Transmission fluid level weirdness

[Big Rectangular Car]

Hello, I'm in a major quandary.
I'm supposed to be going on a road trip on Tuesday, and my transmission fluid level is hard to read. It seems like the level is too high, and it's bubbly. Does this mean it's simply overfilled, or is there something else that can cause that?
It was last serviced at a good reputable transmission shop (as mentioned by the PO), so they should know how much fluid to put in, shouldn't they? The transmission has 30K miles on it, it was completely rebuilt. Sometimes it shifts a little hard, every once in a while, and today, when I decided to check the fluid levels, it was looking like it was overfilled, or like I'd been pulling a trailer over a mountain pass or something...

[Grand Marquis GT]

Usually, with the converter, its about a case (12 qts.)

[85MercPark]

Just curious, are you checking it hot, ideling in park?

[p71towny]

If its low it will foam up like that, course, it will when its too full also.

[Big Rectangular Car]

I'd just come home from driving it, after going tinto the driveway and unloading the car, started it up again, put it through the gears while engine was running, put it in park, checked the dipstick. Then waited 30 minutes, then started it up again and ran it through the gears again, to see if it would read properly, but still the same bizarre reading. Fluid up the sides of it, and then some bubbles.
Sometimes going into reverse, it would go a bit hard, and clunk. Like it doesn't have enough fluid, yet it looks overfull on the stick.

Like what an oil dipstick looks like when you check the crankcase oil too soon after shutting off the engine, before the oil has settled properly.

The transmission was checked by a transmission place a few months back, by the PO, and they couldn't find anything wrong. Oy...

[91 LTD]

What kind of fluid did they use?

[91 LTD]

Any additives? Heard they can cause bubbling.

[Big Rectangular Car]

It's the standard fluid for that particular tranny, I talked with the PO on the phone a few moments ago, and he said the tranny was rebuilt about 3 years ago, with better parts than the OE, by a trans. shop. He had it checked out before he handed the car over to us, and said it was a bit gimpy when it was cold, but once it warmed up, it would shift easier.
I am in the dark about automatics, anyway... so I'll take his word for it. *shrug*

[91 LTD]

Life's never dull w/ one of these cars.

[Big Rectangular Car]

The PO says he misses this car, but his wife really wanted to get a vehicle with better gas mileage.
I'm not complaining, this car is about the same mpg as any late model large pickup or SUV, he said he got about 11-13 in town and about 18 on the highway. That sounds about right for me too, after the tune-up.

[91 LTD]

You ever sort out the bubbles? As for gas mileage, fuck it Ill pay extra to drive a badass car (my favorite of any car Ive ever owned or driven). That and Id feel like an idiot thinking of gas mileage as they use the jaws of life to extract me from a prius after I got tboned by some idiot on a cellphone in an escalade. I figure as long as I dont polute more than anyone else, f em all (my other cars a bicycle).