RVING THE EAST COAST

A ‘how-to’ Guide

Links to all Campgrounds are below.

When we made the decision to go full-time on the road, we knew the first state we wanted to head toward was North Carolina to visit our eldest son and his family.  After that, we had no set plan other than we want to see it all.

Once we’d planned our cross-country trip, we began researching which states and cities we wanted to make certain to visit along the east coast.  Cat is obsessed with the founding fathers and the Revolutionary War so our first thought was that we’d visit the original 13 colonies.  However, we didn’t want to backtrack so going north was our only option and we’d visit as many of the original colonies as possible.

We began our research we went to the hive minds of our full-time friends, Facebook groups, private groups, and of course YouTube.  Everyone gave us similar feedback.  Don’t RV up the East Coast; it’s a nightmare.

What were we going to do?  We wanted to visit the historic sites of the Revolutionary War, the homes of the founding fathers and the site of ‘The shot that was heard around the world‘.  We wanted to witness the Boston Harbor for ourselves and see New York in a different light.  We longed to stand where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where they read that very same document for the first time in Boston.  You get the idea.  How was this going to be possible if it’s a nightmare to RV up the east coast?  

We began by asking the right questions. 

How have other people done this trip?  

Where have they stayed?

 How far did they have to travel from RV parks to the historic sights?

The primary decision had to be – what is a MUST DO for both of us?  We fixed upon the homes of Jefferson and Washington, Washington DC, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.  Once these locations had been agreed upon, it was a case of how do we visit all of these sites and cities in a truck, towing a 32’ travel trailer; making us 48’ long?

For Monticello, (home of Thomas Jefferson), we were able to book a state park campground at Lake Anna.  This was a reasonable distance from Monticello and the park seemed to have good reviews.  However, the road to the campground was extremely narrow and hair-raising, to say the least.  Our second issue came about when the site we’d booked didn’t have electricity (newbie mistake) and they didn’t allow generators!  Thankfully on the day we’d booked to visit Monticello, the weather was mild and our dogs were fine in the rig for a few hours.  However, we cut our visit short by one day, as sitting in 95º of heat with no AC wasn’t in our plans.  

Our next stop was Washington DC and Mount Vernon (home of George Washington).  This had taken some tougher planning.  Washington DC itself has no RV parks and there are no state parks either.  After researching online and getting advice from friends, Cherry Hill RV Park in  College Park, Maryland topped everyone’s list.  This was far easier to locate as it’s directly off the freeway and had every modern convenience.  

We had a wonderful experience at this park.  We were able to drive a short distance to the metro station to ride the train (just thirty minutes into the city) to explore each day.  The park also offers shuttle buses that will take you into DC, night tours, and all-day excursions.  They have dog walkers on site and two huge dog parks.  The park also has a clubhouse, cafe, laundry, two pools a sauna, and a jacuzzi. All of these conveniences, however, add up to an expensive stay.  At $520 for six nights, this was by far the most expensive RV Park we’d stayed at… So far!  However, we felt it was worth it to see DC.  No other park came close in reviews and recommendations.

This is where the East Coast began to get extremely difficult and crazy expensive…

Our second newbie mistake was not booking a park for Memorial Day weekend.  After spending an entire day attempting to book anything, anywhere, within 300 miles of Cherry Hill Park, we ended up heading to Delaware for five nights at a Boondockers Welcome.  The host was very nice and it cost us nothing, but there was literally nothing to do.  It did give us a much-needed respite from the first leg of our East Coast trip though.

From here we headed to Pennsylvania and spent two nights at a KOA located in New Jersey.  Unlike DC, we only had one day to explore, so we drove into Philly and downloaded a walking tour that took in the major sites we wanted to explore.  The KOA was once again on a narrow road, and it was located pretty much in an industrial area.  However, the location for Philadelphia was perfect and our site had its own tiny dog enclosure – which is always a plus.

Let’s pause for a moment to discuss the roads; New Jersey is a mess.  There’s just no polite way of saying it.  Their roads are awful, their turnpikes are mind-boggling and the tolls are mental!  

‘Welcome to Jersey – that will be $95’

‘Oh you want to cross a bridge, go through a tunnel, take a certain road – that’s another $50’ 

It was beyond expensive and frustrating, to say the least.  Also, DO NOT trust Google to get you around the area, they have no idea how long or tall you are.  We lost signal on our RV Trip Wizard (which we use for safe traveling) and Google tried to send us under bridges that were 8.5’ tall!  We check in at 11.5’.  That was fun trying to get out of the area.

Another negative for New York… we were unable to find any state parks located physically in New York City.  So we chose the private park everyone recommended – Liberty RV Park in Jersey City.  Be warned – it cost $575 for four nights – with water/electric hook up and a dump on site.  There are no other amenities, other than a small laundry. Do not expect a picnic table, fire ring, or even much space to sit outside your RV. It is basically a small parking lot on the banks of the Hudson River – little to no access to the river unless you go through a bar.  There is literally no space between each rig.  For example, as we stepped out of our trailer the back of someone else’s was almost touching our steps.  At the back of our rig, we could just about get through, as the class A behind us was so close.  It was insane how many 45’ plus rigs they could fit into a minuscule park.  

Getting into the park is a bit of a challenge, but call ahead and speak to the office staff who will guide you to the best route to the park -which is actually the back way.  Driving out of Jersey and New York is just as expensive as driving in!  I believe in total we spend over $250 on tolls and once again their roads are awful but when in Rome LOL

All that being said, we’d stay here again and again.  The staff was pleasant and helpful, the security was wonderful, and location, location, location.  We were a 15 minutes walk from the PATH metro station which took us directly to 33rd and Time Square or to One World Trade Centre.  We never felt anything but safe in Jersey City, even at night.  

To visit Boston, we once again utilized our Boondockers Welcome membership and stayed in Ashburton – an hour’s drive from Boston itself.  Boston was an easy place to drive into (no tolls) and we found public parking without any real difficulty.  We did another day of walking the city and managed to visit every major spot on our list in one day.  Of course, we could have spent many more days here, but we felt we’d had a great day exploring the City.

Our final stop up the East Coast (ish) was New Hampshire.  Another great place to visit, but not so great to tow an RV to.  We stayed at Campton Campground, another state park and the road around the camping look was too small for our trailer. The site was long and wide enough, it was almost impossible to back into as there were trees and boulders along the loop.  It took the help of 5 other campers holding back trees and large branches to get us in.  Getting out, five nights later, on our own was an utter nightmare and we had to hook and unhook the truck in order to move the trailer at a sharper angle.  But we DID IT!

To conclude RVing the East Coast is tough, sometimes frustrating and ridiculously expensive, but we’d do it all again.

Here are our tips for taking your RV on a road trip up the east coast. 

Plan ahead – do what we did and research what others have done.

Be prepared to double your budget for that month

Drive slower and more carefully

Be willing to use Public Transport

Research your must-visit places

Familiarize yourself with the routes you plan to take before you get in your truck

Do not rely on Google

Utilize the time you have and leave your RV park.  

Be flexible in your routine – we usually don’t go out in the evening we arrive at a park, however, in New York, we went straight to the city at 4 pm and took in a Broadway Show!

Links to all the Parks we stayed at.

Lake Anna – https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/lake-anna

Cherry Hill RV Park – https://www.cherryhillpark.com/

Philadelphia South KOA – https://koa.com/campgrounds/philadelphia-south/

Boondockers Welcome – https://membership.harvesthosts.com/

Liberty Harbor – https://www.libertyharborrv.com/

Campton Campground – https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232178 (stay in the upper look as there is much more space to maneuver