While working in a Kansas City car factory, a nomadic American artist decides, at the age of 42, that he's finally ready to learn how to drive. The following spring, he purchases his first vehicle, a dilapidated soccer-mom minivan that he nicknames "Pamela". Over the next five years, he and Pamela travel 91,000 miles together ... getting lost, breaking down, blowing tires, taking on grueling jobs, chasing storms, skirting disaster, witnessing scenes of astonishing beauty, and discovering the grace of the open road. These essays on work, wanderlust, and the spirit of discovery are a testament to the glory hidden within everyday life, a love letter to a magic automobile, and a document of a transformative era.