It's been over a decade since I read this last. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well King build characters. Lets see if the rest of the narrative holds up to my fond memory. 
 *** 
 Upon completion, it held up better than I remember. I'm more forgiving of the "Hand of God" ending, but I'm less forgiving of the hours of travel detail after everything was finished. I would have been perfectly happy with a paragraph or two detailing Stu and Nick's journey back to Boulder.