New England

[Grant]

Looking for any information on camping on Cape Cod. We are planning our trip from June 20-27 before the madness after the 4th of July. Any particular parks or campgrounds that folks would suggest? Please post or email me at braddish@mail.com. Thanks.

[This message was edited by Capt. Mike on May 31, 2003 at 06:14 AM.]

[cheberg]

Good luck. It is always madly busy on the Cape from Memorial Day until Labor Day. However, check your map. There is a state park about mid-cape, just before the bend north. I beleive it is Miles Standish State Park and it has excellent facilites.

[Grant]

Thanks for the warning. We spoke to several campgrounds and most suggested that anytime before July 4th is still "off season". It sounds like it won't be quiet but we won't need reservations for the entire week. I will write a report when we return.

[Grant]

I thought I would provide an update after our trip to "the cape." Unfortunately we only stayed for 3 nights because the head gasket on our '89 Westy failed! Never happens when you are in the driveway or near a good mechanic.
Anyway, we had a great time a North of Highland campground for those nights and would highly recommend it. There are private sites this early in the season - before July 4th. There are two ocean beaches only .5 miles down a path and a bike path that leads towards Provincetown is right there as well.
This far out on the cape there are no good mechanics for VWs. We were royally screwed by the owner of Rod's Service Center who was happy to tow me from one shop to his and then flatly told me that he won't work on Vanagons. His mechanic tried to help me by making some phone calls to other repair shops and then Rod handed me the towing bill with an extra $55 charge for his mechanic to make the phone calls.
We rented a UHaul with a tow trailer in Orleans, MA and pulled the van home to VT.
I just got it back from Jon's Car Corner in Westminster, VT and he did a nice job for $2600 (including new coolant pipes and exhaust). He's been recommended on this site in the past.
We will go back to the cape next year and try it again, but we have upgraded our auto club membership (AAA only tows 5 miles for free which has now left us stranded 2x) for towing to the shop of our choice.
Only weekend trips planned for the remainder of the summer and fall.

[bobCamp]

The White Mountains, NH has to be the best place to camp in New England. There is also garages in Lincoln that will work on Westy's. They were able to fix a ceased caliper and get me on my way. I've seen a couple other Westy's up there. I even saw an 85 that was driven all the way from Montana. It was a real nice one. So, I highly recommend it. Especially the Kancamaugus Highway!