Well, I had my 17B for only two weeks and headed out for my second excursion on Sunday. I do frog and toad surveys for the MO Department of Conservation and knew the trailer would come in handy to just camp afterwards instead of driving several hours home late at night.
I did a one-night trip and took my 15 year-old birding friend with me so we could watch prairie chickens on their booming lek in the early morning on a prairie. We drove down a rocky, hilly road at a large reservoir to look for some rare (for Missouri) Little Gulls that had shown up, the smallest gull in North America. I had glanced at the map and thought the road went through but turned out it ended in the water!
Rather than panic, I studied the road for a while to figure out the best way to turn around since backing out of there would have taken me three days. I ended up driving over to the right as you look down the hill and backed sharply to the left. Took just a couple times back and forth, or maybe a few more than that.
I was limited by a downed log that was still attached to roots. But I did it and we were back on the road in no time! The next day we returned to the lake and I asked permission to leave the trailer at a large gas station parking lot while we explored a few more questionable roads!
The young lady looking through the spotting scope is my friend who has just been named the American Birding Association Outstanding Young Birder of the Year for 2015, quite a national honor. She's an amazing artist as well as smart as a whip.
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