NET Hop 2

91 miles via US-1, I-495 (around Boston), US-1 (again) and US-1A. Cumulative tow miles: 129. Truck miles: 245. Cumulative truck miles: 1119.

This was an easy, short hop with all but about 10 miles being on I-495. The weather was good and the traffic was moderate. A piece of cake.

Jett followed in the Yaris, going via I-95 instead of I-495, thereby cutting a few miles off of her trip. But the travel time was similar.

Our home for the past 11 days was the Normandy Farms Family Campground in Foxboro (or Foxborough, if you prefer) MA, just a few miles south of Gillette Stadium, home field of the NFL CHAMPION New England Patriots. The Patriots started their conditioning workouts while we were there and I guess we could have gone there and watched some millionaires doing jumping jacks, but we passed.

At the present time the Normandy Farms website claims that the Travel Channel has included them in a list of the 13 best campgrounds in the world. We can’t dispute that as it is in our personal list of the top 2 campgrounds we have stayed at in our 4 years of travel (the other being Gulf Waters). Adjectives that come to mind when describing this place are “superb”, “clean”, “professionally-run” and “exceptional.” Oh, yeah… “expensive.” It ain’t cheap, folks. But you get your money’s worth.

First, the facilities. Our site was large enough for our rig and our two vehicles, with enough space left over to fit in our outdoor carpet, our grill and about 6 visitor vehicles. And the sites are staggered so that I could keep the shades up on both side-facing rear windows and see nothing but trees. Also, a huge recreation center featuring an indoor pool, an adults-only loft, an exercise room and an arcade. Three more outdoor pools. At least two playgrounds, a basketball court, a beach volleyball court, some first-rate bocce courts, the best outdoor horseshoe pits that I have ever seen, a softball field, a baseball field (where the staff set up soccer nets), shuffleboard courts, pickleball courts (still under construction), a huge dog park (over an acre, with a dog washing station), a fishing pond, a great campground store and, most surprisingly, a first-rate disc golf course and a BMX bike track.

Second, the staff. I don’t know who trains these people but they are doing a great job. Despite most of the office staff being young, they were courteous, pleasant, efficient and very professional. No attitude or gum-chewing here.

The only negative thing about our stay at Normandy Farms was the weather. Simply horrible. Most days were cold and wet. We spent at least 4 of the 11 days hunkered down in the RV, with the heat on and the rain beating on the roof. But we did have a few light-rain days (I am not sure that any were completely dry) so I was able to get out to three cemeteries. And Jett’s sisters came to visit and we had some rousing card games. So it wasn’t a washout by any means. But it sure could have been better.

There is also a small but very nice slots-only Plainridge Park Casino about 5 miles away where I was able, against all odds (literally) to win money. Jett lost, though, so it was pretty much a wash.

Our site

Dog park

Outdoor pool at dusk

Indoor pool

Adult loft

BMX track

NET Hop 1

38 miles via (mostly) US 44, I-495 (around Boston) and US 1. Cumulative tow miles: 38. Cumulative truck miles: 874.

Outside of the 3 GTW hops that were made to get the RV to/from the repair shop in San Jose (28, 31 and 19 miles, respectively), this was our shortest hop ever. It only took about an hour over roads we have traveled before, so there were no sights to comment on. The only two noteworthy things about the trip were (1) the nasty Memorial Day traffic returning from Cape Cod on I-495 (we had about 8 miles of stop-and-go traffic) and (2) the jerk who pulled out in front of me as I was traveling at 67 mph on I-495 that had to brake hard to avoid. Idiot.

The NET (New England Tour, to remind the readers with short-term memory problems) is a bit different from our other journeys in that it is really a long-term stay but spread over multiple places. Because we are generally staying for a week or more at each stop and then traveling a relatively short distance to the next stop, the cumulative truck miles are going to be high. We started counting miles for the NET the moment the TTN ended, so this first hop includes all the miles that I drove the truck during the 24 days that we were in residence in Plymouth.

Campfire

Our campsite (#66)

Our home campground in Plymouth was the Pinewood Lodge Campground. Our memories of this campground will be forever tainted by the horrible weather that we had there – measurable rain on probably 18 of the 24 days. And cold. Very cold. Some days were more than 20 degrees below normal. We used a lot of propane keeping warm. Huddling in the RV while a hard cold rain drenched us was not how we envisioned spending May in Massachusetts.

Our first resolution for 2018: don’t come north until Memorial Day. We have asked ourselves, many times, why we left sunny and warm Florida to come north to the cold rain. We have looked at the weather map longingly many times over the past month, wishing we were basking in the 90-plus heat of southwest Florida.

Despite the rain, our impressions of Pinewood Lodge were mostly favorable. We felt at home there and, given an opportunity, will return in the future.

Things we liked about the campground:

Beach

• The site (#66). It was large, level and wooded, with a nice campfire ring (that we actually used!). Very quiet. Nice neighbors.
• The lake and the beach. Not that we could use them, given the weather, but I can easily imagine that they would be great in the summer.
• The lodge/activity hall. There were games for the kids (which probably kept some parents sane in the wet weather) and a full bar for the adults (which also may have helped).
• The location. Being just 10 minutes from downtown Plymouth and 15 minutes from my brother’s Duxbury home was great for our purposes.  And I really liked Plymouth.

As always, there were things we didn’t like, too:

• It is very expensive. I think the 3 Memorial Weekend days may have been the most expensive ever – over $100 per night.  That is due to a high base rate, compounded by a pet fee of $10 per night.  And when we had visitors we had to pay a “day use fee” of $10 per visitor.  I love my brother and his family, but that tested the depth of my love.
• The sites are covered with pine schmutz that got into everything. We put down our outdoor carpet, but that quickly got covered, too.  We had to sweep out the RV every day. And remove the pine tar from my shoes.
• Other than the beach there are few recreational facilities.  No tennis courts, no pickle ball courts, no cornhole court.  There are some horseshoe pits and boat rentals.  And the kiddie playground is adequate.
• No dog park.
• No recycling
• Almost no laundry facilities. There were a small number (4?) of beat-up washers in a lean-to connected to a bathhouse.
• The bathhouses (which we didn’t use) were basic (e.g., screen doors with vinyl curtains on the showers).

But, overall, not bad.  I would rate it as a 7 on a 10 scale.