We are returning...you've been warned!

awellis3 · 03-05-2017, 09:58 AM

We'll be heading to Saratoga Springs in 2018 (to visit w/ relatives) on our way to Acadia NP.
I made this trip a year or two ago to tour the Adirondacks and remember I-88E to I-90 as a nightmare of broken, patched, upended pavement. We are planning to do this trip again next fall and I'm eye-balling taking I-81N to Scranton, then I-84E to pick up I-87N. Is this a good route to tow a TT on? I'm guessing 87 between NY city and Albany would be pretty busy.
Thanks for any help.
Teach

**JohnB** · 03-05-2017, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awellis3

We are planning to do this trip again next fall and I'm eye-balling taking I-81N to Scranton, then I-84E to pick up I-87N. Is this a good route to tow a TT on? I'm guessing 87 between NY city and Albany would be pretty busy.
Thanks for any help.
Teach

Hi Teach,

We have made the trip from OH across PA and then up into NY for the last 7 years and will be again this year. My parents have a place in the lower Hudson valley we visit each year near the Catskill mountains area. We then head up into Adirondacks camping.

We come across I-80 from OH into PA and then get on I-81 north for a while until we get to I-84 east, then up I-87 north up the NY State Thruway (toll road). And at Albany the Thruway changes to I-90 West. I-87, (non toll) then is called the Northway, and keeps on going up into northern NY. Depending on where we go in the Adirondacks we either go up the Northway, I -87N or go up Rt-30 which is further west. Since your going to Saratoga, you will go up the Northway, I-87

The I-81, I-84 and I-87 that is part of the NYS Thruway is OK towing road. Yes there is traffic, but it has never bothered us that much. We hang out in the far right lane towing 60mph and the crowd just passes us.

However....when in NY on the I-87 Thruway, watch the rest areas with the camper. You pull into the truck area for parking if you use the rest area and that is OK, but if you need fuel... that is the concern area. Cars are like bees on a hive... and no one wants to be behind a camper... Actually to get gas, it is better to pull in the rest area and go direct to the pumps so you can get the truck and camper on the correct side of the pumps with a more straight shot then coming out of the truck parking area. We have often, stopped and parked in the truck area and used the rest rooms and then to get gas, just traveled another 30 minutes to the next rest stop for gas. Turning the camper out of the truck parking area to the gas pumps is the issue. Some rest stops are better then others.

The last time we where on the I-87 during the summer of 2015, the Northway above Albany had some ripples in the road in need of resurfacing. But it was tolerable at that time.

I don't know if you are camping along the way, but we do a night stay over at Promised Land SP in PA. It is easy off and back on I-84, and is a really nice park.

You mentioned I-88, like between Port Dickson and Rotterdam.

... that road use to be the disaster of a camper towing road! They had started to resurface it from the eastern end, but we managed to be trapped on part of it for the last 15 miles on the western end back in 2010 and will never go again.... I seriously believe I damaged my camper frame on that road. I-88 has been reported to have been fixed, but better check for sure.

Have a good trip. Upstate NY is a very beautiful area.

John

Mellow Yellow · 03-06-2017, 10:24 AM

Teach, we are in VT just over the border from NY. Saratoga is 40 minutes away. I-87 is a good road, we travel it often by car or towing the camper. Maybe a ripple here and there, but mostly just fine. I-88 was such a nightmare for us (like John B reported) that we have not taken it in many years. To go to Buttonwood we take the Northway to I-90 and then camp in the Finger Lakes and drop down into PA via Rt. 15 (or 99 now I think)

awellis3 · 03-06-2017, 12:16 PM

Thanks, guys. I'll check back closer to departure. Now I must decide how to go from Saratoga Springs to Freeport, Maine. I'd like to break that leg of the trip into two days and see more of Vermont and N.H.

Mellow Yellow · 03-06-2017, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awellis3

Thanks, guys. I'll check back closer to departure. Now I must decide how to go from Saratoga Springs to Freeport, Maine. I'd like to break that leg of the trip into two days and see more of Vermont and N.H.

Feel free to post or PM me as we're native Vermonters but spend a fair amount of time in NH and Maine. I don't know what kind of things you like to see and do, but if you travel Rt. 4 you can see Proctor Marble exhibit outside of Rutland, Killington Ski area, Quechee Gorge, and travel to the Hanover area (Dartmouth College). Manchester VT has Hildene, restored home of Robert Todd Lincoln (but you can do a day trip from Saratoga to see that).

awellis3 · 01-05-2018, 10:18 AM

Bumping this old thread and hoping you guys can help.
We've changed our plans. We now will drive from Wilkes-Barre to Salisbury, Mass. We're ultimately stopping in Freeport, Maine
My GPS wants me to take I-84 to Sturbridge, pick up the Mass. Expwy. (I-90) to I-495 up to I-95 at Salisbury.
I'm clueless about the traffic and road conditions for towing on I-84. I think there's a toll to cross the Hudson, right? Can I cruise down I-90 on my E-Z Pass pulling a trailer?
GPS says it's a 6 hr. trip. I know that can't be accurate, right?
Is there a better option to get to Freeport from Penn.?
I'm in dire need of local knowledge here.

Teach

**PTHutch** · 01-05-2018, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awellis3

Bumping this old thread and hoping you guys can help.
We've changed our plans. We now will drive from Wilkes-Barre to Salisbury, Mass. We're ultimately stopping in Freeport, Maine
My GPS wants me to take I-84 to Sturbridge, pick up the Mass. Expwy. (I-90) to I-495 up to I-95 at Salisbury.
I'm clueless about the traffic and road conditions for towing on I-84. I think there's a toll to cross the Hudson, right? Can I cruise down I-90 on my E-Z Pass pulling a trailer?
GPS says it's a 6 hr. trip. I know that can't be accurate, right?
Is there a better option to get to Freeport from Penn.?
I'm in dire need of local knowledge here.

Teach

Hi Teach,

Yes you can use your E-Z Pass on NY Thruway (I-87) and Mass Pike (I-90).
I've driven the Mass Pike from NY boarder to Worcester, MA pulling our FW using our E-Z pass with no problems.

I'll let other chime in that may be more familiar with the routes you identified.

Good luck, safe travels, and stay warm.
Hutch

awellis3 · 01-06-2018, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTHutch

Yes you can use your E-Z Pass on NY Thruway (I-87) and Mass Pike (I-90).

Thank you, sir.
And this cold snap has our attention. Going out in 8° weather is unusual for us here in Virginia's flat land.

Take care,
Teach

awellis3 · 01-06-2018, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mellow Yellow

... I don't know what kind of things you like to see and do, but if you travel Rt. 4 ....

Hey Tom, Penny wants to visit Keepsake Quilts in Center Harbor and maybe the Vermont Country Store in Weston.
I'm looking at the Good Sam park Ames Brook Campground in Ashland N.H. as our base to visit the quilt shop.
That will put us in the middle of our second week on the road and close to Penny's travel tolerance. We'll probably head south after leaving Weston.

Thanks for the info,
Teach

mainah · 01-16-2018, 07:36 AM

I came across 88 last spring from Scranton to Troy and I though it was fine they have been doing a lot of work on it. Personally I'll do any route that does not take me across the George Washington Bridge going north I don't care if I have to go to Canada first!