www.discoverthepeacecountry.com/htmlpages/bezanson.html

BEZANSON
Located just 20 km east of Grande Prairie, Alberta, is the Hamlet of Bezanson with a population only 85 but provides services to the rural community of about 1200.

Dawson Creek, BC : A short rest on the Journey

We got phone calls from both of the bikers, Eric on Saturday night and Matthew on Sunday as they were getting ready to get back on the road. As he spoke he would say "Cool there is a bunch of jets like the Blue Angels" And then he spotted some war planes. I put this picture up here especially for Grandpa Gilbertson.

http://www.dawsoncreek.ca/multimedia/photogallery/airshow/index.asp Last night they decided to stay at the Voyager Inn "a normal motel" rather than a cheaper hostel. That way they could "stay anonymous" not have to wait in line for a shower and be around a bunch of people. This gave them a chance to do laundry and find a good Chinese place for food. Matthew did not get a chance to practice speaking Chinese. He probably needed to go in to the kitchen.

We were glad to hear the sleeping bags went into the washer. Eric said the bags had a lot of mosquito repellant that needed to be washed out. The three bottles of repellant that they got as gifts in Prudhoe Bay have served them well amongst hordes of mosquitoes.

One package arrived from Amanda and it was some great tasting fudge made by Grandma Wright. They had to pick it up at a drug store because the post office was closed.

The last camp was by Fort St John near a gas station and up a trail near the road. Adventures! Also an old abandoned cabin by the road came in handy for a shelter during a 30 minute downpour. They seem to make the best of sometimes trying situations and come out with a story to tell.

With few miles today they should cross into Alberta either today or tommorow morning. They will go east for another 200 + miles and then start heading south towards Montana.

Dawson Creek
Dawson Creek, British ColumbiaWelcome to Mile Zero! Dawson Creek is the point of origin of the Historic Alaska Highway, which stretches 2,400 km north to Fairbanks in Alaska.

Dawson Creek, BC to Whitecourt, Alberta, 255 Miles

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Weather for Dawson Creek, BC, Canada

August 2 to August 5, 2008

64°F
Current:Mostly CloudyWind: NW at 16 mphHumidity: 45%
Sat66°F 53°F
Sun73°F 57°F
Mon78°F 53°F
Tue82°F 57°F

Pink Mountain, British Columbia

We got a couple of messages on the answering machine as the bikers were trying to track down packages sent a couple of weeks ago. We now know Canada Post is not very efficent. I was told by the Watson Lake Postmaster that he sent "2 or three Packages to Dawson Creek" on Tuesday. As of Friday afternoon one was there but the post office will be closed on Sat, Sun and Monday. It appears the bikers will attempt to ride 144 miles fom Pink Mountain to pick up the package someplace before 5:00 PM on Saturday.They may not get all the stuff until Calgary. Scroll on for stories from the road.

Stories from the Road

The weather doesn't always cooperate with pleasant sunshine and the bikers are not getting up to date reports from Garrett the MIT weather guy so they are taking their chances. A couple of nights ago they decided to find a nice camp site about 7/10 mile off the road,down a nice "gravel road" and near a pretty lake. It was a great place until there was a "torrential downpour during the night." Well when the time came to rejoin the highway, the gravel road had turned to mud "slicker than ice." There was no way to ride the bike to the road so the choice was to hook a log through the bike trailers and carry them to the road. This was followed by about five trips carrying the bikes and then all the gear. It was the "worst mud ever" said Matthew.Of course the mosquitoes were "Horrific and voracious" Just another story to put on the list of adventures in camping.

The more pleasant stories are about fishing. It seems the dragon flies were working very well in the Laird River. On Matthew's first cast "boom a grayling latched on." With primitive fishing gear Matthew flung the fish on land and casted out for more. In a little while they had three fish ready to filet. As Matthew was cleaning the fish with his Leatherman Knife he wished that Grandpa Gilbertson was there with his trusty filet knife. It took "about a half hour amidst hot humid weather and hordes of mosquitoes, but it was worth it as they were British Columbia Grayling and tasted great."



The wildlife reports grow as the bikers have spotted a herd of buffalo and also a herd of Mountain Goats. They stopped to watch the baby goats climb up the mountain sides as they followed their moms up the steep climbs. A little further down the road they came upon a Caribou. It wasn't afraid of them and it started walking along the road. They followed it slowly for about ten minutes until it reached the hilltop and they passed it. Matthew wondered what the Caribou was thinking.
The road has not been as flat as I thought as they climbed about 5,000 feet in the last hundred miles. It looks like it will be flatter on the road the next few days as they near Dawson Creek.