Day 14 - Travel to New York

Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Posted From: Black Bear Campground - Florida, NY
Miles driven: 293
Total miles: 2031

Take the New Jersey Turnpike while hauling a camper, they said. It will be fun, they said. 

Take the Garden State Parkway, they said. We are pretty sure it is legal to pull your 53ft/10 ton set up on this road...pretty sure. 

Turn here, they said. Never mind the 3 ton limit and 17% steep grade warning signs...uhh...we actually backed out of this one. It was an absolute no-go. 

But we totally did the first two, and boy did we get some looks. We were the only vehicle with more than two axles. We quickly adopted the following philosophy: Well, that cop didn’t pull us over so we aren’t in imminent danger...right?? But if we didn’t already realize we were the odd-man-out, it became abundantly clear when we stopped at a rest stop/service stop (so Matt could dry off his palms) that only had room for cars. Hmm...

In case you’re wondering, "they" is Google Maps. And "they" have no idea that we are towing. So we are sent down the most direct path. Live and learn. 

Obligatory tunnel picture. 

We arrived at the campground about a half hour earlier than planned. Probably because we paid an obscene amount of $$$ in tolls to pull four axles through every toll booth in Jersey and New York. The office was closed until the 1:00 pm checkin time, so we hung out and ate lunch. 

Finally we were parked. We are almost halfway through our trip, so this was a good time to do laundry, clean the bathroom, vacuum, and grocery shop. 

Once the chores were done, we made dinner and enjoyed a campfire. 

Whew! We made it. 

[For the record, I learned that we were actually completely legal on the Garden State Parkway. There is a point where we would no longer be legal, but we exited 2 miles before that point. The catch is that we paid dearly for the privilege...We can now say we haven’t met a fuel station or a toll booth we didn’t like...a LOT.]