Last weekend (Labor Day) me & the wife decided to go to Elkins WV. We live in Germantown so it is a nice little drive.

We left at 7 in the morning on Saturday and took a secondary road route (over the point of rocks bridge to Virginia) then route 220 to Petersburg WV.

For a treat, I took the Fit Sport M5 over the mountain pass on route 33 to Elkins, about 25 miles of steep mountain climbing. This road is full of 30 mph hairpin curves, steep grades, swithcbacks, etc.. I was very happy with the way the Fit handled this mountain climb. At certain points I actually pulled away from the Toyota Tachoma truck that was behind me.

The trip going out netted us about 38.4 mpg on Chevron regular.

We spent Sunday going on the New Tagart Flyer out of Bellington (a pretty neat very laid back scenery trip) then hunted around for food.

Monday Morning we headed back home. Route 33 going west from Elkins is a very nice 4 lane road witha speed limit of 65. We travelled this route to I-79 where we headed north to Morgantown.

In Morgan town we caught the I-68 and was cruising along at 70 when just outside of Piney Grove we had to take old route 40 because of the traffic backup on I-68.

We drove along Old Route 40 for about 20 or 30 miles until it ended at Cumberland Maryland then hopped back on I-68.

We ran along on I-68 until we got caught into another backup just outside of Hancock MD. Seems like there was an accident on I-70 about 4 miles outside of Frederick Md (about 54 miles away!).

Since we didn't really want to play in a 50 mile long traffic jam, we cut across country on Route 9 to Charlestown WV then up route 340 to 270 then home.

Route 9 from Hancock Md to Martinsburg WV is a twisty, hilly, well maintained 2 lane road with a max speed of maybe 60, but mostly driven at 45.

Bottom line on the way home, with a couple of days thrown in commuting back and forth to work? 37.7 mpg on 10% ethonol fuel put in in WV.

So, just over 700 miles and a solid average of 38 mpg. I love it!

The only place where the Fit was not very good was the long upgrades on I-68. With cruise control set at 70 it would slow down to about 55-60 by the time it made it to the top. If I let it drop down then downshifted to 4th, about the most I could get was 65 going up these long, somewhat steep grades. So, get a run at them and it probably will not effect it as much.

A fun, save, pleasant 700 mile weekend getaway with no problems! And 38 mpg to boot! Can't ask for anything more.

Thanks for reading this extra long post, you all take care!

 

Pretty country in those parts, I have family in Accident MD. I love the roads around there, glad to hear the Fit did you right, I know some of those long grades can be a bear.

 

Sounds like a awesome road trip! I want to to do something like that with my Fit one of these days.

 

Better be careful driving around in a place with a name like that!

 

Yeah, much more fun to be driving near Intercourse, PA if you get the chance.