The Road Trip From Hell
Halfway done. Felt great to know that if I could make it through the first half of my time at Mines then I could finish the rest! For this entry I need to start at the end of the summer before junior year. I decided it would be fun to go on a road trip to Michigan with my roommate and his longtime friend. I left not really knowing my roommates longtime friend, but came back with another great friend.
Begin the road trip from hell. Things started off like any normal 20 hour road trip. Moral was high as we left Golden, everyone was energized and excited to get to lake Michigan. That continued until we hit Nebraska. About 2 hours into Nebraska, I was driving my roommates truck when I got pulled over. Knowing that I had the cruise control locked in at 70 MPH (the speed limit was 65) I knew that I was well within range of what I assume to be acceptable. I calmly told the officer that I believed I was going 70. He informed me that I was clocked in at 78 MPH. Bewildered, when the cop left I turned to my roommate and asked him if the speedometer was off. After a quick phone call with his dad, he said, "Oh yea I forgot that this speedometer is off by 8 MPH." That little mistake cost me 200 bucks and 2 points on my license. With that taken care of we continued our journey.
A couple of hours later, we were driving through Iowa. It was about 2 AM and our friend, we will call him Hammer, began to pull over because the car was making a weird noise. Initially we thought it was a flat tire, but found that wasn't the problem. We were then forced to drive another mile to the next town at a brisk 35 MPH on the interstate. Limping into a gas station my roommate, who I will now call TD, left the car while Hammer and I remained in the car. We opted to stay in the car so the children of the corn like dude riding his bike would only get one of us. Anyway, TD found out that the CV joint was damaged and would need to be repaired. Which meant we would need to wait it out in a sketchy motel. After a restless night on what was essentially a cardboard mattress, we called a tow truck. TD being the thinker that he is, neglected to request an extended cab truck. So TD was forced to sit as seen below.
TD took the first shift in the "repaired" vehicle and navigated a successful 4 hour session. Switching drivers I took over. I had been driving about 45 minutes when the car shook in a strange way. Pulling over immediately I told TD that something was wrong with the car. With Hammer in the front seat, me in the back, TD took over again and began driving. He decided it would be a good idea to get up to 65 MPH real quick even after I advised him about the car. All of a sudden the shaking returned, but much more violent this time. Next thing we know, the wheel of our car is off, rolling on the road next to us as we came sliding to a hault, it was a miracle that the car didn't flip. This is the aftermath
Brake pad and rotor completely sheered off. We once again had to get towed, this time 99 miles to TD's uncle's house. Thankfully he had the 100 mile coverage plan with AAA. Anyway, we get to his uncles house, spend the night, and his uncle is kind enough to lone us his van so we could still make it to lake Michigan. Turns out the trip was definitely worth it.
(All Photos Taken By James Maroney)
