The Georgia Motel Story

A True Story

Written 2012* 1,387 Words*

By Howard Yasgar

It was in November of 1963, I was 24 years old, and I had just gotten married.

A few days after the wedding, I was in Bridgeport Connecticut, talking to my good friend Lou, and his wife Gladys.

That’s when Lou asked me to do him a big favor.

Lou said he had leased an auto wrecking business in Miami Florida, and he was pretty sure the manager that he had hired was ripping him off.

Lou asked me if I would please go down to Miami and find out what was going on there.

He said that once I straightened the situation out, I could, if I wanted, stay in Miami and manage the Business for him.

Just so you know, Lou had been the best man at my wedding and his wife Gladys had been our witness.

So now to kind of pressure me into doing what Lou wanted, his wife Gladys said, “You could make the trip to Florida into a honeymoon for you and your wife.

Also, Lou’s wife Gladys knew that at the time, my mother was leasing a small hotel on Miami Beach, so she said that my going to Miami would also give me an opportunity to see my mom.

When I didn’t immediately reply, to sweeten the deal even more, Lou said that he would let me use a 1959 Plymouth sedan off his car lot, to make the trip and then I could continue to use it once we were in Florida.

The honeymoon idea, and being able to see my mom, sounded pretty good, so I excitedly drove home to New Haven, and told my new wife that I had planned to surprise her with a honeymoon trip to Miami Florida.

So, on a cold November day, we loaded up the 59 Plymouth with everything we would need for a honeymoon in Miami, Florida.

Along the way, we got off the highway several times to stop at all the touristy places, I was determined to make this a fun trip for us.

By the first evening, we found ourselves on a secondary highway somewhere in rural Georgia.

My wife said it was getting late, so she asked me if I was going to try driving straight through to Miami or were we going to stay in a hotel somewhere for the night, and then we could get a fresh start in the morning.

I had been watching the billboards all evening and I knew that most of the major hotels like the Holiday Inn were advertising a cost of $35.00 per night.

There were also billboards advertising several smaller motels along the way.

It was about 10:PM and I saw a billboard showing a nice-looking motel, that had 15 rooms and it was only 4 miles up the road, and best of all, the price was only $11.00 a night.

I thought this was an excellent opportunity for me to show my new wife how talented I was at saving us money.

When we got to the motel, it looked just like the picture on the billboard, there were 15 rooms and an outdoor swimming pool.

As we turned into the motel, the first thing I noticed was there were no other cars there, and I didn’t see an office either.

Then I saw it was in the rear of the property, there was an older farmhouse, and it appeared to be the motel office as well.

It was freezing cold that night, and my winter coat was buried in the back seat somewhere, so I just got out and quickly ran up the farmhouse stairs and rang the bell.

The door opened and an elderly white- haired man was standing there. He saw I was freezing and asked me to step inside the hallway.

I was thankful as it was warm in the house, and I could see his wife sitting in front of their fireplace.

He said a room was $11.00 plus tax per night and each room had a gas heater, so I filled out the application and he put my money into an empty metal cash box sitting on a hall table.

He asked me if I knew how to start a gas heater, I said no, so he spent a minute showing me how simple it was.

He then gave me the key to room No. 6.

I could see my wife wasn’t happy about my decision to stop there, but it was freezing cold, so we went into the room, and I went right away to look at lighting up the gas heater.

I must admit I have seen a lot of mechanical things before, but I had never seen a contraption like that old fashioned gas heater.

I tried getting it to work and I finally decided that if I screwed around with it any longer it might blow up.

I put on my coat and went back up to the farmhouse, and I rang the bell.

I told the old timer the heater didn’t work.

He puttered around looking for his coat and scarf, and he walked to room # 6 with me.

He got the heater working and said the room would be warm and toasty in about an hour.

It was already after almost 1:AM so I asked if there was a restaurant in the area where my wife and I could get a bite to eat while we were waiting for the room to warm up.

He said there was a hamburger restaurant just a few miles up the road.

I thought we could go there, have something to eat, and the room would be warm by the time we got back.

We found the hamburger place, and they had a type of hamburger we had never seen before, it was like they sliced them from what looked like a giant salami.

I looked around the restaurant for a table, but the few people that were sitting there were really staring at us, and it scared the hell out of me.

We took our hamburgers and fries and drove back to our motel room.

The room was still freezing cold; the gas heater had quit and wasn’t working.

I put all the Ice-cold hamburgers on top of the bed, but my wife wouldn’t touch any of it.

I knew I had to do something, so I suggested we both get to bed with all our clothes on, it was now after 2:AM and we could rest for 3 hours and then we would hit the road.

But by now my wife wasn’t talking to me.

Reluctantly she went into the bathroom and put on the light.

Then she hurriedly called me over.

The bathroom had a single towel hanging there with a hole in it.

So, I closed the bathroom door for her, and a minute later I heard a loud scream.

My wife was now yelling that the toilet was overflowing, and I saw water coming out from under the door.

Then she started crying hysterically, so I knew I now had to do something, to try and sop up the water that was on the floor.

The only thing available in the room besides the drapes, was a carpet that was partially under the bed.

I quickly pulled it out, only to find there was a pair of lace-up shoes and stockings someone had left behind.

So, I just threw the entire carpet right on the overflowing toilet water on the floor.

It was now about 3:AM, and I again ran up the farmhouse stairs, I rang the bell, woke up the old man and demanded my money back.

In a way I felt sorry for the old guy, my money was all he had in the cash box.

We must have driven another hour looking for a Holiday Inn, but we eventually found one.

The room was $35.00 a night, but it was warm and even had a coffee maker.

And the best part was, my wife had stopped crying.