Hello, Healeyphiles -
Our route on Sunday was from Bryce Canyon to Monticello, Utah, about 310 miles
through some of the most monumental, awe-inspiring and rockitudinous landscape
I have ever witnessed. An early morning tour through Bryce Canyon National
Park started the day off right. The canyon has many viewpoints, but the best
in my opinion is the first one nearest the main gate, at Sunrise Point. For 60
million years this area was the shore of an inland sea, which created very deep
limestone deposits and sand dunes. Natural erosion and eons have sculpted the
limestone and sandstone landscape into fantastic forms called "hoodoos". The
view of the Bryce Amphitheater at Sunrise Point appears to show a city of huge
red cathedrals and castles below.
Anyone who hates stoplights but also interstate highways would love UT12 and
UT24 since these are wonderful Healey roads through more incredible enormous
rock mountains and formations. Much of this mileage is in or alongside
National Parks, and consequently towns and even human habitations are far
between. There was very little traffic on these roads as well, but enough for
company. Apparently the economy in Germany is doing well because most of the
tourists we came across were speaking German.
This route takes you up to a little over 9000 feet, which is enough to cause
the Healeys to start to run out of puff -- and both of our cars are equipped
with the Lempert gears also, but what the gears give up in the mountains they
more than make up for in the flatlands. At one point for a short distance,
the road is basically a leveled-off mountain ridgetop with no guardrails and a
long, long way down on each side, so pay attention here.
Both cars continue to run very well, with only minor problems cropping up now
and then. George got himself stuck in some deep sand or gravel for a while
and I was ahead out of sight. But he got himself unstuck without my help. One
minor annoyance for me was that the driver's door glass got itself out of the
rear channel and jammed the rear guide against the outboard channel flange,
necessitating disassembly of the door panels to get to it and free it. I found
the lower channel attachment flange broken (again), so I'll be looking for
another rear channel soon. Anyone reading this far who has one available,
please let me know.
The tops stayed down today, although we saw some interesting cloud formations
in the distance on both sides of the road, with lightning in them and curtains
of raining hanging down underneath them. We went through a few drops but we
kept on Healeying because it's hard to appreciate the scenery with the tops up.
Happy Healeying!
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
Havelock, NC USA
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Healeys@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
http://www.team.net/archive
|