Nearly 200 people will mark the 70th anniversary of the Alaska Highway this week with a drive up the highway in a convoy of World War II vintage military vehicles.
My mother would love to do this trip but she's no spring chicken anymore. She was an 18 year old girl that had just started working in the Grand Prairie post office when the highway was being built. GP was the main south hub / gathering point or what ever you call it.
She became quite a whiskey trader with the US service men, she would trade her and her friends whiskey rations to these guys, mostly for chocolates. Being in the post office was the best place to meet these young fellas, so far away from home.
She tells a story of how she'd run to her apartment for lunch, but only having a wood stove she didn't have time to cook anything and she was getting tired of eating cold beans. She smiled at the right service man one day and traded a bottle of whiskey straight across for some kind of an alcohol camp stove, no more cold beans after that day.
She became quite a whiskey trader with the US service men, she would trade her and her friends whiskey rations to these guys, mostly for chocolates. Being in the post office was the best place to meet these young fellas, so far away from home.
She tells a story of how she'd run to her apartment for lunch, but only having a wood stove she didn't have time to cook anything and she was getting tired of eating cold beans. She smiled at the right service man one day and traded a bottle of whiskey straight across for some kind of an alcohol camp stove, no more cold beans after that day.
Speaking of that, anyone get a chance to check out Super Run in Red Deer? That was awesome too.