Evans, Richard Paul: The Road to Grace

During McKale’s illness, Alan had stayed home to care for her. Alan soon discovers that in his absence, his business partner has stolen his clients and he is forced into bankruptcy. Alan soon lost his home in Seattle and his car as well as his business and his friend. For some reason he decided to set out on a walk to the farthest thing he could see on a map that he could walk to: Key West, Florida.

In The Road to Grace, the third book in the series we join Alan in Custer, South Dakota. On his back he carries a pack with a sleeping bag, a few clothes, a supply of water and a little food. His aim is to walk twenty miles every day. Some days he stays in a motel or hotel. Some days, far from the nearest town, especially in the west, he camps out fi nding shelter where he can. Occasionally he spends the night with a local resident that he gets to know in a grocery or convenience store.

Along the way, Alan is occasionally delayed by people and events. His wife’s estranged mother stalks him in high heels and a dress for several days, nearly killing herself in an effort to explain herself and seek the “grace” of forgiveness from him, her only link to her dead daughter. Near Mitchell, South Dakota, Alan becomes dizzy and collapses beside the road. He is rescued by an elderly Jewish man, an Halocaust survivor. After a visit to the emergency room, Alan recuperates under the care of Mr. Leszek and learns about forgiveness. There he decides he must forgive his former business partner.

A few days later, Alan encounters a group of Red Hat Ladies at the hotel where he is spending the night. He meets a number of interesting people in Iowa and Missouri where he enjoys the small towns off the freeway. From a tramp named Israel he learned the difference between hobo and tramp. In Hannibal, Missouri, Alan goes on a ghost tour and from an elderly man who has been looking for his dead wife for forty years, he learns about the bitterness that comes from refusing to accept that loss.

Near St. Louis, Missouri, Alan again falls ill, collapses beside the road and wakens in a hospital bed. He has been admitted, his former secretary is beside his bed, and his father has been called. X-Rays reveal a brain tumor. Talk about a cliff hanger! I want to read the other three.