To fulfill a lifetime dream a terminally ill man heads to the Grand Canyon. On the way he meets a homeless man and helps him reunite with his estranged family instead of finishing his trip.

(in my mind so far) The ill man encounters the homeless guys who has helped him out in some small way. He decides to repay the favor. By doing that, he learns more about the homeless man and decides to do something more important with his final days than look at the grand canyon. The homeless guy is not fully aware of the illness. He is still reluctant and is verging on sabotaging the reconciliation when the Ill man dies.

His death shows him that people are still good and that someone was willing to sacrifice something important to give him a second chance.

Just a few points so far. It looks like it is going to revolve around "seeing what other see in you" and "being willing to sacrifice something for someone else". Maybe that we can achieve immorality through our good deeds.

I tend to discover midpoints and build stories out from there.

I think it's a potentially great story, Greg. Keep working on it. However, I think the homeless guy must have an amazing story, strong enough to divert the terminally ill man to abandon his dream of going to the Grand Canyon, and he must have some revelation at the end as a reward for changing his trip. Maybe he doesn't die when he expected, or he saves the life of the hobo by helping reunite him with his family, who become his family and help him to really reconcile with his own family when he does. i.e. he bought some time to settle his own affairs before dying.

The reason I tend to do a "vomit draft" (don't like that term - but it is in the population), is that it informs me of the characters. As I write them I understand what they will do. Once I have everything down, which is never enough to sustain a story. I start throwing obstacles at them. This builds the story and allows me to put things in that will be paid off later in the story.

Who these guys are is still up for grabs. My brother had throat cancer twice. He said that there was a liberation to the disease. So you owe $15k on a credit card - you have cancer, so you can't hit a good 1 wood shot on the golf course - you have cancer. He said it put everything in perspective for him. He is fine now, cancer free for 10 years. But it had a changing effect on him that remained. I can see the sick guy having that change during the story. How and why, I don't know yet.

I'll find these characters as I write them. It is also my guess that drama will make a come back into about five years. I have a huge theory on why. Too big for this text box and not why we are here.

Thanks everyone.