I bought a large beach towel for Basil some time ago. It stays in the trunk of the car, not to keep the trunk clean, but so that I can flip it over Basil and keep him out of sight, particularly on road trips.
On general principle, I think it’s best to keep valuables under wraps. And what, after all, is more valuable than my Brompton? Basil’s bright towel ensures that I can open my trunk without advertising that he’s traveling within.
But, really, how often do I open my trunk while traveling? Typically I open it only once at night, when taking out Basil (and luggage, the first night), and then each morning, when I put Basil back into the trunk and we head out for the day, and then once again at night when Basil returns to my room with me. It’s not as if I spend my days shopping, and am popping open the trunk every hour or so to store stuff in it.
(What? Of course Basil stays in the room with me!)
This is probably one piece of “gear” that wasn’t strictly necessary. On the other hand, if I cared about my trunk getting messy, all that washable fabric would probably be an asset.
3 replies on “Basil, Incognito”
Have you ever seen the blanket combo in the back of my CRV? One flips out to protect the bumper when I put the bike in; another covers the folded down back seats with a piece of plywood between the two halves of the blanket to keep the rear wheel from impressing into to the cloth on the back of the seats. The first blanket then folds in over the fork on top which I place the front wheel. There is a third blanket that I use to cover everything, if necessary. Mike once looked in at this combo and asked “where’s your bike ?” I also have a tarp to cover a second bike, if carried…in which case the third covering blanket now protects the bottom bike frame from the second bike. While this was certainly fun to figure out, I know you are how much
easier it would have been with a brompton or two.
Gulp — I’m with you there on the Brompton thoughts, Saul! Still, that’s quite an inventive set-up (no surprise there!). I was amazed at how many people hauled full-sized bikes out of the backs of cars at the last event I did; of course, then they had to put them back together. Bike racks seem to be going the way of the dodo, at least to some extent. No one had such a creative (or effective) protection scheme as yours, though!
…..know you are thinking…..