Desert Gem Memoirs Part III

The motel is the classic one floor, L-shaped building. The design was made famous in the classic thriller, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. After seeing the movie, cars filled with happy families decided it would be best to stay elsewhere on their road trips. The motel business would soon die to make way for the enclosed hotels not being shadowed by creepy mansions on hills.

We pull into the motel, and I jump out to inquire about rates, knowing that we just had to stay in this place for the night. I walk in and after ringing the little service bell, this little German lady in her 80’s comes out in her moo-moo to help me. From where she comes from is what looks like a living room because a television is blaring and the blue light is bleeding into the fluorescent lighted office where we are standing. I immediately see an image of Norman Bates in my head.

After inquiring about the rates, the German accented lady gives me the key and we drive two doors down to our room for the night, room #3.

As we swing open the door, ready to sleep the road off for one more night, we notice that we had just stepped back into the 1960’s. The décor had not changed since that time period. The green shag carpet hugged our feet, while the phones stared at us waiting to be spin-dialed. Lying on the polka dot green bed spread, I realize that the layout of the room is the same as that in which the movie Psycho took place.

I rise from the bed to wash my face in the sink basin, when I step into the bathroom. This bathroom is the same white tile on the floor as in the movie. Not as much freaked out, but impressed, I washed my face and we retired for the night.

The next morning, the desert sun’s heat woke us up, telling us we best be on our way. Our next destination…San Diego.

Upon pulling out of the gravel drive in the green Jeep Cherokee, we pass the sign of the place we had stayed in for the night. A little bit Psycho and a little bit clever, but the sign was the ending of a story within a story. The name of the motel in Gila Bend, AZ that sent us packing was The Desert Gem.

Shad simply christened my diamond in the rough, The Desert Gem.

We drive through the desert and in about 4 hours we are pulling into the most comfortable climate in the world. San Diego.

To be continued…