Driving 'Em Crazy

It looked like a real nice morning for a trip, so Russell Grafton, 79, and his wife Ruby, 74, climbed into their 1982 Ford Bronco and drove off. Thus began a nine-day jaunt that frazzled the Graftons' relatives, baffled police and may have involved some 4,000 U.S. miles.

Driving on back roads, the couple meandered through northern Illinois as far as Chicago, east into Indiana, south to Paducah, Ky., and then into the St. Louis area. Back in Carman township, Ill., distraught family members, unaware that the Graftons were motoring aimlessly, reported them missing.

Sheriffs deputies and state troopers launched an extensive land-and-air search. Melvin Grafton, 49, a nephew, hired a local water dowser to wring what tips he could from a road map. Nothing worked. Just when everyone was braced for the worst, state police located the elderly couple in Alton, Ill., 160 miles south of Carman. Everyone assumed the Graftons were lost. Not at all, said Russell. "I don't understand what the fuss is about. We were just traveling around." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.