Put the '05 nose on.

 

It's now 4:10 AM and I have been up for 30 hours. My girlfriend and I are less than 100 KM from home and I just fell asleep at the wheel going 80 miles an hour. Drifted into the rough grassy median between the opposing freeways at that speed on cruise control. I immediately wake up and hit the breaks and groggily try to avoid the bigger bumps. My girlfriend of three years had been sleeping and was very upset when we finally came to a stop in the middle. Very eye opening experience for both of us.

She is now driving the last stretch, and I'm sitting here just thinking and typing this.

I have no doubt the excursion just saved both of our lives. I am never going to get rid of this thing. I have a whole new appreciation for it. Very scary what might have happened had we been in the 2004 Jetta.

I gave the excursion the once over once we had stopped. I noticed some coolant had leaked, and the front differential looked as if it has been dinged. Will see more in the morning light.

Cheers and thankful to be posting this,

Nate

 

Holy crap stay safe out there! Pull over and just sleep in the thing for a little while, I have DEFINITELY done that my fair share of times, even just before driving 20 mins home from work...

 

Just pull over in a safe area, crawl in back and sleep for a few hours!!

Stewart

 

Nate, I just spent a lot of hours driving, luckily never got to that point. Play it safe and pull over and nap. Stay safe!

David, Keep up the great work. I never pictured you as a bald man....interesting. Also Damn you for the auto play video!!

I'm going to put a update in my thread on my truck with all the photos and videos from this trip.


Today we spread out the 50 yards of RAP on my driveway. No more muddy mess!!! I'm so happy.

 

It looks fantastic! Really updates the front end of the truck.

I've really resisted the idea of going to the 05 front end, but it does look great. I may have to think about doing it down the road.

 

Doors open to you, be sure to knock first.

 

We have all been there man but next time just pull over and sleep. I am glad you guys are ok and I hope all is good with the truck when you check it out.

 

Loading up the X for a trip to the zoo. Might leave a couple kids there.

 

There's a reason my 14 hour trip from VA to TX took me 30 hours one way and a few hours more than that back... sleep when you have to, it sucks and you feel like a ***** for not being able to stay awake but it's worth it!

 

I can relate to this Nate, it happened to me back in 2005 in a rented excursion (from Hertz). I cought it just in time, very scary feeling when you wake up and relize your not on the road.

Glad you and your girlfriend are ok, take your time.

 

Thanks Mark, my doors are open for you as well... I'm taking off tomorrow morning and headed down towards Savannah, don't think I'll spend the night there. I kinda like not having a plan lol

 

According to some recent research I was reading about, you're better off driving drunk than sleep deprived. Not that either should be attempted.

One of my best friends was driving back from Windsor to Toronto and was 40 minutes or so away from home. Being that it was winter and he was driving a panel van he didn't want to sleep in the back.

He said "I'll light up a smoke, crack the window and be home in a minute"

Next thing he remembers looking up from the steering dash to find a 4x4 wood post through the front windshield and a frightened neighbor calling the cops.

When he fell asleep he managed to steer in between two houses, took out the fence and came to a rest a couple feet away from the pool.

2 feet one way he would have hit the house, 2 feet the other way and he would have drove into the pool.

He told me it was one of the scariest feelings he's ever had. "You don't even feel when it happens"

 

All this talk about falling asleep behind the wheel has me thinking now of extending my vacation by 10 days. I think I can manage about 100 miles per day. I just shared this with my wife and she likes the idea.

On another note, will be looking to buy a second home up here soon.

 

I won't drive at night if I'm remotely tired. Too many times have I "opened my eyed" not knowing they were shut while on the road.

I cam drive sun up to sundown literally non stop but I don't like driving 20 miles if it's late and dark and I am at all tired.


Glad you're ok.