Mammoth's 4-day adventure, departure and slow start

                                                                         The Wind left earth and took its flight
                                                                                     O'er the wide seas of the night.
                                                                                    The moon set sail upon the gale
                                                                          And stars were fanned to leaping light.
                                                                                                             - -J.R.R. Tolkien

When it came time to set Mammoth back on her wheels, we discovered an embarrassing accident had occurred when lowering the levelling stands:

I hope no one else has ever done such a stupid thing. I guess we were lucky not to have torn them up. I shudder to think....





For this trip, our first one with the car on a tow dolly, we learned that it takes approximately one hour to hook up a dolly, load, tie and chain a car. The first attempt was flawless--Ed lined up the car, rolled up onto the dolly, and eased to a stop. But the problem was that the car was not straight--one tire was pressed against the front stop and the other had almost a two-inch gap in front. Assuming the car was simply crooked, he tried again. And again. Eventually assuming the problem was his inexperience with the car and steering wheel, I convinced him to let me try.

And that was a total nonstarter. He eventually corrected the mess I made and got it on there. Still not straight, but usable. The underlying problem was that the dolly had twisted on its central bolt and was itself crooked.

While he worked, I walked the dogs and had a final tussle with the bird population. In the end the three day trip ended up with this bird list: cedar waxwings, golden-fronted woodpecker, osprey, Canada goose, mallard, American coot, great egret, loggerhead shrike, yellow-rumped warbler, Bewick's wren. 

Here are a few coots.










The return trip was pleasant for a while--we went through Fort Worth rather than facing the ultimate suffering that is I-35 East through Waco and Temple. But that meant we had a much longer trip.  And, as always, we remembered why it's so hard to go south from where we live. These stupid things always gets in the way--

Return trip
29 to Burnet, 281 to Lampasas, 190 to I14 to Belton, I35 to SRT (121) to 380 to home 
NOTE: The 281-190-I14 route was much a better choice for Mammoth than the one we came down on.
1. Planned distance: 255
2. Map time estimate: ~4:00
3. Adjusted estimate: not done
4. Actual distance: 259
5. Actual time: 5:07
6. Ten minute gear check at park entrance. 5-minute check on the highway. 10-15 minute stop at a rest area. Traffic on 75 through North Dallas looked horrible on the map, so we took the long way around Dallas up 35E to 121. Very heavy traffic but it kept moving.
7. Average mph trip: 51 while moving: 55

Notes from trip three:
1. Avoid I-35E at all costs. Some of the road construction along I35 up through Temple and then in Dallas reminded me of when my brother and I used to play chicken by riding our bikes at high speed between cars parked on a used car dealer's lot. You can't afford to wobble the steering wheel even an inch from side to side.
2. It's great to have an alternate plan when inclement weather is likely.
3. Marvelous!