Northeast - Speaking of Montauk...

Reading jeebasaurusrex's post about the Montauk ride - and reading the website for the ride itself - has put the bug in me to take a trip out to Montauk before summer slips away. It's been a somber, penny-pinching few months, given my job situation, and I really feel like my wife and I need SOME type of vacation this year if I'm to get back my energy and spirit.

I'm figuring it will have to be a day trip, as we're surely not going to be able to afford the two/three-day minimum at most hotels out there, IF we can even get one this late in the game. So, being that we've never been out there to ride and I've never been out there during the summer tourist season, can anybody provide any input/suggestions on how to make this a day trip worth a 2-3 hour drive or train ride? Are there good places to ride by the ocean? Do the restaurants cater to vegetarians? Will the traffic on a Saturday or Sunday from Nassau County be a lot worse than it is heading to the North Fork (which we do all the time)?

There's free camping out at Montauk someplace. Google it and spend your motel money on wine!

>>>>There's free camping out at Montauk someplace<<<

That'd be a GREAT idea if we owned some camping gear. I'd imagine buying some for this one trip wouldn't be worth it. Hither Hills State Park offers campsites for $24 a night. Not free, but nominal if you have a tent and other supplies. Would they let us park our Honda Element there and sleep in it?

I think it's free bike camping, so no to sleeping in your car.

I think it's free bike camping, so no to sleeping in your car.

The Hither Hills people told me sleeping in the car was OK for $32 a night. The problem is, they are completely booked for the summer. To get a spot in the event of a cancellation, we'd have to show up at 8am and get our name on a list, then come back at 3pm to see if anybody canceled. I don't really feel like driving out there at 6am just to put our names on a list - OR having to rush back to the site at 3pm to see if we won the lottery.

Hither Hills seemed like the perfect spot, though, being right on the beach. My family used to go out there for picnics in the 1960's, so it would be a cool flashback. They say it's really nice in the fall, too, so maybe we'll look into that.

If you can wait till after labor day, once 'the season' is over, the prices really drop and there's usually no minimum stay. I think 5BBC stays at Atlantic Terrace (http://www.atlanticterrace.com) when they put on the Montauk Century, in May.

I don't know it nearly as well as well as the South Fork, but perhaps you can check out the North Fork. There are a lot of vineyards out there, and it's not nearly as overridden as the South Fork.

Hither Hills is fantastic in the autumn, I've camped there a lot in late September/October.

I'll see if I can dig up some more info on places to stay with my sources out there...

>>>>There's free camping out at Montauk someplace<<<

That'd be a GREAT idea if we owned some camping gear. I'd imagine buying some for this one trip wouldn't be worth it. Hither Hills State Park offers campsites for $24 a night. Not free, but nominal if you have a tent and other supplies. Would they let us park our Honda Element there and sleep in it?

Rented a tent, a tent, a tent.

We once rented a tent at EMS. I think most of their stores rent camping gear.

We did the Wounded Warriors ride a couple of weeks ago. It went from Amagansett to Sag Harbor to Montauk and back to Amagansett. We wound up spending the night before at a motel in Riverhead, and even out there it wasn't cheap.

>>>perhaps you can check out the North Fork<<<

Good idea, but we do the North Fork all the time. Our favorite ride is "Across The Forks," which takes us from Greenport to Sag Harbor. We also like the ride from Greenport to Orient Point. The problem with the North Fork is that the hotels are ALWAYS booked from Memorial Day until well into the fall. We've never had any success trying to book a room on a cancellation, either. (cont)

>>>Rent a tent<<<<

You need more than a tent to camp, don't you? I can't imagine that a tent rental - plus the fee for a campsite - would be any less than a hotel somewhere. For us, this just isn't a summer to be spending money, as my income has slipped from normal to almost nothing and our bills and taxes have stayed the same. I was looking to do something really cheap, and Eastern Long Island doesn't seem to offer a whole lot of that!

I was looking to do something really cheap, and Eastern Long Island doesn't seem to offer a whole lot of that!

Certainly not!

Perhaps upstate? We've taken a lot of mini-getaways up north where the prices are more reasonable but the drive is still less than 2 or so hours.