Material by Bob Krech (April Theme)

A lot of different things happen to all of us. Some good things. Some bad things. One big plus of being an author is that all of it, good and bad, can be mined for material.

This past Monday my wife, son, and I were driving from Hilton Head, South Carolina to Elon, North Carolina. We were bringing my son back to Elon University after an Easter weekend together down in Hilton Head. My daughter had left us Sunday night to return to Guilford College in Greensboro as she had an early class on Monday.

We were about four hours into the trip, just as night was coming on, on a very empty road just north of Cheraw, SC (can you see where this is going?) when smoke started pouring out from under the hood. We pulled off into an empty parking lot in front of the long abandon Club 100. Thank goodness for cell phones, GPS, and AAA. Within an hour we were in a tow truck on our way to Rockingham, NC and the Rockingham Garage.

I was hoping it was just a hose, but in fact, the radiator had cracked on our 2001 Mazda MPV. Which meant we were not going anywhere right away. That evening and the next day we delved into the automotive world of Rockingham. I found out a lot about area NASCAR, hotels, dogs, riding lawn mower races, long haul trucking, the tow truck business, and engine computer sensors. I met a cast of characters and heard a lot of stories from them that will no doubt find their way into my writing somewhere down the line. They were too rich and colorful not to.

If given the choice, I would much rather have not had the cracked radiator (especially because they are not cheap!) However, I did get a boatload of new material and some very interesting experiences. Those April showers, if paid attention to, can bring May flowers in future writing endeavors. I mean, who knew there were riding lawn mower races?! I bet there hasn't been a book about that yet.