So we traveled 2064 miles round trip including trail miles. Wednesday was our first travel day and we made it to Marshall, TX and camped at Martin Creek SP. This was a mistake as it turns out its on a reservoir right across from an electrical power plant. It sounded like a train was rolling through camp all day and all night. On top of that, they sounded an air horn every two hours or more. The only thing this park has going for it is the fishing. Apparently the warm water (from the plant) makes for big catfish. They had pictures of some of the prize winners at the ranger station...30-40lb fish.
Thursday we finished off our route to Mason, TX taking a more direct and scenic route rather than jumping back on I-20. We drove some 2-lane highways from Tatum to Palestine to Mexia and through Waco. Jumped on I-35 for a bit then westward through Killeen (Fort Hood), south around Buchanan dam and finally to Mason. A lot of those small highways are posted 65-75mph, so we actually made better time than if we had taken I-20.
We met longtime friend Heather (k9crazy) at camp, unloaded the M416 and set up our tent palace and mess hall.
Thursday evening we caught up with some IH8MUD friends (LT, Mace and D'animal) whom I've chatted with here, but had never met. Mace's brother (Chris) drove up from the Gulf coast of TX and brought a 25 gallon cooler full of oysters. We swapped steak and moonshine for oysters that night and talked around the warmth of our fire pit - actually a Chef Mate 3 burner. Temps dropped into the mid 40's, but the days were beautiful at a breezy 80-85*.
Friday AM we got up and got breakfast at the park's own cafe. Bottomless coffee for $1 and a big honking breakfast burrito for $4. So much easier to roll out of your bag and walk to breakfast!
Then we hit the trails with Heather and her "I'm not going to wheel it" 100 series LC.
Relaxing in camp after the morning trail run.
More fun on the "Back 40" trail section that afternoon.
Heather still wasn't "wheeling" when she kissed a tree branch with her roofline on the passenger side.
The potluck dinner and raffle was Friday night. Two Tons of Steel played an awesome show for us as the mason jars and beer worked on our aching muscles.
Saturday we were on the trails again, this time with Lance, Cam, Tim, Rich, Kenny and Scott from VA. You know most of these guys from Iron Pig Off Road, since they have been to other events on the east coast the last few years in these rigs. Kitty jumped in Cam's open seat, Heather rode with Lance and I jumped in Kenny's open seat for a wild ride up this mountain of boulders. Pictures never do these landscapes justice. This was one daunting pile of rocks, each about the size of a bathtub.
Buggied out 80 with mostly stock drive train and monster tires.
I asked Cam to spot me up trail 7 "Devil's Draw" which would meet up with them on the other side of the mountain of boulders. I'm so glad I didn't just leave my truck parked, because Dig-Dug did some amazing stuff with Cam spotting me over obstacles to keep up with their train of buggies.
Since the IPOR guys packed enough lunch for everybody we were on the trail all day. We strung up some tarps between our trucks for shade and we ate sandwiches on the trail.
Later we spotted this buggy hanging off the side of a cliff! This guy was at such a steep angle and he was giving it hell, blowing white smoke (oil) and eventually stalled the engine. He was stuck and losing traction so they tied him off to two trucks while Cam and Lance helped them air up the front tires to make winching him over the top easier. Heard in camp that he only lost a fuel pump and was on the trails again not much later.
Around the corner we found an off camber rock climb and Cam spotted everyone over it. I have to admit I had a pucker moment as I leaned over on the driver side more and more going up this spot, but I trusted Cam as he calmly directed me forward/back/left/right. All I could see was blue sky.
BBQ dinner and the rocking sound of Matt Stell and Deep Roots wrapped up a great day and a great weekend. LT from Metal Tech gave out their signature pint glasses.
Oh and this year's drivers shirts were mechanic shirts to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Round Up.
Epilogue:
Sunday: Having said fairwell to all our friends, we pulled out of the K2 parking lot and back onto Hwy29 around 10:30am. Not more than 2 miles from the park we took a rock to the windshield from a big rig driving the other direction. It landed square in the middle of the driver's view and left a 1 inch spider. Thankfully it wasn't big enough come all the way through or I'd have a new breathing hole. Just odd to think that after beating the truck on rocks for two days, the only carnage taken was on the trip home.
that's bug splatter below the crack
The drive home always seems longer than the trip out there, I’m sure because we spent too much time in the sun, stacking rocks under wheels and clambering over rough terrain. I-35 was very congested due to construction and the end-of-spring-break traffic. We backtracked across the 2 lane highways from Waco to Marshall just exactly as we had traveled out there. The first night back on the road led us to Shreveport where we had planned to stop at a familiar campground for the night. When we got there, no one was in the office and we used their “hotline” phone to contact the camp’s owners. They told us that they no longer hosted tent campers because of insurance reasons (what?!). So we headed back out to the access road and found a hotel to stay in. We checked in and then drove around the block to find a Cajun restaurant. We shared a tasty crawfish etoufee, seafood gumbo and a fried seafood platter. After that we headed back to the hotel, had a hot shower and were pretty much down for the night.
Got up fairly early Monday morning and were on the road by 8am. Garmin said we had 9 hours of drive time to get back to Atlanta. We knew that would be drawn out by the construction going on between Birmingham and the GA state line. We cruised along only stopping for gas and bathroom breaks. As we passed through B’ham we noticed a dark line of storm clouds to the north and the wind was picking up ferociously along the rolling hills east of town. Traffic cones/barrels were being blown across the highway and temporary signs that were typically held down with sandbags were being blown around. I struck an aluminum rail from one of the signs but it did not affect us or hit anyone behind us. We pulled off for our last gas stop and the whole exit was without power. One roof structure at a convenience store had folded under the force of the winds. We quickly moved along I-20 to the next available stop as the winds subsided and were replaced with more steady rain. As we got closer to Atlanta the rains got heavier, as did the lightning. It made for a tedious last few hours, but we made it home without any incidents.
Still going through Round Up withdrawal...
This is just the highlights of our trip. So many great folks and funny stories that just can't be fully retold - you just had to be there. The rest of the 250+ photos and vids are here
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