Cheers to Stella Blue, the 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Though sold, a few years ago, this vehicle provided 197,000 miles of misadventure from Appalachia to southern Utah to northern Arizona. It rolled along in every condition, help crawl all over the Colorado Rockies, explored the Wyoming and Montana territories into the grander Pacific Northwest.

I’ve slept in your front seat, your passenger seat, and your backseats. You’ve been a master bedroom, a dining room, a family room, an office, a basecamp.

Lots of stories from behind this wheel, sure.

There is the time a horse bit the driver side door, and then somehow his buddy chewed the hood. “Good luck explaining that to the insurance company,” said a photo editor when I shared the story after transmitting. I didn't share the HORSE TEETH scars with the new owners; they would not have seen the humor or maybe become worried about seeing the attachment this weirdo had on this inanimate object of steel, plastic, and gasoline.

Stella Blue, when all the cards were down, you always started. Most always. Ninety-nine percent.

“It seems like all this life

Was just a dream

Stella Blue”

Gracia/Hunter