Last weekend, my wife and I took a long weekend trip on the North Carolina
Outer Banks. North Carolina beaches are great. Some of the prettiest
beaches on the East Coast, and uncrowded this time of year. Too cold for
swimming, but a great place to drive and walk the beaches. We drove
straight up the outer banks after catching the ferry south of Ocracoke
Island and up through Dare and Kitty Hawk back to the mainland and into
Virginia.

North Carolina lets you drive right out onto the beach, and access roads
are spaced every few miles. It is actually more difficult getting on to
the beach than driving on the beach. The access roads are well used and is
made up of loose sand that have tire channels cut into them. As long as
you follow the tire channels, you are fine, even with road tire pressure.
I even saw a rear-wheel drive Chevy van that had gotten out there on to the
beach. If you try to cross the tire channels, as I did because I was
bottoming out on some especially deep ruts, you can get bogged down, in
which case, you have to deflate to 20 lbs psi, and that will pull you right
through the loose sand. All in all, my blue '98 CRV stormed the beach with
gusto.

That's one fine story Ray. I've always advised on watching out for
ground clearance in the CRV. Although Honda claims 8.1", I feel that the
exhaust and catalytic converter takes away a couple under the car.

My experience with sand driving was the same but at that time, I didn't
deflate the tires. Where I got stuck was trying to cross a mound going
into the beach and it wasn't a nice feeling. The belly of the CRV came
in contact with the sand and ground and when I realized that, I put the
car in reverse just to find sand blasting into the cabin! What saved me
was putting the car in D and drive forward and then back again after the
rear tires got traction.

So, the CRV is fun in all situations and I'm certainly impressed at it
ability to perform most duties.

Bing

>Last weekend, my wife and I took a long weekend trip on the North Carolina
>Outer Banks. North Carolina beaches are great

Hey Ray,
Next time you're in the Chesapeake region, let me know

David Sonnier
Chesapeake, VA

98 CRV EX 5 spd