How It Started

How 80 Miles From Nowhere Came To Be

In the summer of 2004, I was on a return trip from Utah, to our home in Sacramento. I was with my son and his friend in our Chevy Astrovan, which had recently been used to move my daughter and son-in-law to Provo, Utah for the summer.

As we were driving west on Interstate 80, just coming into Wendover, Nevada, the van shuttered, made some horrible metallic noises and lost power. We quickly pulled over to the side of the salt-encrusted freeway and then watched as the transmission fluid slowly splashed on the hot asphalt.

We called for help. While we waited for help I couldn’t help but notice the desolation of the salt flats. I had nothing but time on my hands at that point, so I tried to take in all the details in hopes that maybe I could use them in a book someday.

Eventually a young man named Blake Prescott came to the rescue. He was a tow truck driver from Utah. He towed us all the way back to Provo, where we spent another two days finding and replacing my blown transmission.

When I finally made it home, I started 80 Miles from Nowhere. No offence to anyone in Wendover (Nevada or Utah), but that little berg of a town that straddles the Utah/Nevada boarder didn’t seem like a place I’d like to call home – and being stranded near the salt flats was even more desolate. The whole area from Wendover to Magna, UT provided an excellent backdrop for my book.

I had a ton of fun writing 80 Miles. Let me know what you think!

Cheers,
Melissa