Dateline: Reno NV

[hrj]

First gas stop. I showed up at the Honda dealer promptly at 7:30 to see about the trailer hitch issue. They still had no clue as to how I ended up with the wrong size until I explained my theory that the Element hitch assembly only came in the 1.25" size. They checked it out with the folks in the parts department and sure enough I was right.

In the end, it doesn't really matter, because I would have made the decisions to end up in the same situation in the end. But as I explained to them, it seriously undercut my confidence in their knowledge of their product.

Operating on the theory that the surest and mist efficient way to buy a hitch adapter would be to go to a U-Haul or equivalent, I recalled that I'd be going past a neighborhood in West Sacramento packed full of equipment rental businesses, and my hunch proved to be correct. So now I have the hitch converted to a 2" receiver, all ready for the bike rack when I get to the stage of the trip when I want the bike outside. And I didn't lose much time at all. I left the Honda place at 8:00 and only spent half an hour at U-Haul.