Have you ever had one of those periods in your life where everything fell apart all

at once? For me it happened in the winter of 1988. Right after New Year I found out my boyfriend

was cheating on me. A week after that I lost my job, and then a few days before my birthday

in February my grandfather died. Since I was no longer gainfully employed it was expected that I

leave for home at once. Law was fine with that except that the absence of employment also meant

the absence of income. I didn't have the money to pay for the plane ticket and there were no

trains that could take me from St. Louis to nowhere. The thought of riding a bus for 16 hours when a

car ride would take six was also more than a little stomach churning. Unfortunately that meant driving

my 1977 International Scout 2 all the way home in January with a massive blizzard building out

west that was threatening to dump a foot of snow all over the roads I'd be traveling.

I loved that old Scout. It was ugliest hell and about as reliable as gas station sushi but it was mine.

I bought it second hand when I was sixteen and newly licensed. It carried my belongings from

Willard Springs to St. Louis when I moved there out of high school. And to be fair I had to stop

in Fort Madison, Iowa for repairs. And then I got all the way to Hannibal, Missouri before another

mechanic was required. It didn't help that I'd chosen to follow the river all the way down. It added

extra miles and undue wear and tear on the old girl but somehow the Scout and I made it.

Of course that was the middle of summer and now five years and a lot more miles later I would

be making the return trip in a possible snow storm. I got the call about granddaddy Friday

afternoon. The funeral was planned for Monday the first, my birthday. I didn't argue or complain

if a man died on Friday he was buried on Monday. Three days that was the rule back then.

The only option was to go home. With one bag of clothes in a small toiletry case I headed for

Willard Springs. It really is in the middle of nowhere. It's the kind of town where you grow up but

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