British Columbia, bottom to top

The road trip wears thin. No, I'm not tired of the wonderful things I'm seeing, but I am glad there are only two and a half more days of driving. I'm reminded of an Anna Russell line: "Too much of anything, even if it is nice, it is too much." //That being said, yesterday's drive from Williams Lake to Fort St. John provided vistas of empty country that filled my soul! After scraping the frost off the windshield and rear window, I started out. Just beyond Quesnel (kwez-NEL, I'm told), the car started making a painful noise. A medium-pitched howl. I panicked. I slowed and pulled over, it stopped. Back at speed it resumed. I panicked some more. Then I swore off all road trips for now and forever amen...and then I realized that the pavement I traversed was making the noise. After I stopped feeling stupid, I stopped for a light breakfast in Prince George. //Continuing north and east, I crossed the Rockies and arrived at Chetwynd, where I changed my US$ to Canadian, got a refrigerator magnet (Chetwynd, B.C., is the chain saw sculpture capitol of the world) and topped out onto the Peace River plateau. The view is always calming for me--although crossing the Peace River on a v.e.r.y. long metal-decked bridge is not. It's a long way across at 45 mph, and the metal decking causes the car to handle as if all four of its tires are flat. //When I arrived in Fort St. John, I checked in to the EconoLodge. Apparently when you claim an AARP rate, they give you a room with shiny metal rails in the bathtub, a special chair to sit on in the shower, and a bathroom door wide enough to get your wheelchair through. AND a nice high toilet! Anyway, after I quit laughing, I went and had the car's oil changed, drove through the car wash, and got some supper. //This morning started late. The alarm had gone off at 5:30, I turned it off and then turned over. About 7:15 I woke up for real, and was on the road by 8:15. The weather started out very windy and overcast, with the sky looking ominous. Sort of that blank whitish grey overcast that means snow. I stopped at Pink Mountain (which was still snowy white) for coffee, and the fellow outside noticed Miss Scarlett's Wisconsin plates, chatted a bit, and gave me advice: "Watch out for moose, and fuel up every chance you get after Fort Nelson." By the time I got to Fort Nelson, the sun was shining brilliantly, it was warm enough to open the rear car windows about two inches, and the number of vehicles on the road dropped to one or two each hour. //The Alaska Highway seams through the northern Rockies following rivers. The mountains are spectacular--not jagged and craggy the way they look near Jasper and Banff, but monolithic and solid. Some show sedimentary stripes, others rounded tops of granite. I love this particular stretch of road: the little "mogul runs" of original road along cliffs and rivers, the broad and recent sweeps that rise and fall over mountain shoulders. I've never seen it snow-covered, and it's like seeing an entirely new landscape, even though this is my eighth time along the road. //The only wildlife I saw today, apart from the roadside signs warning me to be on the lookout, was [were?] five deer, several ravens, and two very dead and very picked over moose at the side of the road. //In the morning I'll set out for Whitehorse, about an eight-hour drive from here. There is blue sky showing now; hope it signals good driving for tomorrow.