US Trip: Day 7

I was not well rested on this 5th day of our trip. I tried to stay awake but it was too hard. I switched places with Allan but I realized that when I fell asleep in the passenger seat, Allan soon fell asleep in the driver’s seat. This was alarming! I finally stopped at a gas station and bought more coffee. Then I took over and drove for 12 hours, stopping only for food on the go and to use the loo. Just before Des Moines, I asked Allan to drive because when I try to drive at night, the glare of the traffic can make me a little confused, a situation which would be compounded by my extremely tired state.


As it was, I didn’t want Allan to fall sleep nor I even if I was in the passenger seat. Allan is a big World of Warcraft (WoW) fan so I decided to make him talk about his characters and experiences to make him stay awake. It worked – he didn’t fall asleep even once in the next 4 hours! I learned a lot about the game and struggled to always have fresh questions to ask him. But, except for a near hit with a deer on the highway near our home, we arrived in Peoria at 12 AM.