RV help New York to Cape Cod
 

Hi.... would appreciate any help/ideas on routes. We have a 30ft RV booked for 7 nights from Newark on the 7th May. We were hoping to go up to Cape Cod and then probably the Berkshires but being foreigners and never having been to New England before I would appreciate any ideas and also advice on the roads ie are they easily navigable in that area for a large van? Also noticed that a few of the camp sites are still closed at that time of year, have we chosen a bad time?
Thanks

The main highway Rt 6 will be ok, and you can get to most of the National Seashore beaches, but I think you'll have huge problems getting into and driving around the town centers and the freshwater pond sites and parks.

May is still the off-season -- many summer attractions don't open until Memorial Day weekend(May 28th). Some sites will be closed, but not everything -- depending on what you want, its fine because things are less crowded and cheaper. The weather could be warm and sunny or brisk, cold, and rainy. The water will be too cold for swimming, certainly.

I'm not familiar with the RV sites, but I'm guessing the closed ones are between, say, Eastham and Truro -- that's the section most likely to be empty in the off season. You'll find more going on in the southern part and also all the way out in Provincetown.

A great forum for anything RV related is www.rv.net/forums

New England isn't very RV friendly. You see many more in the western states. Is it possible for you to cancel your reservation, rent a car and stay in hotels or BnBs?

If you find a place to rent bicycles for the Cape Cod portion of the trip, you will be able to use the trails and see some of the towns without having to take the RV. As has been mentioned, many of the streets are small and curvy and finding parking in towns will be a problem.

In Connecticut there are two casinos that let RVs park free of charge, only free if you don't lose money in the casino. Mohegan Sun has an area that overlooks a river, but neither has hookups. You could always go into the casino and use public bathrooms 24 hours a day.

There are plenty of motels/hotels in the area so most people find it easier and less expensive to just rent a car and stay in lodging in the area.

Make sure it isn't too tall to fit under some of New England's bridges. Don't know where you can find that information, however. I justs recall seeing a story about a year ago of a bus that crashed because it was too tall for the bridge.

One note - there are a number of roads in the NE called "parkways". these roads are for apssenger cars only - no truck, buses or RVs - or even anything in tow.

The reason is that these are scenic routes - with narrow lanes (the RV will be wider than the lane), very curvy/twisty, narow shoulders and low bridges. (I have seen misplaces trucks get stuck under a bridge - and tie up a rod for hours. They have to offload everthing, delate the tires and then have a huge towtruck pull it out backwards. The fine for this is in excessof $2000 - just driving on the road (but you won;t get far without hittin a bridge) is usually a $250 fine.

So don;t plan on using anything called a parkway.

And, if you are going soon - you still may get very chily weather and sites open only for off-season hours. It will be way too cld for swimming at the Cape.

And - I agree you would be much better off with a car in that part of the country.

Loads of people drive RV's around New England in the summer. I think you'll be fine. Don't drive into Boston or it's immediate environs where most of the Mass. parkways are located. Storrow Drive in Boston is where trucks get stuck under bridges but it doesn't happen as often now that they have warning flaps at the entrances to the road.

I'd ask about routes on that RV forum mentioned and just take notes. You're coming in May and Cape Cod isn't busy then and it's ahead of season for the Berkshires. You shouldn't run into a lot of traffic.

I'm quite sure a number of RV parks/campgrounds on Cape Cod will be open in early May. Two that come to mind are Bourne Scenic Park in Bourne (set on the banks of the Cape Cod Canal) and Adventure Bound in North Truro (right in the middle of the beautiful Cape Cod National Seashore area).

I know there are others that'll be open then, too.

I agree that you won't want to do your sightseeing on the Cape in a 30' RV. But there's always the option of renting a car for a few days. That way you can go anywhere and do anything you'd like on Cape Cod without having to worry about narrow streets, low bridges, and where to park the darn thing!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond, everyone! We have picked up some great ideas and tips.....(we had no idea about parkways, for example!). if anyone has any more info we would be most grateful, thanks again!

The major roads from Newark to the Cape and the Berkshires will easily accomodate a large camper. (We tow a 26 foot trailer to the Cape from Albany every summer.)

The Bourne Park mentioned by Caper64 is in a great location at the base of the Cape. We stay at a small campground called Peter's Pond in Sandwich and see many "itinerant" campers there. The sites at AdventureBound in Truro are not ones I would want to be in and out of frequently as we find them pretty tight spaces, although we love the area.

I agree that you don't really want to be driving a huge motor home up and down Route 6.

The Berkshires are an easy drive from the Cape, right along interstate 90.

New England should be lovely in early May.

In MA interstate 90 is the Mass Pike for most of the way and will be expensive with an RV.

But they'll only pay once, right, jubilada? 30' is a big RV! Are you hauling a car behind it? Just curious: How many miles per gallon does that baby get?

yes, only once. I just wanted them to understand that this was not a "free" interstate. Will need toll roads back to Newark too, I think.

As to weather, New England can be lovely at the beginning of May or very chilly.

True that "parkways" in MA are near Boston. But NJ, NY and CT have a bunch of parkways that you will have to avoid - meaning that youwil be dirving either on the major truck routes - 6 lanes of them - or on local roads that will take forever.