Cape Cod is an incredibly crowded tourist Mecca
in the summertime. Good thing it's not the summertime. Right
now, in the springtime, the Cape is a paradise of free beachside
boondocking. I'm going to tell you about it.
I have something I need to do before we go to the beach.
It's Mother's Day weekend. And part of the reason I wanted to
come down here now is it's my first Mother's Day without a
mother. And I just, since I happen to be in Massachusetts, I
wanted to come and visit the National Cemetery, which is the
place where she's buried, well, not buried, you know, interred I
guess, is what you say. She and my Dad, their ashes are in a
columbarium here. Basically, it's a wall. I've been down here
a bunch of times with my Mom when she was alive. Because my
Dad's been in the columbarium the wall since 2017. We used to
come for Dad's birthday, for Father's Day, the anniversary of
his death. At some point, we'd usually make our way down here
during the Christmas season.
Sometimes with other family members, sometimes just you
know, the two of us, me and my Mom, but every time we came, no
matter who came, we would sing "Sweet Caroline" to my dad,
because that's like the theme song of the Boston Red Sox. I
don't understand why it's the theme song of the Boston Red
Sox. My brother Sean can probably explain it because he's
into the Red Sox too.
But it's kind of weird to be here without her.
Or you know, with her in the wall.
That's her right there. Lovey. That's what Dad called her, it's
what she called him too.
Sweet Caroline. bah bah bah. I don't know the rest of the
words. Okay, it's time for the beach.
This is Marconi Beach. It's in Wellfleet. We headed here
because dogs are allowed on the beaches in Wellfleet. Even in
the summertime. Most of the beaches down here, dogs can't
come after April 1, so it's too late to bring him to pretty much
most of the beaches on the Cape.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Atlantic Ocean.
Right now and the only people at the beach are these kids that
are playing soccer over here. Starting next week, it's
probably going to be wall to wall out of control. This is
Captain's second time at the ocean. First time was at
Assateague Island.
My first dog Indy loved the water so much I had to get him a
little floaty lifejacket. He'd be running straight for the
waves right now. But Captain is booking it in the other
direction. I don't really blame him. The sand is blowing around
a lot. And I bet he's getting it in his eyes. I thought I was
going to have to carry Captain up the stairs but he was doing
two at a time he was doing great. Me on the other hand - my
knee gave out.
I was thinking about what I was expecting at the cemetery this
morning. I was hoping I would really feel her presence.
I've never felt my dad's presence that strongly. But I
was never there in that physical place with my dad alive. My Mom,
I've been there with her alive and now I've been there with her
And I just wanted her to talk to me, to say one, pass me one very
not alive.
And I just want her to talk to me. Just send one - just pass me one
clear message. And it hasn't really happened yet.
I wanted to bring Captain to see her because you know he's her
ittle guy. He was your favorite person in the world.
human or otherwise, but there were signs everywhere that said
no dogs so he had to stay in the bus and stay hidden. And it's
kind of ironic to me that my Mom is buried in a place that says
no dogs
Let's check the facilities out.
Bathrooms, pretty good. Pretty, pretty clean. There are outdoor
showers and then - oh, women's dressing room. I wonder if
there's a shower in there too. There's little booths to change
your clothes in no doors, but it's something.
And the shower well there's, there are walls but there's no
roof on this so I'm not sure it's gonna be any warmer than
the outdoor shower. Let's do a temperature check.
Very slightly warm but not warm enough.
I'm gonna see if we can get away with sleeping here tonight. I
didn't see any gates on the way in and it's a huge, huge parking
lot that's pretty much empty.
I don't know if all these spaces are
full during the high season, but if they even built a parking lot
like this, you can bet it gets pretty crowded here. I don't
know how policed it is. So I guess we'll just have to see.
I've gotten away with crazier things
Well, we made it through the night. No Ranger, nobody said
boo to us. It was pitch dark here and very, very quiet. At
one point, a car came through, I saw headlights it came in and
then went right back out again. But otherwise, we were
completely alone and I could hear the ocean all night. This
morning, we took a walk a pretty long walk in this woodsy area
that's right off the parking lot. Captain would have walked
all day if I didn't insist we come back. Sometimes it's hard
to remember that that guy's 14 years old. I think we're going
to stick around on the Cape for a little while because, you
know, might as well take advantage of what we can because
this is the last week that this is even a possibility because
the season - The season starts next week. If you want to check
this place or any other beaches on the Cape out for yourself,
you've got to come before Memorial Day for sure. And also
just pay attention to the temperature because in
Massachusetts in the spring, might be winter one day, summer
the next. If it's warm, all bets are off.
According to what it says online, this particular parking
lot is open until midnight. I've never been here during the
season so I can't vouch for whether or not there's actually
people around until midnight. But I can tell you that I didn't
see a gate on this driveway so I don't think you're gonna get
locked out or locked in.
Give it a shot. During the season. It costs 15 bucks to
park here, that's just parking for the day. That's not camping.
But the parking is free if you have an America, The Beautiful
pass. As for actual camping, there are campgrounds on the
Cape in state parks, but they are expensive. They're over 30
bucks for Massachusetts residents and over 80 bucks a
night for non residents. To me that is crazy. You can camp for
free in the National Seashore off road corridor but it's very
restrictive in terms of what the vehicle is that you can be here
in. You have to get a permit and they inspect, they actually
inspect. I can't do it because one of the rules is you have to
have a permanently installed black tank. No bucket toilets. I
don't even think a composting toilet would pass muster. You're
also camping on sand. So you have to let the air out of your
tires. They make you go down to I think 15 pounds. But if you're
willing to just come down before the season starts, parking lots
like this one, they're a pretty good option. I've also stayed in
like shopping plazas and stuff without any problems. No
guarantees, but it's worked out well for us. Okay, check this
one out. And remember, subscribers are cool. You are
cool. Therefore, you should be a subscriber.
See you next time.