Maggie's Cape Cod trip!! **Story added with PICTURES!!!**

[thewalrus]

This Thursday to Sunday two friends and myself are going down to good Ol' Cape Cod!!! I've spent ALL of today and most of yesterday packing the bus up and getting her ready and I've come to realized this: Westfailia buses hold A LOT of stuff !! I have tons of stuff stashed away in every corner and it seems like there's always another one waiting to be packed. Anyways… Were staying here:

http://www.capecodcamping.com/

Big thanks to "Stanagon" for pointing out this little gem. Were heading out real early Thursday morning and cruising down their taking all the scenic routes and going nice and slow. Of course there's going to be pit stops to check up on the engine and photo ops but were hoping to be on the Cape around noon. Some areas we have planned to stop at are the Cape Cod cannel, Captain Parkers Pub (CHOWDA!!!!!), Pirates Cove Mini golf, and probably every beach in between there and Truro! Either Friday or Saturday we're hoping to go over to Martha's Vineyard for the day and take in the sights. Maybe we'll even take in a whale watch somewhere!! One of my friends coming is taking his laptop so hopefully if we can find some Internet I'll keep this updated through out the weekend, if not then there's going to be a HUGE update come Sunday night!! So does anybody have any ideas for any other places to go?? Can't seem to find a good list of lighthouses…anybody??

The first of many pictures to come: All packed up!!!

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'75 Hard Top Westfalia 2.0L F.I.

[rsorak]

Wow that is a way cool campground.....Have a good time, lookin forward to seeing your report....
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Rick '71 Westfalia & '73 Thing

[iprangen]

Is you Buses paint original?

[thewalrus]

[fukengruvenoval]

My wife and I drove from Toronto to Cape Cod, Boston, and home through Vermont last fall. It was a fun trip. I have a quick summary posted here: http://ad-libs-main.blogspot.com/2007/10/cape-cod-vermont-2007.html

Check out Nickerson State Park if you are looking for another place to camp. It was quite nice, and because of computer problems we got a couple nights FREE!
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Check out my video series at www.youtube.com/midnightoilgarage
Current: 12 Fiat 500 Sport, 09 Ford Flex, 76 Westfalia 2L FI, 72 Euro Super Auto-Stick, 69 Type 1 Cal-Look, 56 Type 1
Past: 94 Jetta Diesel, 92 Golf, 79 Bradley GT, 74 Thing, 73 Super Euro Spec, 72 Super, 68 Type 1 Convertible, 66 Single Cab, 65 Beetle, 57 Type 1 Parts Car, 57 Porsche Speedster Kit Car (CMC), 00 New Beetle GLS

[Yann]

We went with the kids at that campground last August, it was really great, only downside is that you cant make campfire!
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Yann

www.westhausmitewagen.com
http://mecanitinerante.blogspot.com/

[cc79westie]

I was just thinking about a campsite at Cape Cod..this would work! Thanks for the link.
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1979 Westfalia (Sage Green)
1966 Pontiac GTO
1977 Chevy Monza 5.0 V-8
1984 Datsun/Nissan 300ZX
1989 Plymouth Reliant K

[Cape Crusader]

You will love the Cape!
Good lighthouse site: www.best-of-cape-cod.com/cape-cod-lighthouses.html.
Also a lot of other good info.
Enjoy!

[casey79westfalia]

That campsite is the best on the cod, very difficult to get a spot there at peak camping times. I really like nickerson campground which is in Brewster! It is not near the beach but close enough that you can ride your bike and the campground has a really great bike trail through the woods! We do a capecod trip every year! This will be our year off as we have too much else going on! Enjoy your stay on the cape, by far one of the greatest camping destinations imho!
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66 Westfalia
62 Double Cab
87 Westfalia Syncro
88 Double Cab
74 Porsche 914
2012 Tdi Sportwagen Pano

Currently looking for 62 Double Cab, 66 Westfalia Parts!
(Rear seat and pedestal, bumpers, mirrors)

http://www.baycountrymotors.com

"Do it the right way, or you'll pay for it"

[Pifey]

Looks like an awesome place....but.....
I can't take my dog..and no beers around a campfire...

Pass.

It is amazing how much a Bus will hold. I packed for a week of camping in wisconsin for two people and a dog a couple of years ago. The only thing you could see from inside the bus was my old Coleman cooler and a 95 lb. labrador retriever!


Enjoy your trip!


Stephen


71 Westy
65 Beetle

[thewalrus]

Hey everyone!! Made it back in one salty, sandy piece!!! I had an amazing time too!! Pictures and full report are coming later when I can empty my camera at home.

[lostorbit]

Just remove the period at the end. It was incorrectly matched by the regex pattern when auto-linked.

http://www.best-of-cape-cod.com/cape-cod-lighthouses.html

[thewalrus]

[TrickyThom]

I am glad to see you are finally able to take the bus on trips!
Hope all is going well with you, say hello to your dad for me.
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1977 Riviera

[thewalrus]

OK so here's the long awaited story:

I guess I'll start from the beginning. Woke up early Thursday morning, finished packing the bus up and headed out to pick up my friends. Got everyone together and was cruising down the back roads by 8:30am. We stopped into McDonalds for a pit stop and to get my GPS all set up. We figured we would avoid the highways and busy roads because it was still rush hour so I set the GPS to avoid all highways, dirt roads, tolls etc. Even though I did that it STILL took me on Route 9 THROUGH Boston!! We got a surprise tour of the swanky side of Boston and headed south along the coast on Route 3, which of course they were repaving so the road was all groovy.

But finally after hours of driving around we saw the Sagamore Bridge!!!


Stopped at the Cape Cod Canal for a stretch and to let the bus rest a sec. It wasn't very relaxing though because 2008 comes 17 years after the last time the Cicada bug made an appearance so needless to say these "little" guys were E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E:



Now I'm not afraid of bugs, but when you get two of them on your shoulder and don't realize it, then look at your shoulder and see two 3.5" bugs looking at you… you jump!! Left there rather quickly and crossed the Sagamore. Did I mention Cicadas make an interesting sound when they hit the front of a VW bus? Sounded like we were in a hailstorm!!! Luckily there was no damage. Cruising up the Sagamore and about half way up… I lost second!! SLOWLY climbed the rest in 1st and cruised down along Route 6, picked up route 28 and started looking for Captain Parkers Pub and some chowda!! I swear Captain Parkers has THE best chowda under the sun!!! After the chowda and a fish sandwich it was about 2:00 and we all decide to go make camp. Thankfully the Cicadas were all down by the bridge and we could open the windows again!! Tooted down along the Cape and had many reactions to the bus…waves…smiles… peace signs…then came the end of Route 6 where it drops to one lane either way. All the smiles went away and turned into honks and fingers!!! 13 miles of pulling over to let the traffic by finally ended in a rotary that thankfully turned back into two lanes where all the backup traffic passed.... and passed…. and passed!!! Continued down Route 6 where we got to North Thuro and made camp 1-½ hours after leaving Captain Parkers. Absolutely beautiful campground too!! We set up camp and hit North of Meadow Beach:

Went back, finished setting up and SLEPT!!! I haven't slept THAT good in a lonnnnnnng time! Westfalia knew what they were doing…I was soooooo comfy!!

Woke up Friday morning and…went back to the beach… in the bus!!!



Stayed there for a while then went up to Provincetown for lunch. The last time I was in Provincetown (2003) they were having "The Blessing of the Fleet" ceremonies. Don't I come back 5 years later and hit the same exact ceremony!!! Got a little lost but that OK… we saw this:

Another fellow bus!! Found some parking further on at the Pilgrim Memorial tower and had to snap this picture:

Walked around downtown enjoying the ceremony and taking in the sights:


This was an open, walk-in mall that had a New Orleans feeling to it:

We got some late lunch at "The Mayflower Cafe" and decided to head back to camp… BUT I did find this:

Had to have it!!!! Called it a day, made some late dinner and slept again in comfy bliss in the back of the bus!!

Early Saturday I came to the conclusion that… I REALLY can't cook!!! Everyone agreed ( ) and we all piled back into the bus and went back down to Yarmouth to "Ann & Frans Breakfast." That was the best cup of coffee in my life!!! With full stomachs we hit up "Pirates Cove Mini-Golf" and began looking for Sea Gull Beach. Looked for a good hour and drove up and down route 28 like a bunch of lost tourist and FINALLY found it!!! Back at the beach:

That water was soooooooo warm and clear!! Earlier on in the day we had all decided that we wanted to either go to Martha's Vineyard Sunday morning or a whale watch Saturday night. But unfortunately by the time we got back to camp Saturday night we had missed both. So...back to Head Of The Meadow beach!!!!!!!

By now it was around 6:00 and we basically had the beach to ourselves:

Had to snap this one:


Went back to the camp and went to sleep…

Sunday, our last day, we got up real early but STILL missed the ferries to Martha's Vineyard so we went back into Provincetown for a whale watch!!!

Sat on the boat for a while... got bored...

Finally got tootin' around the bay and snapped these:


Go into the open waters and… WHALES!!!!!

Unfortunately the farther out we went the foggier (And wavier!) it got but… the whales didn't mind…but my stomach did!!! Got very woozy and while I was sitting in the back of the boat trying to calm down a few more whales popped up:



I guess I get seasick!! I've never been so happy to be on land as I was Sunday afternoon!! While we were coming into port we caught the end of "The Blessing of the Fleet" ceremonies:

Went back to "The Mayflower Café", had some lunch and headed out at 2:00 hoping to avoid traffic. Now the fun begins… the entire trip I had been keeping a steady eye on the oil level. A few weeks ago I had a hub seal leak but after replacing the seal everything cleared up. So the entire time we're down there I'm watching the oil lever go down in typical Volkswagen fashion, topping it off before long trips and she ran AOK. The engine temps were nice and cool (ESPECIALLY down in Truro and Provincetown) and the bus ran like $1,000,000!! Well I guess coming back up the Cape took a big sip of oil and pretty soon I was a hair below the "Low" marker. I went to put in the extra quart of oil in and… no oil left!! I don't think any gas station has heard of or seen 20/50 synthetic oil on Cape Cod. I looked forever at what seemed like every gas station my GPS could find. Finally she was just too low and hot to continue highway driving. I pulled off the highway somewhere North of Plymouth and south of Boston at some gas station and asked the clerk for "20/50 synthetic" and got the same "WTF?" look as every other one. But he was nice enough to tell me of a close Wal-Mart that might have something!! Find Wal-Mart, go inside… and… nothing!!! No 20/50 Synthetic… just 20/50 regular!! Oil change time… get 7 quarts of Castrol 20/50, go outside and demonstrated to my friends how to change oil in a VW!!!! Needless to say that oil was HOT and with the remaining sea breezy managed to go everywhere but the drip pan (Which I also had to buy). Let her drip, plugged her up, put in 5 fresh new quarts and off we go! So now it's around 5:30 in the afternoon and we're still south of Boston. Good thing about that is we missed all the traffic so everything was nice and light. Find all the correct routes, drop everybody off and roll into my driveway at 8:45. I was extremely tired but I'd go back in a second!!

Ohh yeah…Of course I kept an eye out for other VW's! Saw 2 bays total. 1 we had at the came site with us, but I never saw anybody over there so I didn't bother them and the other was in Provincetown. We also saw a lot of EuroVans. 6 total…two of them were at the campsite. Saw about 4 Vanagons. 1 of which camping there on our way out and 1 was getting towed . And of course beetles… about 5 of them too. Pretty good show of ACVW's (Excluding the EuroVans and a few Vanagons of course!!) Thanks for reading!!!!
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'75 Hard Top Westfalia 2.0L F.I.