You'll never guess where we are staying in Cape Cod!

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 1, 2022

We've been working on our traveling path through all these little states in the northeast for over two months. It was quite complicated threading our way through each state, using bridges and tunnels and ferries to connect them. When we were making plans for our trip after Rhode Island, we wanted to continue east to explore the Cape Cod section of Massachusetts. But we quickly found that this was prime real estate, and campground sites were at a premium. Even if we could find an opening, it was crazy expensive. We had been given the advice to stay at Massachusetts state parks. But several years ago this state found a way to fund their park system--they would double and triple the normal price for out-of-state campers to stay there. We were excited to find a three-night opening in a state park, only to find it would cost us $250 for those three nights--and that was just a 20-amp electrical site--no water or sewer. 

We were so mad at Massachusetts and their expensive campgrounds that we had decided to rush through at the narrowest part of the state and count that as good enough. 

It's unusual for us to make reservations so far in advance, but we had friends that wanted to fly in to meet us. So we needed to figure out where we would be so they could buy airline tickets. So early in June, we were looking for camp sites in Massachusetts for August. We were in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park in June, just finishing a nice hike. Then the strangest thing happened . . .

That's when we met several people at the trail head. They noticed our Texas license plates, and that led to our full-time RVing story and our plans for this summer. The man exclaimed that we just had to visit Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in this summer's loop because that's where he lives and it is beautiful! Yes, we would love to visit, but we explained that we couldn't find any place to park our motor home there. We brainstormed about all the options. He suggested state parks--we had already tried that; private campgrounds--all were close to $100 per night; Boondockers welcome--the only one in Cape Cod will only take guests from foreign countries (we tried to convince them that Texas was once its own country, but they didn't think that applied).  

That's when he suggested that we could stay on some property he owns. He called it "the field." He gave us his business card and told us to email him next week and we would work out the details. Mark took a picture for these people we had just met, as they continued on their hike there in Virginia.

Wow! Would this really work out that a complete stranger we just met on a trail for a few minutes would host us in such a hard-to-camp-in part of the country?

Fast forward a couple months. After several emails, a few texts, and a phone call or two, we were heading toward Cape Cod. We crossed the Massachusetts state line that said we were welcome, but we still had mixed feelings about this state.

It was sprinkling when we crossed the bridge that separates the mainland from the Cape. We had heard about the terrible traffic going to Cape Cod on a Friday evening, or coming back on a Sunday evening. But we are making this trip in the middle of the week so that traffic was tolerable.

Doug texted to say that we should take a little-known side route instead of the busier route down the center of the Cape that most people will use. Mark had checked out the busier route, but hadn't checked out this other option. But we were glad to have advice from a local--until we saw a sign for an upcoming low bridge. We always say that our motor home is 13 feet tall, but we know that we rounded up a few inches. We are sweating it when we saw the bridge ahead is 12'11"! Yikes!

We were both holding our breaths when we went under that overpass. Will it help if we also duck our heads inside the motor home?!? We made it through without scraping our air conditioner on the top of the roof, but that was scary!

We met Doug at his house in the town of Barnstable on the Cape. Then he took us for a driving tour of this part of Cape Cod. He's a realtor that has lived here all his life, so he could answer all of our questions. For example he lives in the town of Barnstable, but there's also a village of Barnstable, and there's also the village of Hyannis Port, which seems big enough to be a city but it is actually a village which is part of the town of Barnstable. Are you as confused as we are?!?

After we passed our towns and villages exam, we moved on to Cape Cod architecture. We have always heard of a house being described as a "Cape Cod" but didn't know what that meant. We got the detailed answer from a realtor that has been selling Cape Cods in Cape Cod for years. We would explain it here, but we have probably confused you with enough of our new knowledge already. Doug also took us to the exclusive beaches that only the Cape Cod residents can use. It takes a special parking permit to go to these beaches, and visitors can't even buy a permit here. We're sure they are lovely on a sunny day, but because it was raining the beaches were empty.

Doug also knows where the Kennedy compound is, and was fearless about driving right past those "private road" signs. He drove us right to the house that JFK and Jackie Kennedy used as a summer white house for their growing family.

Then he drove us to "the field" that he offered as a place that we could park our motor home. We worried that the entry might be too small for our big vehicle to turn into, or the road might be too steep, or the trees around it too close. Doug had a trail mowed for us, and gave us a key to the gate. He gave us permission to cut any tree branches that got in our way. It did take some sawing to get our 12'10" motor home under one of the tree branches at the entry. 

But Mark managed to get the motor home up the hill and turned around.

We are now situated in "the field" for our three night stay here on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. While we didn't know if we were welcome when we crossed the state line into Massachusetts, we can say that we feel very welcome now!

We're here all because of that conversation at the trailhead in Virginia two months ago. God certainly took care of us once again! We'll say it again--you'll never guess where we are are staying in Cape Cod!