In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I made the reservation. I looked online, balanced what we knew about where we needed to ride against what we wanted to pay and what services we might need in Key Largo. I read the reviews, and I made the decision to weigh the positive reviews against the negative.
Our ride into Key Largo is not smooth. LOTS of construction on the road and bike path, LOTS of traffic. We are relieved to see – from our mileage – that we are approaching Key Largo. But when I see the sign for our place (and I’m not going to mention the name of the place, because the owners are nice people who are just trying to do a good job, and it’s expensive to run a place like this – with a kitchen and a/c and such – but sometimes nice people are simply not enough) I am BUMMED. The sign looks worn out. The trees around the place look worn out. The place looks worn out.
The place IS worn out. The room is shabby. The room smells bad.
Jerry comments on how lucky we are to have a bike shop RIGHT across the street. We need to get that tire replaced, after all. He mentions that he noticed a Philly cheesesteak restaurant in that same little mall – how lucky! I believe my replies are single syllables. You get the idea. It becomes the first disagreement of the trip. Not an argument, certainly not a fight. But, yeah… we aren’t of a single mind.
I won’t bore you with the details. Here’s the bottom line: no bedbugs. I’m fairly sure. And for me, this is an important distinction. We do get the tire fixed! Hurray! The cheesesteak lunch is delish. Seriously. And we have two really nice dinners (one being on Valentine’s Day) at a Thai restaurant across the street, and those are wonderful. Surprisingly great. We go to a park that’s a lovely wildlife refuge. And we see the LOVERS’ BOUTIQUE, with DVDs, lingerie, costumes and love toys; they have a special deal for bikers: 20% off! (Jerry informs me we aren’t those kind of bikers. Oh.)
The room smell doesn’t bother me after a day or so. And we get through it. We even enjoy ourselves.
Hey, it’s a two-month trip. There will be bad rooms.
{but this one… this was bad.}
Keys To The Kingdom, 2014 
congrats – welcome to life on the road
Oh my, I could smell the room, you were so descriptive. These will be the memories you will look back on. Thank goodness for time, that blurs the edges of the reality.
Yes, Taryn. Time! This story is already fading…
Yeah, i get the randomness of finding a bad room . D there is not much one can do about it at the end of a long day ! On the last drive cross country with my daughter, we always had to locate dog friendly motels. Well, after doing close to 600 miles on our last night before Portland, we pulled into Boardman, OR. The town is the next highway stop from the County Prison and the parking lot was filled with what looked like recent parolees and a group of them were just two doors from ours….
It was so sketchy that …..
1- we were thrilled to have Scout,her great dane , because even though WE know she is a pussy, they didn’t .
2- I tucked one of Annabel’s large hunting knives into my pant’s cargo pocket as did she.
The room , well, it reminded me of an apartment I once visited back in 1970, down on Avenue C in NYC , back in the days when only junkies and other druggies lived there.
So, I am glad that despite the smells of the room you had a nice stopover. And despite NOT being eligible for the 20% discount, did you and J. visit the boutique ? 😉