Cape May, NJ

April 20th - 25th

We set out on our first trip in the "beast". The ultimate destination was Cape May, NJ with a stop at Camping World to have the Winnie and our car setup for towing. The first night was "camping" in CW's parking lot as it took two days to do the work. While the RV was being worked on, we took a short trip to PA.

Saturday afternoon, we headed off to Cape May, seventy miles away. I must have checked the rear view monitor a dozen times to see if the car was still back there. We arrived at the RV park, http://www.seashorecampsites.com, only to find that our pull-through space was occupied. The only spot available that night was one that I had to back into. With some help from a campground employee, I got the beast backed into the site. The next day, we moved to a "pull through" site.

We discovered that the refrigerator did not work before we left home so we lived out of two coolers and 5 pounds of ice a day. Also, there was an annoying leak in the shower valve. This required using the water tank and the pump whenever we needed any water instead of the city water supply.

We hit Cape May too early in the season and found that most of the restaurants were only opened on the weekends. I did the BBQ thing two nights and we went out the other two. I picked up a great little grill at Lowe's before we left. I also got one of these chimney things that you use to light the coals instead of lighter fluid. A handful of crumpled paper lights all the charcoal we needed to cook our meal.

My opinion of the Jersey shore was formed by my visits to Seaside Heights in the early 60's. I didn't care for it very much. I had been to Cape May twice. Once when I flew there on my long cross country flight and the secound time Joyce & I were in AC and drove down there on the way home.

Laura, a co-worker at Whole Foods, used to rave about CM. I pictured it as Seaside South. Well, was I ever wrong. There were none of the crackerbox houses like I pictured. I like Victorian houses and CM is swimming in them. In our travels around the town, we saw houses that fit into three catagories, the old, the new, and the wanna-bes. Nothing looks as bad as a split-level with Victorian elements. We went into the heart of CM looking for a place to eat and discovered a whole section of town filled with Vics. We went up one street and down the next. Dinner was late that night. I spoke to the owner of the campgrounds about the houses and he said that they were selling for $60K in the 60's & 70's. The going price these days are in 7 figures.

Aside from the two mechanical issues, the first trip in the RV was a complete success. The biggest surprise was how well Pogo behaved. He doesn't like going in the car as it usually takes him to the groomer or the vet. He fell asleep on the backseat of the car and on a narrow shelf on the floor of the RV by the engine housing.

We plan on returning to Cape May sometime in the near future. As a matter of fact, Joyce is going there in December with my sister, Mary Jane.