We drove 310 miles yesterday, much longer than we had planned because it started raining shortly after leaving Lillooett and we just kept going rather than get wet. We arrived in Prince George around 5:00PM after driving great roads all day.
There was some road paving on Rte 99 for 20 miles but reduced crews working on Saturday did not slow us down much.Rte 97 is the main north/south artery up through BC and several large communities of 10,000-50,000 provide all services we would find anywhere south of the border. The highway itself is a combination of 2-lane, 2-lane with passing lanes every few kilometers, and 4-lane divided highway so traffic moves very well and the cruise control stayed on.
The rain continued last night and we had showers and thunderstorms this afternoon so our excursion into Prince George involved lunch, a visit to the BC Visitors Bureau for travel info and a last trip to Cost co for awhile. The weather has resulted in serious flooding west of Prince George on Rte 16 that has had the road closed for several days. Although the road is now open with one lane around a mudslide the communities are still struggling with the water damage so instead of traveling west on 16 to the Cassia Highway and then north we will go northeast to Dawson Creek and follow the Alaska Highway North to join our planned route near Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory. We will use the Cassia in August returning to Washington so our trip becomes a counterclockwise figure eight.
Prince George is a city 80,000-85,000 that bills itself as the Gateway to the North by Northwest. It seems quite far north (It is still light here at 10:30PM) but is 60 miles from the geographic center of British Columbia. It offers just about everything you could ask for in entertainment, shopping, vehicle service or repairs. We have enjoyed our stay but wouldn't mind a little more sunshine. At least on the Alaskan Coast they have t-shirts joking about the weather to wear as you commiserate about the rain!
We plan on arriving in Dawson Creek tomorrow and will probably spend a day or two before heading up the Alaska Highway.
