Liard Hot Springs to Hixon, BC: 794 miles, 1850 ft final elevation. Temperature was 50-55 most of the day, but warmed up to 65 at Prince George. (View in Google Maps)

The bugs were pretty bad at the Hot Springs- not too surprising, considering the camp is next to a couple acres of swamp. I woke up to everything being very wet, but that was okay- just packed the tent quickly and got on the road. I always make sure to pull out of camp quietly when I'm in a place like this- I'm sure 99% of the other campers hear me, my bike is quieter than the highway noise in the distance.

There is some pretty scenery south on the Alaska Highway from here. I went over several 3500ft passes, and one 4300ft pass.

First stop was in Toad River. I knew this was a fairly solitary area, so I was really watching for gas. I skipped an RV park/gas station and went to the other gas stop in Toad River- which had broken pumps. So I went back to the RV park. It was 9am, they were supposed to be open at 8am, but nobody was around. Considering that I was low on gas, I waited around until I found someone. She told me to go to the main store- I'd already been there, so she started the pumps up for me. I'm pretty thankful for that.

Right around Toad River I started seeing farmland. I hadn't thought about it, but I hadn't seen a farm in a long time- seeing horses, cows, grain fields, hay bales, and fences was a little strange, and signaled a return to civilization. It was a little depressing, really.

The sprawl really began around Fort Nelson. It isn't a terribly large town, but the largest since Fairbanks, I think. There are large natural gas fields near Fort Nelson, so it is a fairly busy area- lots of industrial equipment, trucks, and things of the sort.

Since Fort Nelson is only about 120 miles past Toad River, I planned on going to Prophet River for gas. That's about 175 miles on the tank, just about right considering a 220-240 mile range. Unfortunately, that didn't work. There were two gas stations in Prophet River. The first station had black trash bags over the pumps- either they were out of business, out of gas, or something.

The second station had a cardboard sign saying "this pump broken- use other one". The other pump seemed to work, but was missing the end of the nozzle. That's okay with a bike- no anti-tamper door in the filler tube, so I figured I'd just set the pump right over the top of the tank. I turned on the pump, pulled the lever, nothing. I looked around and realized the store wasn't open, and probably hadn't been for a few months.

Well, this could get fun. Do I go 55 miles back to Fort Nelson, or go 85 miles further to Pink Mountain? I thought it was about 60 miles in either direction, so I chose to go forward. I got a couple of miles and realized it was more like 85 miles, which would be about 262 miles on the tank of gas. Considering my range was 220-240, occasionally 250, I was pretty nervous. I gingerly set the throttle lock (to 55mph), leaned forward and put the windscreen in the lowest position, then tucked in and tried to make the smallest profile I could.

I then fiddled with the GPS to see what my options were. I figured I'd just ride the bike until it ran out, then hitchhike to a gas station and back to the bike, but I should at least know the options. The GPS said there might be gas at two locations a little closer to me.

Unfortunately, there was construction. So when I saw the signs, I shut off the engine and coasted up to the flagger. I had about 15 minutes to wait (in the rain). Once the pilot car came, I lugged the engine a little to save gas. On the far side, about 15 miles later, I slowly accelerated, letting all the cars, trucks, and RVs pass me.

Mercifully, there were two gas options at my first researched option, Buckinghorse River Crossing. I pulled into the first. Things weren't looking good- there was a padlock on the pump. The store/restaurant was open, so I went in. They just needed to unlock the pump for me, so I got to fill up. Yay, disaster averted!

I went in to pay, and realized this was mainly a truck stop. I decided to eat- I was hungry, and small funky truck stops often have hearty meals. I ordered something, then went outside to move the bike away from the pumps. The meal was pretty good- eggs, hash browns, toast, a couple links of nasty sausage, for $8 canadian. Cheap meal, really, and I got to chat with a husband-wife trucker couple from Minnesota, on their way to Fairbanks.

The next stretch was fairly uneventful. Things open up and start becoming sprawl as I got closer to Fort St. John. The only neat thing was passing Charlie Lake, shown in Long Way Round. My real target was Dawson Creek- I nearly went nuts with the traffic getting near there, but it was neat to reach Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. The actual marker is in the middle of a busy intersection, so I didn't get to stand next to it for photos. I did frame some shots of the bike with the marker in the distance, hopefully they turn out.

From there, on to Prince George. The GPS said I could get there by 9pm, and I hoped to camp just south of there. It was a little rainy, and horrible wind between Dawson Creek and Chetwynd. It was some of the worst wind I've ever been in- thankfully I could predict when it was going to be bad, because of the terrain and lack of trees. Still, choosing my lane placement was pretty difficult, especially with rain and oncoming vehicles.

I also saw a deer. I hadn't really been watching for them closely, so it was a surprise to see one standing on the shoulder of the road. I had one of those surreal moments where the deer and I stared at each other- I scrubbed off a tiny bit of speed, but was not prepared for that moment. I'm lucky it didn't turn out badly.

Chetwynd is a factory town, I was passing through right at 5pm, which means some workers were tearing out of the mill. Quitting time in a mill town means stop signs are merely a recommendation- thankfully these crazy drivers weren't going far. I stopped for gas and a little bit of Gatorade and got out of there.

It'd been about two days since using my hydration system. I rinsed it out in Whitehorse, but hadn't refilled it. I put two liters in it and drank down about a liter as I left town. It had a really bad taste- I think it was a combination of leftover flavors in the hydration bladder and a new flavor of Gatorade, but it really tasted funky. I was nervous something went rancid in the bladder, but was really thirsty. I did stop using it after that first liter, though.

Prince George meant a quick gas stop, then it was down the road for the first campground I could find. I wanted to be through town- which meant going to Hixon. It was a neat little campground, very nice host, but there was a lot of highway noise- especially the compression brakes on the trucks. Things were fairly dry and it looked like it would stay dry and clear all night.