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September 14, 2003
(slightly out of sequence)
Today started off well. We made excellent time to Bozeman, MT and today then on to the north entrance of Yellowstone.
We even purchased a season's national park pass for all the parks we're planning to visit.
It was while driving the next 5 winding uphill miles to the visitors center that a sound that I had attributed to trad noise hundreds of miles back suddenly got a lot louder.
Front wheel bearing were the suspected culprit.
The kind park ranger informed me of the obvious, on a Sunday a mechanic would be hard to find. None the less, he offered to call the local shop in Gardiner at the park entrance. He said it was our lucky day, the mechanic was in on another job and he could help us (for a Sunday premium).
We drove down there and found no mechanic (he probably went home right after he hung up from the ranger). We called him at home and said it would be a $100 just to show up and I was pretty sure he would not have the parts.
We called Tom Petty, the master mechanic, and he pretty much confirmed the wheel bearings were the problem.
We examined the wheel the best we could and decided to risk driving back to Bozeman to get the work done. I did not want to worry about breaking down in Yellowstone at 8,000 feet with night time low tempuratures already below freezing.
So here we are in Bozeman with an early appointment to get the repair work done.
Attached is the only photo taken today on Highway 89 between I-90 and Yellowstone.
As you can see, at least the weather is still great.
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