Every summer, for as far back as I can remember, my family and I have taken the
long journey to North Dakota, to visit relatives. Did we take a plane? NO! That would be
much too easy! Instead every year we used to take our old van. When is say old, I mean
ancient. This van was a Toyota Previa and was as old as I am. Well, anyway, on this
particular trip we had packed our luggage in the back of the van and had set off at our
usual time, four in the morning. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. How did I ever wake up at four in the morning? Easy, I never went to sleep. I would stay up until four in the morning lying awake in my bed with a coke. Ok, the entire first part of this journey I don’t recall, this is due to the fact I was out cold. Well, you would too if you stayed up until four in the morning drinking coke. It’s when you get to the point your so tired that both your eyes are twitching and it feels like your constantly blinking. If you have no idea what I’m taking about you’ll have to try it sometime. I believe it’s something everyone should experience at least once in their lives. Back to the story, I woke up somewhere near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Yeah I know right, America’s playground. You wish! If you’ve never been to Wyoming you’ll know the entire state is a giant prairie. So I wake up and I have that taste in my mouth. That taste that indicates you have dragon’s breathe. You can’t smell it because your senses aren’t exactly top notch when you wake up. My older brother always rode in the back of the van. It wasn’t because he was neglected or anything, it was because my sister and I were clever enough to claim we couldn’t sit in the back due to motion sickness. Actually, my sister did get motion sick on occasion. Me on the other hand, first class bluffing. So Andre, my brother, had to squeeze in the back. We’re those type of people that when we go on a trip, we take everything. Yup, blankets, clothes, pillows, cosmetics, household cookware, appliances etc. So Andre rides the entire trip in the fetal position. Andre hated these long trips and I believe it was mainly due to his unfortunate seating arrangement. His solution: Dramamine. Andre doesn’t get motion sick at all he just used them as sleeping pills. So Andre would be drugged out, a majority of the trip, going around like a zombie. You just wait, in a couple years we’re going to find that over excessive use of Dramamine is extremely bad for your health. Ok sorry, back to the story. We pull into a truck stop because all three of us young’uns have to use the bathroom. The truck stop was rancid. I’ll spare you from all the details of this health code violating structure. We pile back into the car and off we go. I close my eyes resting my head against the window and Andre wakes up from his drug sleep. “Where’s Anna?” I look back at him confused and then realize that theirs an empty seat next to me. “O S!@#!!”, My dad turns the wheel drastically and flies across the highway. Let me tell you; that will make you fully wake in a moments notice. The car wheels screech as my dad slows down and pulls a u-turn on the highway. Yeah, now you’re probably thinking, how is he pulling a u-turn on the highway? This story is a load of bull! Let me remind you, it’s Wyoming! Who else is on the road!? So we drive across the median and high tail it back to that God awful truck stop. And theirs Anna waiting is front of the truck stop. Luckily, she didn’t even realize we had left her behind.