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More Dawson, BC to Watson Lake, YT
Rolling, rolling, rolling . . . . Taylor, Baldonnel, Ft St John
Easy to make progress. Traffic was light, easy-going, nobody crowding or holding anybody up. Even the Big Rigs. Actually, especially the BRs. (More on those, later.) I can't recall being held-up or stuck behind any one, for any length of time --- Pachyderm excepted.
Good driving country, too . . . fine roadage. Long sight-lines, wide corners, a bit crowned but usually super-smooth --- no pot-holes. (Good thing . . . on those 50-series B-stones, I could almost tell what color the stripes on the road were.) Usually cruising ~75 MpH, especially as I got further North.
No Big Cities along the way. (Whitehorse is the biggest --- pop = ~25k)
Rick
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More Dawson Creek, BC to Watson Lake, YT
Big Country.
I’d drive like this, for hours . . . wide-open country two-lane, unknown/un-named/unfamiliar territory, scenery changing only slowly, weather same . . . . . . . never got tired of it, never bored, or stiff-necked, or butt-sore. There’s something about driving like that, relaxing/peaceful, satisfying, especially when there’s no schedule + itinerary + time-line + schedules . . . or anything. Never had a specific destination, no reservations, no plan. Just me in the car, map open in the seat next . . . someplace to go to, up yonder. No concerns about the car. Really enjoyed just running it . . . long distances/times, maybe --- but easy stuff. Steady speed + RPM, no load. I was acutely aware about operating far from home, but . . . . the car just ran like it always ran --- a low/softly-buzzy/muscular metronome . . . eating up the miles.
It was subtle but I did notice some changes, small. Like power lines. Nothing signals/underlines any upcoming town + settlement + habitation like all those poles and wires that spread out all around ‘em . . . arteries/spider-webs. The further North I went, the less-and-less numerous + extensive + substantial those were. Eventually, they disappeared. Mailboxes, too. I’d usually see them, where some side road --- small or not, paved or not --- touched the Hwy . . . close-by, on the shoulder, at first . . . then retreating into the trees/brush . . . then gone . . . .
Last to disappear, also the most telling? . . . the lines on the road. When the road went blank, unmarked --- it felt funny, lonely, lost. At that point, apart from any on-coming traffic, the only man-made traces were the road itself, me . . . and the occasional jet contrail.
And the mile markers . . . posts, white? . . . off to the side, at the very edge of the clear-cut.
Navigation was simple. The Hwy goes That Way. Signage was rare/brief --- distances to upcoming destinations were given in miles, with mile-markers to count down any progress. Without junctions or turn-offs or transitions to interrupt, no way to get lost.
Not a lot of civilization ---- just some few towns + buildings along the way. Some place names had only a few scattered structures + mail-boxes + power lines strewn at the roadside. Small places were stuck in everywhere. Woods hid a lot, some could only be seen after dark . . . not every building was in a town. And so, seeing something built, a structure --- anything --- suddenly, under + among the trees, or on a hillside, especially after hours and hours, brought some excitement, later . . . relief.
The only practical issue that came up was fuel. It was always available, plentiful --- no shortage of places to tank-up. But. Hi-test was not always on offer. And, given the M3’s compression + octane requirements . . . . THAT became A Concern, especially in The Yukon. My regular practice is to fill fuel tanks full, then run them dry --- keeps junk from settling, flushes the system, and fuel’s always fresh. Running further North, I’d noticed that stations had Diesel and 87 RON, but not always hi-test.
There was this one outfit that always seemed to carry 91 --- had a particular checkered-flag logo on their signage, something that I came to watch for. After one close call --- OBC had my ‘range’ at under the distance to the next town (like, a LOT), so had to drop my speed waaaaay down, until that range number came up --- I’d top-off every time I saw one of those stations --- including a 10-litre plastic fuel can that I’d decided to pick-up along my way --- boost my range . . . ~350 mi + maybe another 50 miles? w/ the 10l, ~400 mi @ 75 MpH.
R
1) --- Race Trac was my only hi-test source between Dawson Creek and Fairbanks . . . ‘checkered flag.’ And check-out my fellow travelers’ rolling stock. Never saw another BMW --- or Porsche --- in the two weeks I was up there. Locals got a real kick outta my 50-series Bridgestones . . . ‘got any air in ‘em tires?’
2) and 3) Usual driving. Nobody ‘round. Swear --- on some stretches, if I’d wanted to? . . . probably could’ve laid-out on the road . . . got a tan. Maybe taken a nap.
4) Company! Only reason I took this picture of a mini-van was ‘cause I hadn’t seen anyone in, like, an hour
5) Don’t know what this peak is called, so I named it . . . The Wave
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More Dawson Creek, BC to Watson Lake, YT
I can take these pictures . . . . . but they're just never big enough . . .
R
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More Dawson Creek, BC to Watson Lake, YT
Easy day driving, except for that monster rain. Stopped for a meal (I think), stretch, pics. Topped-off leaving Dawson Creek, then 2 more fuel stops --- in Ft Nelson (rain), and one other place --- just a station/no name/not on any map/'checkered flag' (w/ hi-test) --- 21.39 gal total.
Day 5 ended at 21:15, Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. 14:30, 618 mi/995 km
R
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Day 6, Watkins Lake to Fairbanks
Left next morning, before 8. Day 6 started out cool, clear, a few clouds . . . beautiful