Key West, Florida
December 2, 1999
We don't usually do a review of a particular area, but the events of today warrant this, so others may avoid our experiences.
Scheduled to do a review tonight at a bed & breakfast inn, we left the great campground in Key Largo very early this morning, anticipating a wonderful time in Key West. On arrival, we stopped at the B&B to see its location and check about where we were to park the Eagle for the night. The inn had no parking available for us, but told us we could park at one of two lots close by or in a metered slot on the street, if we could find two together.
We took off to check out the lots. One was a Park-n-Ride, with a maximum height of 7'2"....well, that won't do. The other was an open lot (in a rather seedy looking area), that offered RV parking for $35 per day.....but you could not leave the RV overnight.....well, that won't do. So, next we found two metered parking slots along the street. Fed BOTH meters with $10 worth of quarters (enough for several hours of parking...the meter would take enough quarters for 12 hours at a time) and took off to tour the town.
While taking photos and talking with folks along the way, we encountered two residents of Key West. One, an older, long-time resident was reading in a nice park on the waterfront. Another was a younger businessman near the shopping area. As we discussed our trials about parking, they BOTH told us that the city of Key West doesn't like RVs. As a matter of fact, they don't like "tourists" (spoken with obvious distaste) and don't need them!
This was VERY apparent to us when we returned about 2 hours later to the Eagle. Perched under the windshield wiper was a parking ticket for $50 -- For parking an RV on a public street! Now, there were NO SIGNS anywhere that told us that we couldn't do that and we had been told by a local business that we COULD park there. Needless to say, we were unable to stay and do the review that had been requested. As a matter of fact, we left immediately afterward.
In our humble opinion, Key West is without a doubt the most
RV UNFRIENDLY
town we have ever encountered! If you are planning a trip to the Keys and taking your RV, our suggestion is to go no further than Key Largo! Folks in Key Largo are welcoming and friendly. The 90-odd mile drive from there to Key West has some pretty shots of the water, but NOTHING that would make it worth the hassle you will encounter.
Do RVers really need or want to spend their dollars (and believe me, millions are spent each year!) in a town that doesn't WANT or NEED tourists?!!!!?????
We are mailing our parking fine check to Key West today, under protest. It may have cost us $50 to learn this lesson, but we hope to be able to pass our experience along to all the other RVers out there and warn them to avoid Key West and spend their time AND their money, in other parts of Florida, where we are welcomed with open arms.
After this fiasco, we headed back north onto the mainland and across Alligator Alley. Our unscheduled stop tonight was at Club Naples RV Resort. A great Passport America campground! It's modem friendly and has a pool and level, grassy sites. We settled in to recover from our Key West experience and get some work done.
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