This year Ruth decided that she wants to do some vegetable gardening and less flower gardening. Sounds relatively easy and practical! However we really needed to get some soil to replace and replenish what is in our pots and beds. The good news is that Walmart at South Keys had bags of soil on sale for $1 a bag, a very good price. The bad news is that the bags are 35 lbs each and we figured we could use about 8 of them and, of course we have no car.
So how to get 280 lbs of topsoil home? Well we decided to use the quadracycle, of course. Last year we managed to go to Home Depot and retrieve 120 lbs of bark mulch without any difficulty at all. This trip was closer to home, but much more weight.
So we pedalled to South Keys and Ruth went in to pay for the bags of topsoil, while, as usual I answered questions from passers-by. That is always great fun! After a few false starts (Walmart staff) Ruth paid for her eight bags of soil and I moved the quadracycle over to the pallets to load it all. I had put on all three large 68 litre bins in advance and these proved just big enough, with the bags standing up on end. I had to have Ruth sit on the seat to hold the front end down as the last few bags were loaded, but they were all on board and the front wheels were still on the ground.
Setting off it was obvious that the front end was a bit light, but it was no problem to handle. We had a good hill to go up getting home, but didn't get any lower than about sixth gear. My guess is that due to balance considerations 280 lbs is about as big a load as you would want to carry on the 4W2PCP model, although I am sure the long frame 4W2PLF would handle a lot more!
Back at home I unloaded the bags while Ruth stayed in her seat. She didn't want to chance up-ending the cycle. It all worked out just fine and we are now set for planting season. The Rhoades Car is very impressive for what it can carry!
Total quadracycling for 2009 so far - 3.0 km
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