New York City

We took a short train ride from New Jersey to New York City on July 2 with Aggie's sister Joanie, her husband John, and her brother Bob.  A short one stop trip.  This drops you right into downtown New York City.  We hiked through Times Square, Trump Plaza, and Central Park.  Joanie and Aggie got a picture with a Trump look alike in Times Square.  I enjoyed a $10 beer at the Trump plaza while Joanie and Bob waited in line for like 20 minutes to get a Starbucks Coffee inside the Trump Tower.  Joanie and Aggie took a ride on a merry go round in Times Square.  We walked at least 7 miles and were quite tired after this workout.  Later that evening we went out to dinner at a great Italian restaurant to top off the evening while back in New Jersey.

Gateway to Cape Cod

We stayed here for 4 nights from July7 - 11.  This is a Thousand Trails Encore Campground which allows us a 30% discount from their rack rate of $79 per night.   We paid $53 per night for 4 nights which included our RPI discount.   We had full hookups with 50 amp electric, water, and sewer.  We needed full hookups as we needed to wash clothes.  This park is located in Rochester, Ma. Just north of the bridge which enters the Cape.  We had rain the first night which  left big puddles on the interior dirt roads and we had to navigate a five foot puddle 3 or 4 inches deep to enter our coach.  There was a swimming pool and a band played music one night we were there.  The entrance is gate guarded and unattended so you communicate via ham radio to enter park.  The speaker system needs to be replaced as you cannot understand them very well.  When you finally enter the park, there is no dedicated parking place for check in so I blocked a road while I checked in.  It appeared that many full timers living in the park.  Some 3 weeks in one week out and some either owned or leased sites.  I think this park is way too expensive and there is no reason to allow these big pot holes throughout the park and in the sites to exist.  A quick fix would be to drop a few loads of rock in each hole where the water settles.  I rate this park P**.
We attended a family reunion Kingston State Park in New Hampshire.  We visited family at Millie’s house in Plymouth, Massachusetts and visited friends Carol and Steve Mckenna who treated us to a lobster dinner and more clams on the half shell at the Red Parrot, a restaurant overlooking the ocean in Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts.  I think this is the same building, although re-purposed, where I met Aggie 49 years ago.  It was then called the Surf and had several bands playing back to back.

Wompatuck State Park

We arrived here July 3 for 4 nights as we could not book the full 8 nights we needed to stay in the Boston area.  Our site was relatively level and was very private with trees surrounding our site.  We had only 20 amp electric which was fine as we did not need air conditioning while there.  I understand there will be an upgrade to 30 and 50 amp electric next year.  There is a dump station with water, but we arrived with full water and empty holding tanks and our next stop will have full hookups, so we did not use the dump station.  When I booked reservations here, it seemed there were very few sites I cold fit our 40 foot motor home in, but after driving through the park, I feel we could fit in most sites.  They have cleared the sites out better than the last time we were here in 2010 which made it much easier to pull into the sites.  There are not a lot of campgrounds  south of the  Boston area and this one is well positioned for us to meet Aggie’s whole family.  There are many hiking trails throughout the park and a lake where you can launch a kayak or canoe.  They also offer free kayak tours on some days.  Cell phone worked fine and I received local programming on over the air TV.  We paid $26 per night plus $8.65 reservation fee for our stay.  I rate this park F****.  Some of Aggie’s family visited our campsite on July 4 and July 5 we visited Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island and also had dinner at the Lobster Pot located on a beautiful waterfront location.  I was able to chow down some cherrystone clams on the half shell, one of my must halves for this trip; and they hit the spot.  Aggie and I also enjoyed some local scallops.  I washed them down with a couple local brew ski’s.

Mahlon Dickerson Reservation

We arrived here in Jefferson Township, N. J.  on June 28 to visit Aggie's sister Joanie, her brother Bob, and her husband John for 5 days.  Our site was relatively level, but I did put pads on one side to level because my jacks were not usable as they were off a small hill.  A very heavily treed campground, you could hardly see your RV neighbors.  I did not even try satellite reception, but was able to get over the air TV and we also had cell reception.  There are not many campsites in this park and not much recreation other than camping without fire rings and there were several hiking trails.  It was very quiet here and bear territory.  We had 50 amp electric and water, but no sewer.  There was a dump site on the property.  We paid $20 per night.  I rate this park P***.

Shortly after we parked I decided to pull our RV forward to level rig on pads, but the engine did not start.  Long story short, after spending the day waiting for a service tech, we now have a new starter and we are $1160 poorer.   I think I will ask my boss for a raise.  I guess 13 years on a starter isn't too bad and at least we were not sitting on the side of the freeway with trucks speeding by at 70 MPH like we were a week ago in Oklahoma with a blown tire.

You need a GPS to get around this area as we needed to change major highways like 6 times to get anywhere.  We did go to Wawayanda State Park one day and Joanie and I kayaked the lake.  It was a little breezy on the Lake and many stratocumulus clouds forming in the area.  We packed up just before a little sprinkle came down.  Buddy did go for two swims while there and enjoyed company of Joanie's Labrador Retriever, Maggie.

One night we went to Weequahic Park in Newark N. J.  to attend a free outdoor concert and fireworks.  The band had 3 female vocalists, one male vocalist, 2 saxaphonists, 2 guatarist, a drummer, and keyboard.  We really enjoyed the the Soul music which dated back to the 60's.  They had a police command center set up and many police officers patrolling the event.  I guess they expected a larger crowd as a news station was there taking video's and only about 300 spectators.

Washington D C

We took the Washington Metro train into Washington D C two days during our stay in Reston, Va.  The first day we visited several museums; all of which were FREE, our taxpayer dollars at work.  We also visited the Washington monument, Lincoln memorial, and the White House.  Lots of security around the White House where our president resides.  We must have walked at least 10 miles this day and I for one was feeling my age.  I would have chomped down a few Motrin, but I settled for a cold beer from a local brewery called Loose Cannon with our dinner in town before our trek back to our RV in Reston.  This could be my favorite beer and I stocked my fridge with a six pack before we headed for New Jersey.  There is a tour bus that you can hop off and on at all attractions throughout the city which seemed like a great idea.  I don't know how much it costs, but it would be well worth it's cost if we choose to visit here again.  There are many museums here and you could devote a full day to each one.
The second day we dedicated to one museum,

The International Spy Museum.  We paid $16 each after a $5 senior discount to enter this museum.  There are also some other optional add on's that we chose not to purchase.  We did spend at least 3 hours touring this museum and enjoyed it.

Lake Fairfax Campground

We arrived here on June 24 for 4 nights to visit Washington D C.  There are not many campgrounds in the area and the few here are pricey.  This park is a very large county park, located in Reston, Va.;  with a great water park for the kids and adults alike with water falls, water slides, and a man made river where you can raft on provided innertube's.  There is also a lake on the property where you can rent paddle boats; or for a fee of $5 launch your own kayak.  There was no swimming in the lake, but I noticed several people fishing.  Our site was level and quite nice with trimmed grass surrounding the campground.  Campsites here are either primitive or electric only.  We had 50 amp service and there was also a dump station with fresh water provided at a central location by the bath house.  There was also 20 miles of hiking trails throughout the park.  We were located about 2 miles from the Washington Metro Train Station and we used to commute about 20 miles into Washington DC on two separate days.  Our campsite was $40 per night after a $5 discount for seniors.  We had good cell service, TV over the air and I was able to get dish satellite reception for the first time on this trip.  Plenty of shopping nearby and the catholic church was located just outside the park.  I rate this park P****.

TA Travel Center Campground

We stayed here one night to take advantage of full hookups; dump holding tanks, refill water tank  and wash some clothes.  This campground located in Lexington, Va. is attached to a truck stop and it was muggy outside so we elected to keep windows closed and air conditioner’s on all night.  This also gave us relief from all the truckers running their engines all night below us.  We did have rain on and off during the night.  Our assigned site had very low electrical current, so I requested another site and we moved over two sites over which was better but still only 114 volts.  Low voltage can cause problems with electronics and appliances within the motor home.  There were obviously people living in this park with old beaten up trailers and much debris dumped around some of the sites.  We paid $35.37 with our good sam discount and our stay was un eventful.  Could not find a trash can in the whole park so had to hike to the truckers parking lot to dispose of our trash.  We typically do not use campground rest rooms, but Aggie noticed that the woman’s rest room had no lights.  I rate this park P**.