Weather and Road construction

We left Fort St. John this morning knowing we'd be reaching the end of our time on the Alaska Highway and heading on to new areas.  It was sunny and warm as we left the hotel for our travels, but from what I had seen on the weather forecast, I knew that we'd be heading into some rain.  The rain wasn't supposed to start until mid-afternoon, so I had hoped we'd miss the worst of it by leaving around 9am.  But about mid-way to Dawson Creek, we ran into what would be the first of our road construction stops.  Little did I know how many of these we'd have!

We had reached the prairies once again, and Peaches was enjoying watching out the window while we waited for our chance to move beyond this road construction. 

Soon, we were back on the road and we reached Dawson Creek.  Since we hadn't had a chance to stop here on our way North, I wanted to be sure to stop this time and explore a little of the history of the Alaska Highway.

The girls were less than thrilled that I made them stop for a picture at the Mile 0 mile marker.  They were just ready for a walk and to meet some new people.

I was sad that our trip on the Alaska Highway was over.  It was an amazing trip and I hope to come back and travel it again someday.  Next time I'll be sure to travel the entire length-all the way to Fairbanks!

After about 30 minutes in Dawson Creek, we were back on the road toward Grand Prairie.  Dawson Creek is an area where the main business is oil, but Grand Prairie is definitely defined by it's Agribusiness.  We dealt with lots of trucks as we headed West out of Grand Prairie and into rolling hills.  Clearly Google Maps does not factor slow moving trucks with hilly terrain when calculating travel time!

Soon we were seeing more hills and that is where the main traffic changed from agricultural to logging.  I was surrounded by clear cut areas and logging trucks.  In addition to the trucks, we were dealing with weather.  There were periodic rain showers and then sunny skies along the way, but once we were outside of Grand Prairie, the rain really started to fall. 

Occasionally we'd get a little clearing, and I would catch a view of the beautiful rolling hills.  But it was never nice enough for us to stop...plus I didn't want to stop because I was afraid I'd get stuck behind a truck I had just recently passed.

As we neared Grand Cache, we passed a coal mine.  This area really reminded me of some of my travels through West Virginia.

At this point, Maddie was ready for a drink and Imke needed a potty break and were were less than a mile from Grand Cache, when we were stuck in construction traffic once again.  I had two very impatient girls, who by some miracle, relaxed and waited patiently as we sat through two red lights before we finally got our chance to pass through the construction area.  Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the last of our road construction slow downs.

We finally reached Grand Cache and I stopped for gas and a break for myself before we pulled into the tourist center so that the girls could get out for a walk.

It was a beautiful area, but the skies looked pretty threatening and as we got out of the Jeep, there was a very loud thunder crack nearby.

We needed to get in a walk and there was a great path around the visitor center so we took a walk around to see what was there.  I was really glad we did because it allowed me to get a picture of this flower.  They are all over the side of the highway and I'd really like to know what they are.  I think they are very pretty.

 

As we pulled away from Grand Cache, it began to rain again.  The skies grew darker...and we found more road construction.  At least at this point, we didn't have to stop, but the maximum speed here was 50 KM/hour...for the next 40 km.   I was just ready to reach our destination!

Finally, were through the road construction, but at this point we ran into some torrential downpours.  The really fun thing about this rain is that even if it was so bad that you couldn't see, there was no shoulder to pull off of the road...so we just kept going, keeping a close eye on the car in front of us.

And then this happened!

Imke didn't enjoy the hail storm and it seemed to last forever.  Luckily we were in a pack of cars being led by a semi, all of us driving slowly with our four-ways on as the road became covered in hail.  I was just glad that when it was over.

Finally we arrived in Hinton for the night.  We arrived later than I had planned, but we were safe and sound and the girls were happy to be in the hotel.  The weather cleared up nicely for the night so we were able to get in a nice walk.  We're now settled in for a restful night in preparation for a busy, but fun day tomorrow.

The last few days have been a lot of driving without many stops along the way, but that will change tomorrow as we head into Jasper National Park.  I should have a lot better pictures and more to share.  As we continue our journey South, it looks like we'll finally be getting back to some normal July weather too and I'm kind of excited about that!