[Healeys] On the Road Home from Conclave (Day 4)

[BJ8 Healeys]

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