I have always gotten such an adrenaline high from traveling to new places, trying new things, or simply doing things a little bit outside of the box. It keeps me checking things off of my bucket list and creating memories I will NEVER forget. When you add in doing these things with friends, it just makes it even better.
There’s something about road-trips that I can’t get enough of. The long hours of jam sessions and podcasts, the constant change of scenery, interesting billboards, and scattered conversations and games with accompanying passengers. The road-trip is fun and exciting, and it’s only the beginning. You’re not even at the destination yet. It’s like a mini-trip before the big trip.
I did long car rides to Texas and Florida when I was growing up, and since being older I have driven across the country 8 times now – but I will NEVER forget the first time across the country with no parents/adults.
I was with my friends Carson, Adam, and Jacob.
Carson has family that lives in Montana on their farm, The Foust Farm. It’s super cute. The landscape at the farm is laid out perfectly with hills and mountains filling outlining the vast blue sky. You can hear the water of the river crashing on rocks from the house, and you get the occasional, “moo,” here and there. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a cute little brown bare roaming around – which I have yet to see.
During the summers Carson would end up staying out there for a solid month or so. Carson couldn’t stay away from me this long though… so senior year of high school we decided it was time I lived the farm life. Talk about an experience! We floated in rafts down the river, we had a huge scavenger hunt on the island of the river (which was SUPER fun), we played hide and seek in a pitch black barn in the middle of the night, slept in sleeping bags under the stars, we played softball with two people in one shirt, we ate Rocky Mountain Oysters (if you don’t know what those are, Google them), and lucky me!! I was put to farm work – moving pipes, mowing, and cow branding and castrating.
There’s no way in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks I could brand and castrate now. I would die.
We followed behind Carson’s parents on the way out there. We drove throughout the night and just took turns rotating drivers so everyone could sleep accordingly for their driving shift. It worked really great. On the drive back home though, there were no parents. We’re all super excited because it’s just us. No parents. Not that it really matters because we were in separate cars anyway.. but it’s just the point. Even though we love our parents with all of our hearts, but we’re like 17-years-old… this is like the pregame for entering adulthood so we were like YEAH! OUR FIRST CROSS COUNTRY DRIVE ON OUR OWN!! WOO!!
The day before we were headed back home we all agreed that Jacob would be the designated driver. Meaning that since we were leaving at 4am the next morning, he was the designated one to go to bed early that night. We were relying on Jacob to get us through the first few hours that way we all didn’t have the pressure of going to bed early. Carson and I have way too much energy at any time of the day, so of course we decided to stay up all night with Adam and Maddie (Carson’s cousin who lives on the farm). None of us drank alcohol at the time, so we went to the store and got energy drinks and plastic shot glasses for an EPIC, and what turned out to be, an unforgettable game night. We put on a movie and Carson drew mustaches on pieces of paper and stuck them to the TV. Every time they landed on a character in the movie we would have to take a shot… of an energy drink. Our goal was to get “energy drink drunk” so we’d crash for the first shift or two of the drive.
Of course we did this successfully. 4am hits and we packed up the car and got on the road. We zonked out as soon as we hit the backseat. All of the sudden I opened my eyes to long country grass slapping the window I was just laying my head on. I realized Jacob was asleep, and the car was still in cruise control. It suddenly felt like the mute button was turned off and I could hear the slapping and everything went from slow motion to HOLY CRAP WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! I see Jacob wake up and I remember saying, “DON’T JERK THE WH –” and everything went silent as we spun circles across the highway. About mid way into the second spin I say, “HIT THE BRAKES DON’T SWER –” and we came to dead halt in the middle of the median of the highway. I swear I heard the screeching wheels echo after we stopped. We sat in disbelief, with the only sound being our beating hearts.
Luckily it was only 6 a.m., so traffic on the highway was minimal. Otherwise… phew. Close one.
Jacob was pretty shaken up. Adam got in the driver seat. Carson FINALLY woke up after all of the madness and groggily asked, “what happened?” I proceeded to tell him that we’ve just had a little crash but that we are all okay and that’s what matters. He repeated himself, “what happened?” I said, “we just crashed.” He blankly stares around and again… asks what happened. At this point I’m annoyed with him, we almost just died and where’s Carson?? ASLEEP. THAT’S WHERE. AND he was sleeping with MY pillow that I brought for ME. So I very sternly repeat myself again for Mr. Sleeping Beauty.
Carson laid right back down with my pillow like nothing happened. Super cool. I’m glad he made sure everything was okay considering this was his parents vehicle. Adam got back onto the highway and carried us off like a champ. I suggested we pull over to check out the car and just make sure everything was okay and Carson lifts his head and goes, “yeah, we should do that.”
Everything was okay. From this point on Carson and I decided to take turns driving the rest of the way. (Adam wasn’t the best driver and we all already knew that when agreeing to road-trip together). Keep in mind, we still had about 26 hours left to drive… but don’t worry, we weren’t energy drink drunk.
It didn’t take us long before we went back to our normal selves. We all talked about how extremely lucky we were to come out of that without a scratch – but this just shows you how easily it is to fall asleep at the wheel, even when you think you’re just yawning because your body is gasping for air. Ever since this day I have never risked being tired while driving. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pulled over into a Walmart parking lot to sleep in. I’m not saying that’s the safest thing to do, but pulling over to sleep when you’re tired is better than falling asleep at the wheel and losing a life.
Bad things happen sometimes, and some are scarier than others, but they happen to teach us a lesson. Which we DEFINITELY learned. Now, we look back and laugh as how insane that was, and how lucky we are. Like that’s one of those things I’m not sure if even all of our parents know… haha well, until they read this. Sorry guys!!
“Hey guys, at one point we were all asleep at the same time.” – Jacob ~ 1.5 hrs after the wreck
I love these guys, I love the entire Foust family, and I will forever cherish this summer at the farm. It was jam packed with activities, challenges, bonding, and lots of adventure. Including Glacier National Park, which was breathtaking… here’s a gallery of moments captured during the trip through the park.
Thanks for reading guys, please don’t tell our parents!! We’re better people now.
xx, Mallory
Inside Mallory's Brain 