SUNCHASER

Always downhill. Beautiful all day. Then the sun sets, the headlights come on, and the valley shows you what it really is.

Scavenge the route — cold brew for the engine in your chest, energy drinks for your hands, first aid for the rest. And here and there, quieter finds: a rosary, a wayside shrine, a medal of St. Christopher. They won't patch a wound. They do something else.

At the end of the day you'll choose a stop — the town, the dock, or the falls — and whoever is waiting there rides your night with you. Choose for how you drive.