By Jon in Alaska
August 1 2010

Jon almost in Alaska and Former Hollywood Saint are still heading northwards on their journey from one side of North America to the other. The 500 mile leg through British Columbia for today is all plain sailing... hopefully.

Day 8

Before I start writing about the extremely taxing drive ahead of us today, let me tell you a bit about the luxuries of sleeping on the road. As we've said before, I've spent the nights in the cab of the truck, with FHS sleeping on a blow up mattress in the back. Most of the nights have been spent in lay bys at the side of the road, but last night was the height of elegance for us.

The Alaska Highway - we'll be on it for all 1400+ miles

Dawson Creek sells itself as the beginning of the Alaska Highway, the road that runs from Fairbanks to, well, Dawson Creek funnily enough. Our plan for today was to get on this road, follow it for about 500 miles, and stop in an area amusingly called Muncho Lake, BC. The drive was to be so intense, the Google directions were one line.

Muncho Lake in northern BC

The drive up through the Northern Rockies was pretty spectacular to say the least, with several pull outs for pictures. Despite never hearing of it, apparently this area is actually geologically significant in North America. This region is the official start of the Rocky Mountains. Surprisingly, being on one road with very little in the way of traffic (a few cars, several camper vans, a few more Bighorn Sheep and one Bison), we made very good time. We ended up in Muncho Lake by about 5pm, so we actually decided to tack a little more driving time on and head a bit further north to the next "town".

Liard Lake, another stunning view for a camp ground!

Having been spoilt by the opulence from our night in the Walmart car park, we actually decided against staying in a road side pull out tonight, and forked out the grand sum of C$20 for a night in a camp ground. Before you get too impressed, I still had the truck cab, and FHS still had the back, but at least it was vaguely civilised.

We've only got two days left now, and tomorrow will be on the same road as today. Another simple, but hopefully as spectacular day.

Distance travelled: 4501 miles.

States visited: 18 - ME, NH, MA, NY, PA, OH, IN, MI, IL, WI, MN, IA, SD, WY, MT, ID, AB, BC.