Penn View Motel, West Reading

Golly, I wish I could say that that our stay at the Penn View was splendid...or decent...or adequate...or...well, you get the idea. When we pulled in, it looked as if this place hasn't seen a fresh coat of paint since the early 1960's. Vending machines in the main office appear to be from the same era, although the goodies from within said machine appeared to be recently updated, dashing my hopes of finding a mint condition Jim Palmer rookie card for 50 cents (GO ORIOLES!). I'm fairly certain my girlfriend would have at the 40+ year old gum, but like I said, the snacks appeared to be of recent vintage. Upon entering our room, we stepped back in time to the 1970's wood paneled hell (a word I don't use lightly). While the room wasn't covered in filth, it wasn't exactly clean either, the place was quite dreary. To sum up the mood the room created in one word, I'd use suicidal, but the promise of cable TV seemed to be the key to sprucing up the joint. Alas, you can't change the chanels without dishing out $5 for remote control (refundable upon leaving, provided you don't void your receipt by writing a suide note on it). To give credit where credit is due, they went all out on their basic package cable, everything from BET to CSPAN to TRINTITY BROADCASTING NETWORK, so we were somewhat satisified with that. Furthermore, THE PENN VIEW MOTEL's SHOWERS MIGHT HAVE THE BEST WATER PRESSURE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Access to TBN and world class water pressure made us rethink how wonderful the Penn View might actually be, that it might actually justify spending $10-$20 more then the recently built EconoLodge, until the next morning when we woke up to an ice cold room. The heat broke overnight and it wasn't fixed prior to checkout (thankfully, a generous 12 noon). Just priot to checkout, while attempting to locate the remote deposit reciept, I came upon a what I could only guess was a crack pipe stem (I've seen New Jack City at least two or three times). It's a said state of affairs when the scurge of crack cocain makes its way into the heartland of our once great nation. Now, let's be 100% clear, the Penn View probably had no idea it was there, but that's because they didn't clear up the room they way they should have. Cleanliness is next to godliness, and while the Penn View is not next to God, it is next to Rt 422, and the Penn Street bridge, convienent to downtown Reading and all the nearby outlets.