Fastball - The Way

This song launched the band Fastball into the music stardom.
Background on this classic song that SGT John " Mac " McConnell shared earlier this year.

"Lela and Raymond Howard were a couple in their 80s living in Salado, TX. (Sala-do). In June 1997, they packed a bag for the short 15 mile trip to Temple, TX for the annual Pioneer Day Festival. Their children, one of whom lived next door, knew nothing of their trip. The husband and wife were both prone to confusion in their old age, and this was made worse by Lela’s alzheimers and Raymond’s recent brain surgery.
Reports say that they made it to Temple and were spotted at a local Walmart buying coffee. After that, they disappeared. They never returned home later that day, and by the next day, they were put on the missing persons list. Police and helicopters searched for the couple, looking all across the southeast and helicopters flew over Arkansas, while others searched woods, ravines, and twisted back roads.
Their family had no way of knowing it, but by Saturday night, Lela and Raymond Howard were already 500 miles away in rural Arkansas. They had been pulled over for driving without their headlights once, and then 45 minutes later were stopped for driving with their high beams on. But neither of the deputies who pulled them over knew that they were missing persons, and wouldn’t know until Monday. By that time, the Howards were long gone.
A reporter searched the Howards home looking for clues. What she found was eerie, and a sign that the couple had been suffering from more confusion and dementia than their children had realized. The T.V. was unplugged and clothes were strewn on the bed, as well as other signs that they had been planning for a long trip but abruptly left. They had also left their toiletries and hearing aids behind. It was July but their calendar was still turned to February.
On July 12th, the search for the couple came to an end. Hikers stumbled across the crumpled remains of their car at the bottom of a 25-foot cliff, just off of a stretch of highway near Hot Springs under thick vegetation. Bodies at the site were Lela and Raymond’s, who had died from their injuries in the crash.
A year later, the band Fastball found fame with their hit, “The Way” which was inspired by the couple and their album went platinum. The band’s leader, Tony Scalzo, still attributes that song and the story of the old couple to the band’s success."

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