The Famous Honeymoon Story

It is time to share one of the most famous stories in our family. It is our honeymoon story. It is a small wonder that we stayed married afterwards!

We were married at 19 and 20 years old. Michael turned 21 two days later. (Read the November 11, 2009 blog for background information.) We bought a 1966 Mustang just before we got married, I wanted to see the Grand Canyon, we waited a day for the car to be insured then we headed off on our happy honeymoon.

We planned to first visit the relatives in LA and have always wanted to drive Highway 1 along the coast. It was torture. It took over 12 hours to get to our horrible hotel in Long Beach. We have never driven it again. At the hotel, they didn’t believe we were married, demanded ID and we were shocked at the hotel room. There were plastic curtain. Plastic. Horrible. It was the famous round Holiday Inn at the airport. Why we stayed there, I will never know.

Strike 1

It was early September. It was Labor Day. It was very hot.

We headed into the Mojave Dessert at mid-day. It was over 110 degrees. There was no interstate at the time and it was a small two-lane road. When coming up on a slow moving truck, passing had to happen. It was very dangerous and a very scary trip.

Also, we didn’t know that the radiator on the car was old and leaking. They had put rocks in it before they sold it to us. We could not go over 55 miles per hour or it overheated. No air-conditioning either. It was REALLY hot. I was REALLY miserable.

Exhausted, hot and totally drained, we arrived in the early evening at Williams, Arizona which is a town just south of the Grand Canyon. The main street is one way heading east. We thought we would leave early the next morning and see the sights at the Canyon before the crowds. We had not made reservations. All the hotels were booked except for one which, of course, did not have air conditioning. Did I mention it was HOT?

I think it was well over 120 degrees in the room, which had two single beds. Our honeymoon. We made our way to a Rod’s Steak House steak a few doors down. Years later, we passed through Williams again and the restaurant was still there! The food was marvelous but even more importantly, it was air-conditioned. We stayed as long as we could before heading back to the hot hotel room.

It was horrible. Michael said, “I’ll be right back.” Neither of us had any experience with alcohol of any kind except for Gallo wine served at our house with Sunday dinner. He returned with a small bottle of Wild Turkey and two cans of coke. We proceeded to have several drinks, which allowed us to sleep in the heat. At one point, I turned to Michael and said, “I am so hot that if you even think about touching me, I will kill you.”

Strike 2

We left the hotel at dawn to make the final drive to the Grand Canyon. We, along with several thousand other people, were there. I told Michael to wait a minute, I pushed my way through the throngs to look down into the Canyon, turned around, and we hopped back into the car and headed back to Williams. This time, we found a hotel room with air conditioning, slept until early evening then hit the desert at night. It was still well over 100 degrees but we didn’t have the hot sun beating down on us. It was a lonely and scary drive. 

We limped into San Bernardino around 2:00AM. The first hotel we found was just off the highway. We said we wanted to book a room. The reply, “How long?” We, oh so very young, said that we would be out about 8:30AM. We paid but did not sleep well as other hotel doors slammed about every 20 minutes! Yes, it was that kind of hotel. Years later, I was telling my parents this whole story and they started to laugh. They also had stayed at this same hotel!

Strike 3

At least it wasn’t three strikes and I was out of there! But, it was a long drive home. Did I make a mistake? Was this horrible honeymoon a sign? I remember glancing over at Michael driving the last few miles to our little rented home and I knew that this was right. I knew we would spend our lives together. But man, what a horrible honeymoon!