What I Didn’t Know Then

One year ago tonight, at this precise moment of sundown on a Midwestern prairie, Libby and I were headed eastbound on U.S. 64 near Springfield, Illinois, where I would pull in to a nondescript Red Roof Inn, ushering in the first of many nights in which the motel maid was often the first and last human I'd speak to all day. Looking back, I shudder to think of what could have gone wrong. So much could have, what with a middle-aged woman, traveling all over the country … [Read more...]

House By the Side of the Road

My mom, Beverly G. Garcia, who always insisted we include the “G” in her name so as not to mistake her for just any Beverly Garcia, died five years ago on July 5th, the day I launched this journey. I miss her and think about her every single day. I didn’t plan “driveway” day to commemorate the five-year anniversary of her passing, that’s kinda morbid, but since it worked out that way, it seemed rather fitting that my day of departure coincided with her day of departure … [Read more...]