Sunday June 24 in Bozeman, MT

A few of the old cars driving the Beartooth Challenge

We started today with the VMCCA tour "Beartooth Challenge".  This consisted of a loop into the NE corner of Yellowstone on the famous Chief Joseph and Beartooth scenic highways.  This road is oft cited as one of the most beautiful in America.

We did not take the complete Beartooth Challenge.  It made more sense for us to break off the tour and proceed west through upper Yellowstone and head for Bozemen.  This put us a bit closer to our next destination in Vancouver, BC.  We did take the southern end of the Beartooth Challenge on the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway.  This beauty of a road climbed intensely into the Beartooth mountains.  The Healey managed it well, but a few of the old cars had various problems with vapor lock.  This leg ended at a great lunch at a small restaurant called The Outpost.  We were served a tasty spaghetti dinner and salad.

This MGB was the only other British car on tour

We did miss the spectacular climb into the high country snow drifts that are part of the upper Beartooth highway.  We'll never know how the Healey would have handled this.  So, it remains on our to-do list for our next trip to Yellowstone.

As we crossed upper Yellowstone towards Bozemen, we finally saw a bear.  Or we think it was a bear.  It was quite a ways from the road, big ball of brown furry material.  It did not stand up and roar or wave at us.  But everyone was pointing at it, so it must have been a bear.

The Healey is still doing well.  We are riding on the spare since the two spokes broke on the original  RF wheel.  I will need to stop at Home Despot to get a tool to dismount the tire and fix those broken spokes (we do carry spare spokes).

We really enjoyed the VMCCA tour.  It was well planned and many of our friends were there.  Billings is a great destination, it is clear that we only scratched the surface of this area.

Bill called Tom and Joyce Carne who now live in Bozeman.  We met them for dessert and had a great time enjoying their company.  They have a lovely home on a golf course.  We were impressed with them and Bozeman.

Bill and Nance.