Awesome Day Revisited!

This is a continuation of my adventures yesterday. I couldn't keep my eyes open last night.

Gas prices.
I don't even want to talk about them, but I suppose they deserve a mention. The further north I get, the worse they are. The prices are in CAD/liter so I've got no idea what I'm paying. I know the gal to liter conversion, but I refuse to formally do the math because I really just don't want to know. The prices coupled with the weak dollar are one hell of a good time. The prices in Alberta weren't too bad, but once I crossed into British Columbia they were instantly a lot worse. A girl I met there actually told me sometimes she drives and crosses the border to get gas instead and even with the extra driving it still costs less. In AB and in BC between Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson It was all about logging and oil fields. There were some oil refineries, too. With fuel being so close it's a shame I still had to pay so much. That's just some economical crap I'll never understand, though. I don't really want to, either.

Elevation
I've been in the mountains since Fort Nelson. The lowest point on the the AK Highway is someplace near Ft. Nelson and and the highest is in Summit Lake, which is about 1.5 hours away. My elevation has been allover the place. I've gotten a few pressure headaches after cruising down a giant mountain. At one point my alt changed so much so quickly that my tupperware containers lid went flying off. It scared the hell out of me, too.

Some of these roads are really steep. So far the worst has been a 10% grade, which isn't that bad in itself, but the length of them makes the grading killer. You can be going down a steep hill for a while. On one of the worst grades I've seen they were doing construction so it was cut down to 1 lane, which meant I had to sit on my brakes the entire way down behind a line of waiting traffic (which around these parts is all of 5 cars). What a shame. My poor brakes.

Dawson City, To Be or Not To Be?
While I was in Watson Lake checking out the signpost forest, I went into the visitor center. The woman that helped me out there was so nice and so helpful. The people in visitor centers really go out of their way to help you out. I spoke with the woman for a while and she half convinced me to change my route a little bit. I'm still on the fence and can't decide what to do.

I can either continue on the Alaska Highway from here or I can veer north and take the Top of the World Highway. I looked up road conditions and there is a lot of construction on the Alaska Highway, which leans me in the direction of the Top of the World. I'm going to have to take a few extra days if I go Top of the World, though, because there is a ferry I need to use which hasn't opened for the season yet. That's right, a ferry. It's over a river where they could easily build a bridge (and are considering it but it keeps getting shot down). The ferry season is set to open on the 14th, so I'd have to find something to do for the next few days. The woman in the Visitor center told me I'd fall in love with Dawson City (the community before the ferry) she also told me about a neat trip I could take off the highway to an old mining town that they've recently started mining again. Oh, did I mention that the woman is from Holyoke, MA? Small world!

So, I can't decide yet. I'm leaning toward staying on the AK Highway, but it's a reluctant lean because of the construction. The reason I've been enjoying the ride so much is because I'm pretty much alone on the road and there's lots to see. In construction, you're usually in a line of traffic and have to really pay attention to the rough road you're traversing, both of which kill my love of the road. I love not having to pay attention to any other drivers behind me riding my butt or in front of me slowing me down.
I'm going to spend some time here in Whitehorse doing a little research and hopefully I'll figure it out.
I'll get some pictures up later, I have to get ready to go now.