Johng,
Everyone's opinions should always be welcome. You have fond memories of the old road and I have had experiences not so fondly remembered. Lisa has her opinion, Cap has his as does TAH.
When I expressed my opinion that the old road as being interesting but not "very cool", you respond that you respect my opinion and then state "Perhaps over the years living there you have lost the appreciation..."
I appreciate things every day. The sun, the sky, the stars, the sea, the people, sights, sounds and yes, even the smells.
The old road was interesting, but taking seven hours to get to Negril with no bathrooms, bouncing in the back of a flatbed, being squeezed into a broken down Lada, walking for hours after Sunsplash when the Lada breaks down at 5am does not inspire in me the thoughts of something "very cool". It was something more to be tolerated. If you travel alone and are not responsible for someone else, it was an adventure. But when you are responsible for others it presented many problems that took away from the adventure aspects.
One memory I wish we shared was clearing the old road by hand, mile by mile, taking 5 days to get to MoBay stuck in a van with my family with no showers after hurricane Gilbert. There definitely was nothing cool about that in the slightest.
Of course I had some great experiences on the "old road", the most recent talking with Pet. But nostalgia will not force me to forget the reality of the old road. I try to look at the old road from a historical perspective since people are often interested in history.
There were both good and bad things about the old road as with virtually everything in life. You are entitled to your opinion, and everyone else is entitled to theirs.
