Copyright 2006 Lydia Hinshaw

DAWSON CREEK, BC -- The sign didn't lie. But then again, I've traveled part of the other route to Alaska and it is scenic as well. In fact, there aren't many places within sight of the Rockies that aren't scenic.
We spent most of the day on Alberta 40, which is much nicer in person than the thin little line that represents it on a roadmap. It's wide, smooth pavement between woods and mountains, long grades and sweeping curves, elk to the left, deer to the right.
Just one no-stoplight town of 3,500, plus a couple of other communities you barely notice, interrupt about 200 miles of pleasant driving. Mostly, we had the road to ourselves.
We arrived here, at the official mile zero of the Alaska Highway, just as our trip odometer turned over 4,000 miles. We have acquired the first tiny chips in our windshield, but otherwise are unscathed.