Day 12

Today was the first day on the true Alaska Highway, which runs technically from Dawson Creek BC to Fairbanks AK. We woke up from our campsite and got a decent start. Alex was fevered again so she got some Motrin. Boy does she hate getting medicines. We then set out for the 1 hour drive to Dawson Creek. This was an easy drive. We got to Dawson Creek and took some pictures with the famous mile “0” marker of the Alaska Highway. We took some pictures and noticed that in downtown, they were having a car show from the local car club. We walked around for a bit and looked at the hot rods. There was one of the local power companies that had some sort of green energy game for the kids and so Grant played. He sure hammed it up for the girls. Then we went to a local coffee shop and tried a smattering of local baked goods. They were all good except for the ginger snap. Then there was some local gymnastics place that had a little setup and for 2 bucks they would have a 15 min gymnastics session. We let Grant do it. It was a lot of fun and Grant burned lots of energy. We then loaded back up and headed out. The next stretch of the Alaska Highway was rolling hills with trees as far as your could see. Very desolate. We were trying to get to a town in BC called Ft. Nelson. They had a campground that according to the guide book had a playground and Wi-Fi. It started raining very hard on the way and it was generally very nasty outside. We finally made it to the campground at about 8. We were just tired and wanted a place to stay. We pulled in and the place was in the trees. I went in and registered for a site. This was the worst campground ever. Absolutely horrible. We went to hook up and the sites were all muddy. The campground looked like it hadn’t been maintained in years. Various sites smelled like sewage. It was the only place in town so they have quite the racket. We went to ask about the playground that was in their ad. The lady said that the playground was actually at the museum about ½, mile down the road. The Wi-Fi also was only available in the camp office. What the hell? Unfortunately we also had to do laundry this night. The washing machines and dryers looked like they were from 1975. The washers cost 2.75 a load and the dryers were 1.00 for 15 minutes. The washers barely spun any water out of the clothes. We used the dryers and after 4 cycles the clothes were still pretty much wet. We had to take it all back to the trailer and hang stuff up everywhere. Nothing dried because it was so wet. Amy made a venison stroganoff for dinner that was delicious. That was the only good thing about this campground. I actually sacked up the dirty clothes and went searching for a Laundromat at 11pm to dry them. The one I found was closed. There were teenagers milling about on the main strip. I guess teens are the same everywhere. I went back and we went to sleep. We got up and left early the next morning. Almost all other RV’s there booked it out of that disgusting place. That campground was an epic fail.