At about 3:00 AM we'd had about as much entertainment as we were going to get for the evening.  Sleep deprived though we were, we all felt quite awake and decided this would be the best time to get started on our trip home, so Bob Hartley, Scott Turnbull, Dave Drouillard and myself set out to hit the highway as it were. 

Feeling confident, I volunteered, saying "Hey, I'm WIDE awake... I'LL drive!" and proceeded to take the wheel of the Jeep Cherokee and the camping trailer we were towing.  Driving something this big took a bit getting used to, as it was little unwieldy and, 20 minutes into the drive, I noted that the lines on the freeway looked kind of like... dreamy marshmallows... and about then I felt the lurch as I quickly then pulled myself out of dreamland and swerved back onto the freeway from the shoulder of the road, which was where I'd inadvertently been heading. 

Bob, becoming increasingly irritated after this had occurred a few times, spoke up at this point: "Brian, pull over - I'LL drive - I'm more awake than you." Point taken.  I pulled over onto the shoulder of the freeway, we switched places and I drowsily slumped into the passenger seat as Bob pulled back onto the freeway. 

About 20 minutes into the drive, I feel the familiar *lurch* of the Cherokee and the camping trailer again being pulled back onto the freeway after having driven the shoulder for a moment - compliments of Mr. Sleepy in the driver's seat. 

I decided it was best to give in at this point: "Bob, there's a rest area in 5 miles - let's just pull over, park and sleep there for awhile, okay?"  Bob readily agreed - about 3 miles further, though, Morpheus was taking over the vehicle once again.  Bob awoke quickly and frightened himself by how close he'd come to rolling into the embankment at the side of the freeway.  The resulting adrenaline, however, kept him awake for the next two miles until we reached the rest stop.  

There was essentially no normal place to park with our camper  in tow, so we pulled the oversized vehicle and trailer into one of the elongated parallel parking spaces behind a line of 18 wheelers.  Bob nosed up to the back end of the big rig and we went quietly to sleep in the passenger and driver seats.  I curled up and reclined slightly my chair & Bob relaxed back with his fingers resting on the wheel and Dave & Scott fast asleep in the back seat. 

I'm not certain how much time had passed... not much, since it was still dark out, but it became rather windy that evening.  So much so that the swaying motion of the vehicle caused me to awaken and I drowsily looked over at Bob, who quickly progressed from stirring slightly, to opening his eyes, to suddenly adopting a saucer-eyed panicked look, gripping the steering wheel and screaming AAAAAIIIIIIIGGGGGHHH!!!!! - &%*#@!! (expletive deleted) and shoving his foot repeatedly into the brake pedal with all his might as he stared down what he thought was our impending collision with the rear end of the *parked* 18-wheeler in front of us.  Realizing that he'd mistakenly believed that he'd just killed us all by falling asleep at the wheel - the rest of us laughed uninterrupted for five minutes straight. 

Bob, exasperated by the excitement, then turned to me and said: "Okay... I'm - awake now, I think I'll drive for awhile..." 

(Brian Philbin, writer of stuff, reveals that Bob Hartley has since continually opted to take his trips via airline - statistically, the safest mode of travel.)

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Tourists
April '87
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Cub Scouts
April '88
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Crazy
April 89'
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WhiteTux
July '89
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