Nice Walmart for an Overnight and a Bit of Trouble

Bremen, IN     (Click on Pics to Enlarge)

This will be a short blog for today as it just speaks to a bit of travel.

We left Dumfries, VA Tuesday and began our journey toward Goshen, IN and the Escapees' Escapade.  We ran into rain almost the entire journey.   I don't mind driving in the rain, but it sure gets the coach dirty.

We usually stay in campgrounds as we travel, but for just an overnight stay I just hate to pay for a site when all we're going to do is catch a late dinner and sleep before proceeding early the next morning.

The route we chose dictated that we head thru West Virginia and western Maryland.  A bit of a hilly ride for the east coast.  We decided to stop for the night just east of Wheeling, WV (near Triadelphia).  We had stayed at the Cabela's lot on a prior trip, but after talking to our friend Bill Osborne (Seeing the USA blog) we decided to try the Walmart in the same general area.  Thanks for the suggestion Bill.

This Walmart was unlike others we had stopped, because the one here had a dedicated RV parking area. 

The area was divided from the rest of the customer parking and the sites were VERY long and easy to get into and out of.  There are about 12 spots here, but only 3 RVers for the night.

Did I mention that it rained almost the entire trip on us?  Earlier in the afternoon we stopped at a rest area in West Virginia for lunch.  While eating, our Tire Traker pressure monitor signaled.  It showed that we were losing air pressure on the left rear tire of the Honda Fit.  I threw on the raincoat and with tire pressure gauge in hand ventured outside threw the rain and heavy winds for confirmation.  Sure enough, the tire was now down to 19 PSI and I could see "something" protruding from the tread area of the tire.  This is one time when I wished that we weren't carrying two bicycles inside the Fit and two on the back.  Of course, that little temporary tire is stored under the bikes inside which necessitated removal of most everything.

Got the tire changed and was able to drive to the above mentioned Walmart.  Karen had called ahead and found out that they could repair the tire, so that was our first order of business upon arrival.

The tire was repaired for $10 and made it successfully the next day on our trip to Indiana. Let me strongly urge to anyone who does not have some brand of Tire Pressure Monitoring System that you should certainly give it some consideration.  I will guarantee you that it would have been impossible for me to feel that low tire on the rear of the Honda Fit.  I'm sure that it would have been completely shredded before I would have "felt" anything.

Oh yes, the item that was in the tread.  I would not have believed it had the Walmart guy showed me when he dismounted the tire from the rim.  I think it's part of the scissors section from a Swiss Army-style knife, but not certain.  I must have run over it at just the right, make that wrong, angle. Only about 1/4 inch of the part to the left was observable sticking from the tread.  The rest was inside the tire.

Oh well, just part of the "fun" of being a fulltimer.  We made it to our current destination in IN and we're safe, if not dry. (It's raining here again this afternoon.)

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

The Fit Gets a Hitch

With a pair of road bicycles and a pair of folding bicycles we had to have a way to transport everything between campground stops.  Already shown in a previous post was our solution to the transport of the road bicycles inside the Fit.

We didn't really want to take up additional space inside the basement of the MH, so we decided to carry the folding bicycles on a rack mounted to a hitch on the rear of the Honda Fit.  Unfortunately, there is no hitch receiver on the Fit so today's blog is about the installation of a Draw-Tite 1 1/4 inch receiver-style hitch.

I purchased the hitch from etrailer.com.  Shipping was fast and free.  I always like free.  The installation instructions which come with the hitch are certainly not the best written. (Have you ever encountered that before?)  Fortunately, etrailer.com has an installation video of an installation on a 2011 Honda Fit (no differences for the 2012 model) and it was very good.




Pre-hitch Install


After watching the video, the installation went pretty smoothly.  A third pair of hands would be helpful during the installation.  The hitch is not that heavy, but a pair of hands on each side would allow a third person to assemble the hardware to the frame and make the job a breeze.  Karen handled one side while the use of a floor jack allowed us to keep the hitch near the Fit's frame while I bolted it in place.  The instructions estimated approximately 40 minutes to complete the install.  We did it in about 60, so I am pretty happy.

Finishing Up the Install

The Fit sits pretty low front and rear and the wheels rolled onto a set of ramps was very helpful.  A Dremel tool is a very handy tool to have.  I used it to quickly trim a piece of the plastic wheel well trim and to make the "key hole" slots to enable the metal spacers to be pushed up into the frame.

Up on Ramps



Finished Project





Ground Clearance



All in all, the installation went smoothly and without any unpredicted problems.  I'll take a few pics of the bike rack and the folding bikes once we go down to the storage unit to pick them up.

Should you have any specific questions about this install feel free to email me.

Bikes in the Honda Fit

One of the reasons we decided upon the Fit as a toad was because of the generous amount of interior storage space.  The rear seats can fold down entirely flat and the area behind the front seats is unobstructed. We like to ride bikes, but transporting them without exposing them to the elements and possible theft takes a bit of thought.

We have decided to take a pair of true road bikes for longer rides on asphalt surfaces and a pair of folding bikes to be used around the campgrounds and on less than smooth riding surfaces. The challenge was in how to transport them.

We really didn't like the thought of the road bikes being exposed to the weather as we travel down the highways, so we decided that these would be carried inside the Fit.  Although I'm still considering a couple of alternatives, the folding bikes will be carried on a hit mounted to the rear of the Fit.  Because the Fit has a very low towing capacity, only 1 1/4" receivers are routinely encountered.  I'm looking at a hitch made by Curt and a similar one made by Drawtite.  In the end it will probably come down to which one is easier to install.

  Back to the topic of today.  An inside carrier for the road bikes.  I did not think of this idea on my own, but have seen several variations on the internet.  I finally chose a pair of front fork carriers made by Delta and

 

Delta Front Fork  Mount

 installed them on a piece of plywood.  After trying to fit the bikes inside the compartment in various configurations I decided to mount the rear tires forward and angle both handlebars to make certain that no contact occurred with the rear glass.

Rear Tires Behind Front Seats

I constructed a PVC spacer which I placed between the rear bike racks, then will use a lightweight tie down in opposing directions connected to the rear seat hooks (not being used with the seats in the down position).

Fork Mounts Secured to Plywood

Forks Turned to Prevent Rear Glass Contact

A test of the mounted bikes proved successful.  I am very happy with this project.

Should you have any questions or more additional details, just leave a comment or drop me an email.