The Maine and Eastern Seaboard Trip, Just the Facts, Maam!

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Marty, while in Boston don't forget to stop in at the Sam Adams Brewery for a tour next "samples," if that's your kinda thing...keep in mind you can get awful thirsty walking those streets in Beantown!  We're headed that way, too but won't be in MA until 1st week in August (even got tickets for a Red Sox game), then headed up through Maine and into St. John, NB. I'll be really interested in reading your comments bout the cg' you stay at. Safe travels in "my neck of the woods."
 
SargeW said:
Yep, better to stay planted until all the weekenders are home. Makes travel a whole lot easier.

Made it from Acadia down to Newport RI yesterday, traveling around Boston. Traffic actually wasn't too. bad.
 
Marty,


Ken and Sheila Kuch arrived at Normandy Farms today.
 
Steve/Linda-

We stayed at the Schoodic Woods campground that is brand new and run by the NPS. It is absolutely beautiful and Loop B is suitable for big rigs. It is on the Schoodic Peninsula and is about a 35 mile drive from Bar Harbor. Probably would be tough to get in this August though.  It is reservation only and seems to fill up. Wouldnt hurt to check though.

I'll do a full review when we get back home and im not typing on my phone.
 
Jeff said:
Marty,

Ken and Sheila Kuch arrived at Normandy Farms today.

We arrived yesterday coming from Liberty Harbor. We had a great time in NYC, Philly and DC. This stop is primarily for family, but will go into Boston to see the changes since we left New England (Vermont) in 1997. Next stop, Portland Maine (Fred and Daisy), then Belfast and Bar Harbor.

Marty, we'll be happy to share info on NYC and DC if your interested.

ken
 
Salisbury Beach State Recreation Area
State Reservation Road
Salisbury, MA 01952
For our first stop in Massachusetts we went to the beach.  Salisbury Beach State Reservation Area to be exact.  This is a huge park with 481 sites with water and electric, which are mostly 30 amp, but there are some 50 amp sprinkled around. There is a dump station on site.  The sites are paved as are the roads. Each site has paved patio attached as well.  If you come here, bring lots of water hose, at least 50' and maybe an extension for your electric cord.  All of the utilities are lined up in a row at the very back of the sites, and separate the rows.  As such the water pressure is pretty low, so you may have to fill the water tank on the rig and use your on board water pump to get a good shower.

The beach is nice, and there is access to a bay area where dogs are allowed on leash, and the beach area as well if it after 5 PM.  There is a small store/concession stand in the middle of the park that has a few camping necessities.  There are no-see-ums here, which I  learned early the second morning as we were outside working out. That was about 10 days ago and I am still sporting all the little red dots on my legs. The breeze's at the beach every afternoon are really refreshing though.

There is a lot of extra parking around the beach as it is a public access beach. That also means a lot of  folks walking around the beach and  campground area, so make sure that your stuff is secured when  you are away for a length of time. If you are into boating there is also a public boat ramp connected to the campground. The location is pretty much in town, so trips to pick of supplies is fairly easy. 

We paid $33 a night for the park, which isn't too bad for a campground by the beach. There are no real water views, but the beach is only a few minutes walk from your campsite. We did get Verizon signal at the campsite for the WiFi, but the antenna tower was across the bay, so signal could be a bit sketchy depending on the time of day. The restrooms are handicapped accessible,  but they are a bit on the old side.  We camped next to a gentleman who camp hosts at the park. There are several camp hosts, which  stay from 1 to 4 weeks at a time. Since none of the sites have sewer, there is a honey wagon that will come around to pump you out for $15 if you desire. 

Normandy Farms
72 West Street
Foxboro, MA 02035​

This is a very highly rated park, and with many good reasons. There is an extensive list of amenities for family's and kids to keep them busy all day long. Some of them include 4 different pools, a Frisbee golf course, a bike park with hills and ramps, soccer and baseball fields, and planned activities.  There is an adult lounge for hanging out and socializing, and a work out room. 

They do keep a tight reign on who goes in and out though. A manned gate with keypads require you to punch in a code to get or out.  Children are required to wear wrist bands at  all times when in the park, and are also required  to wear helmets when bike riding (very loosely monitored).

We were here over the 4th of July holiday, so the park was sold out. The sites are decent size, but Diane is always on the look out when reserving a camp site, scored an end site for us, #811. If you get an end site on the curb side there is a big grassy corner area for you to hang out on.

Now my only real gripe about the park, we paid a good price for a ?premium? site, $71 a night for week stay, came out to $499 for the week.  I  was dismayed to see that all the roads and sites in the park are gravel and dirt. This can  make for a real dusty day when sitting outside if cars fail to observe the posted 9 mph speed limit.  Three of the higher number rows, 1100 ? 1300 have concrete patios on their sites. But they are priced the same as the all dirt site that we had. About 60% of the sites are labeled ?premium?, but there are other levels of sites with 30 amp power, or just water and electric only.

Even the new sites the park  is adding will be just gravel pads.  Too bad. Our Verizon air card worked OK here, but I  needed to  raise the antenna  mast to get a better signal for dependable WiFi.  I imagine a lot of effort for the WiFi was sheer number of folks trying to be on line at one time.  The park does have free WiFi that I did use occasionally. The restrooms are handicapped accessible and clean.

We were also about 4 miles down the road from ?Patriot Place?. That is Gillette Stadium where the New England Patriots play. They have done a good job with the stadium area though. There is a huge commercial area  surrounding the stadium with lots of  different stores and restaurants to choose from. On the last day in town we took in a movie at the cinema there. It was a pretty upscale movie house, and the prices  reflected that too.

We ventured into Boston a few days to see the city. On the advice of Steve (Steve and Linda on the forum) we went to the Sam Adams brewery for a tour on July 4th during the day. The brewery was cool, and the samples were even better. On the advice of our tour guide we went to lunch at ?Doyle's?.  Great food, and a historic location.  Doyle's also runs, or is affiliated with a ?party style? tour bus that takes you around Boston.  Since we were already there we took the tour.  The ?party style bus? meant that your favorite beverages were allowed on the bus, and between stopping  at various historic sites around Boston, the driver was blasting classic rock-n-roll on the buses audio system. It was fun, but I wouldn't  recommend it for someone looking for a ?conservative, sedate? tour of Boston.  We had fun though, and it lasted about 2  hours and was $25 a person. Tips  are optional.

No real issues with the RV lately, things have  been working pretty will.  That is up until ?the great AC filter debacle?.  I already made a post on it on the forum, so I won't repeat it here.  But here is the link if you need a chuckle. http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,96256.msg868093/topicseen.html#new

Over all we really enjoyed Massachusetts, and next we head up into Maine.  And Diane has just updated her blog with more in depth info on our stops. 
 

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Marty
I have to say, your posts and Diane's blog are really inspiring me..... as I dream about retiring "early".

I read with interest your posts for last year's trip.... and now this one.  The lifestyle, the pace that you are making, they types of stuff you're doing along the way is right up our alley I think.  Hit a few museums and attractions along the way, check some local restaurants, enjoy a beer now and then.... PERFECT!

Just this morning, i received a statement for one of my retirement accounts, and on it there was a link to one of those calculators.  I was plugging in some what if numbers, just to get an idea.... and I was thinking about your trip.  I realized that I'm going to have to sit down and try to get a better idea of how much the monthly expenses are for doing some extended RV trips like you're doing.  I'm just about to hit 50, and I am oh so ready to do it, but with young kids I'm in a different boat.

In the meantime, I'm living vicariously.
 
Thanks Brad, I appreciate your kind comments! We are attempting to pass along the world of sight seeing this great country of ours. Careful planning and having a realistic budget are key. It sounds like you are going about it the right way. You won't regret it!
 
Time to compliment Diane again, Sarge.  She does a great job with the blog and I look forward to both the travelogue and the pictures she posts.  Thanks, Diane!
 
We to appreciate your posts and Dianne's blog Sarge.  It was great running into you guys in Maine. It was a nice surprise to be parked just a few spots apart.  While we were there we got news from our daughter that she is to be married this weekend so we did an about face and are headed back to GA.  I guess Canada and PEI will have to wait till next year.  We are about 200 miles from GA right now and be there tonight if all goes well for the wedding on Sunday. Been trying to keep up the photo blog at least on my Facebook page.
 
Shore Hills Campground
553 Wiscasset Road
Boothbay, Maine 04537
Our first stop in Maine was in Boothbay. We drove up from  Foxboro, MA and the trip was just under 200 miles.  In that stretch  we were on 3 different toll roads and spent a total of $19 on tolls. Not near as bad as say driving through Chicago and paying their toll fees.  While Maine is working to improve their roads, some of them were pretty rough due to the winters that they get this far north. We never had to slow down due to road conditions though. (That is usually my barometer of how bad the road conditions are). 

Shore Hills Campground had about 150 sites, all of which are dirt/gravel. Most of the roads are the same so if it rains, some parts can get pretty muddy.  I think that we were in a newer loop, as the sites were a little bigger, and some had wood deck patios next to the parking pads.  They have about 20 pull through sites in the loop that are advertised as ?No rig too big?, and they are about 100' long. We had a back in site with patio and fire pit. There is also a picnic table on the deck. Not all sites are full hook up though, some closer to the water are W&E only.  We paid $53 a night for our site, and even though we stayed for a week, there was no break on the daily fee. One notable issue though, they do not accept any electronic payments. Cash or check only. Even when Diane was making the reservation months in advance, she had to mail them a $53 check.  The utilities at the sites worked well and were placed  conveniently.

The restroom facilities though older were clean. However they are NOT handicapped accessible. Raised entry's at the doors and narrow doors would be difficult to navigate. Their showers are also pay showers, like .50 for three minutes.  They offered WiFi, but our Verizon air card worked OK, but the antenna mast helped quite a bit.  They did have a nice big dog yard for off leash dogs, but Heidi doesn?t like dog yards too much. They smell too much like dogs.....

There is a lake at the campground, but the older wooded sites are on quite an incline. I know how steep it really is, as I ran the hill half a dozen times during our stay! It seemed to make sense at first until about half way up the hill my thought changed to ?what was I thinking?'. 

On the RV side of things, a few issues popped up that I needed to deal with. The seal in the toilet that keeps the water in the top part and the yucky stuff down failed. Not badly yet, so I have a new seal  and  waste ball in route from Thetford. And the patio awing is acting up again, not wanting to retract every time. So I am still trouble shooting that, and so far my emails with Carefree have not been productive. 

The nice part about this campground is that  we were only a few miles from Boothbay proper and we made several trips in to various shops, stores, and restaurants. On the recommendation of several friends, I tried Lobster Rolls. But after 3 different sea food places each made a little differently, they never just impressed me all that much.  And if you are going to eat them, you should really like them because they are not cheap, running anywhere from $16 to $24 each.  We also took a boat tour out to ?Egg Island? where Maine is trying to reintroduce Puffins, to the north Atlantic.  Diane's blog goes into more detail about these unique sea birds. The tour was $35 a person, and was about 2 !/2 hours long.  And we also visited a Botanical Garden in Boothbay to see some of the native plants and trees growing in Maine. A cool way to spend an afternoon.  The entry to the Botanical Garden was $16 per person.

From here we head further north into Maine. 
 

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Marty,

Do you have the EZpass? Going south to DC you will be on numerous Tollroads. Some are cheaper with the EZpass, but also its just easier - especially in the places where they have rolling tolls. BTY EZpass and the Illinois Ipass are interchangable. We have had the Ipass for many years since we go to Chicago every couple of years.

Just to forewarn you the tolls in Maryland are high. The I-95 section was $24 and the the Francis Scott Key Bridge was $48 for our 5  axles rig (Motorhome and jeep). Maine tolls, Mass tolls, Del and NJ are all reasonable. Florida Tolls aren't too bad, but EZpass doesn't work. I got the Florida Sun Pass.

ken
 
Hey, thanks Ken. We don't have any of the toll passes as yet. So far Diane has navigated us around some of them by putting us on secondary roads. At those rates I may have to revisit the idea. Thanks for the heads up.
 
You can avoid the Francis Scott key bridge toll by taking the 695 western route (a little longer). All other Interstates thru or around Baltimore have toll bridges/tunnels.
Were in Belfast, headed to Bar Harbor Thursday.
 

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