Time to 'pout'

A couple of weeks ago my oldest son Joseph passed his driver’s test. Elated, he took his first officially licensed cruise through Cloquet. Atop the bridge over the St. Louis River, our Suburban’s transmission decided it had had enough, leaving our new driver unceremoniously stranded on the side of Highway 33.

As we all know, these types of annoyances just happen. This particular breakdown occurred heading into our spring break.

Over the years, spring break has provided us time to travel and fish as a family. A year ago we looped around St. Louis, Mo. to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky to Nashville,...