It was a dark morning. A somber attitude filled the air. The waves from the lake were faint, as few people travel out to go fishing at 4:00 in the morning. A crisp wetness cooled the air as we loaded the remaining bags in to our white Suburban. Grandma and Grandpa were loading up their suitcases and were going to depart a short while after us. We were the only ones in our cabin, as our other relatives had left the night before. I assisted my dad in loading the bags and soon we were hugging my grandparents, as we were leaving.
In the next five minutes, we had left. The final segment of our vacation had finished. As we drove by the lodge on our way out, the car was filled with sadness. I suppose I should now describe the environment in which I would spend the next thirty six hours.
My mother and father were seated in the front seats. They swapped positions every few hours, as driving can get monotonous. Behind the passenger seat is where I sat. Under my seat was a Wii that we had hooked up to our car’s video screen. My brother sat next to me and under his seat we had constructed a network setup so we could watch movies from a DVD player on our iPads. My sister sat behind us in one of the back seats, while the other seat was occupied by more bags and backpacks that we could not fit in our rocket box.
After an hour of driving, we had all woken up. It was at this point where the first discussion of us driving strait to San Jose began. Nothing was definite, but I guess my mom and dad really wanted to get home and had talked some about it beforehand. They casually threw it out there as if they were looking in to it. I got really excited about this, as I too wanted to get home. We had been on vacation for three weeks at this point and I was eager to get home.
After thinking about the feat of nonstop driving for some time, I decided to start watching a movie. After looking through the choices of movies we had brought with us, I finally chose to watch Fifty First Dates starring Adam Sandler. Two and a half hours later, this movie had once again reaffirmed my love for Adam Sandler’s movies. At several points throughout the movie I was stared at by members of the car, as to inquire what I was laughing so hard about.

After the movie had finished, we had already passed through the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area and were down near Owatonna. The early awakening had finally caught up to me, and here I decided to take my first of many naps.

When I woke up we were in Iowa, as I looked around me, I was saddened to see all of the dry crops. The stalks looked as though they were ready for harvest, however no corn had grown on them. This resonated deeply with me, as my entire Midwest family is farmers.

It was about lunchtime as we were still a good hour away from Des Moines and we decided to stop. I used an app on my dad’s iPhone and located a Subway at an exit only a few miles ahead of us. We pulled in, each ordered a sandwich, and were soon on our way again.

Des Moines came and passed. We stopped for a rest stop a few miles before it, but it was soon a distant memory. My attention was brought inside the car now, as my parents were trying to book a flight from San Jose to Cleveland for m dad’s good friend’s wedding, which was happening in a few weeks. They bickered off and on about how they should have booked their flight earlier and how they were hoping that the airfare would have gone down. Luckily, my dad had his iPad with him, so as he drove, my mom used wireless tethering to scavenge the Internet for the best fare.

I had now become bored with the images of farms outside the car and the dull conversation inside the car, and so I was faced with the decision of what movie should I watch. After flipping through the choices of disks, there were none that appealed to me at the time. Instead, I hooked up the Wii to the video display and began playing Mario Kart Wii. After racing around various fantastical stadiums for three quarters of an hour, I dozed off.

I came to my senses a few miles beyond Omaha. We had just stopped at a rest area so the entire car could stretch their legs. I got out and began doing stretches, as if I was in PE class. My sister inquired as to what I was doing. I responded with the usual question “What does it look like?” This seemed to satisfy her (or at least she did not reply.)

We were soon on the road again. What happened from here to the1:30 am is a blur to me, possibly because it had no significance or maybe just because my mind was still exhausted after having very little sleep the night before.
At 1:30 am, I was awoken by my mom. We were parked at a rest stop in where I presume was near Rock Springs, Wyoming. My mom explained to me how she and my brother were exhausted and it was my dad’s turn to take the wheel, with me accompanying him. My father and I rode together for about an hour. We talked and listened to the radio. After an hour, we were both tired again. I swapped seats with my mom, who talked with my dad for the rest of the night.
At 4:00 am I woke up as we were driving through the streets of Salt Lake City. My mother informed me that we had decided to get a hotel for the remaining hours of the night. I agreed that this was the best option, as everyone in the car could barely stay awake.
We got back on the road again at 9:00 am. It was for the best that we stopped at a hotel. Everyone had more energy. As we were riding through the desert, my sister, who was still tired, complained how every time she woke up she saw the same plant. My cousin that lives in San Jose, who misses us every time we leave on a trip, was jubilant to hear that we would be home from the trip two days early.
We arrived at our house at 7:00 pm that day. My cousin came over after we had unpacked the car. My brother and sister played with her for a little while. Soon it was time for bed, and the trip soon became a distant memory. We were happy that we stopped, however, because if we had not, we could have possibly gotten in an accident. We were all glad to be safe at home.