Up Over: 7/18/16 Mile Zero

It feels like we are almost there!

When our girls were young and cranky during an extended car ride, they would whine "How much longer?" And we would always say ten minutes. Now, 1,000 miles feels like we are almost there.

The promise of a warm day eased us onto Route 40, the "Scenic Route to Alaska". It amuses me that we are so far from the border and a sign is warranted. Yet, we were filled with excitement at the prospect of getting closer.

There are different types of challenging rides. Some are mountainous passes with twisting switchbacks, others are dirt roads made slippery from rain. This morning we faced a new trial. We rocked and rolled across hundreds of miles, slaloming through frost heaved pavement, constantly confronted by the threat of animals charging in from the woods. The threat was real as we counted numerous elk and deer watching us from the road's edge. Mountains still cropped up in the scenery, but they were smaller and not of the snowy variety we witnessed yesterday. The landscape was changing.

The first town we encountered was Grand Cache, where we stopped for lunch. A relatively new town, it still boasts a history of fur trading where trappers kept their catch in a cache, a wooden structure on tall legs. Now coal and lumber are their main economy.

Back on the road, we headed toward Grand Prairie and a definite transformation occurred. The mountains melted into prairie and the prairie morphed into farmland. Vast acreage of cultivated crops stretched into the horizon. Many of the fields were brilliantly yellow with canola, one of the main crops of this area. The population, traffic and heat increased. We were out of the wilderness.

At Grand Praire we left our rocky road and picked up Route 43 where once again we were teased by a sign pointing the way to Alaska. Through several small towns with native heritage, we wrangled with construction, heavy truck traffic and RV's. This morning's solitary ride on unimproved roads, being watched by wild game, was much more preferable.

Slowly we made progress and reached our end game for the day, Dawson Creek, mile zero of the Alcan or Alaskan Highway. The Army Corps of Engineers built this road during WW II for the purpose of connecting the contiguous states to Alaska, through Canada. This would help to secure our northern territories and Canada from attack.

And here we are, poised to set tread on this historic highway that will lead us to the 49th state. Through the Yukon, we plan to follow all 1300 miles of it. Conditions of the road are reportedly varied, from frost heave and chuck holes, to newly finished. I assume much of it will be a repeat of our morning ride. Even though we have logged 4,300 miles since we left home, I feel like we are just about to embark on our journey. The anticipation is overwhelming.