I opened my eyes. It was Monday morning, I knew that. But what time? I took aglance at the Coca-Cola watch: four o'clock, every day, all day. So I walkedupstairs to check the time: 11: 30. Great. I flew downstairs to wake thesleeping dead (my friends). Although reluctant, Sarah got up. We were supposed tobe home at 10: 00. We hit the road.

It was the ride of a lifetime. We werein the Jeep with the radio blaring, headed back to the hills of Thompson from ourfriend's house. We'd had a great weekend. And then ....

We were on theOhio Turnpike and everything was swell. Had we only known what danger and"hardcore" action was in store for us. We were driving along and Sarah said,"Erica? My foot is totally on the floor and we're slowing down."

Iscreamed, "What? We are in the middle of nowhere! Are you sure?"

"Ofcourse, I'm sure!" she yelled. I saw a sign that said "Emergency Parking - 1/2mile." We coasted to the buffer zone. What to do? All we could do was wait. Ofcourse, my cell phone was not charged. Great. Sarah tried to start the Jeep. Somesort of burp emerged from the motor. It wasn't looking too good. And then itstarted to rain. Fantabulous.

Brainiacs that we are, we actually thoughtthat we could fix the problem. After 13 minutes of struggling to open the hood,we decided to call it a day. After an hour, it was getting pretty cold. No radio.No heat. And no food. We sat. Solemness started to hover over the Jeep. The carskept on passing.

"How about a round of Father Abraham?"

It was ashot in the dark, but we had to do something. So, there we were. No makeup,resembling zombies, shaking our heads up and down to the sweet sound of FatherAbraham. We later realized why no one would stop to help us. I wouldn't havestopped either.

Another hour and about 239 "bottles of beer on the wall"later, there was a knock at the window. "Have you ladies been drinking?" A statetrooper. This just kept getting better.

Sarah opened her door because herwindow was broken. "No, I swear, officer, we were just, uh, severely bored. Mycar broke down and we've been here for hours."

"Okay, girls, we're goingto have to take ya'll down to the station while you wait for a tow truck," hesaid.

We had been out there for 2 1/2 hours already. And now we were justgoing to get another runaround waiting for a tow truck down at this guy's"station." I was going to be seriously late for work. And I was getting seriouslyfed up. "Um, that's okay. We'll just wait here for it. Thanks for calling for us,though," I said.

After 10 minutes of arguing, he agreed to let us staywhere we were. Disregarding the icicles that had formed on our eyebrows, Sarahalso thought it was a good idea. Finally, after a grand total of 2 hours and 49minutes, the tow truck appeared. I have never been so glad to see a tow truck inall my life. He loaded us up and, thanks to good old AAA (Automobile Associationof America), we made the rest of the 52 mile trip for free.

But, Iwouldn't exactly call it "free." There was one small price to pay. Not only wasour driver the ultimate "hardcore" Motley Crue type, he made us listen to his"hardcore" music, smell his "hardcore" cigars and listen to his "hardcore"stories about how he and his buddies race their Harleys at the drag strip. Joy.Oh, and Sarah and I can come and watch him if we want. Like, far out, dude. Ihave never been so glad to see my house in my whole life. For only 52 miles, itwas a LONG trip. The point is, without the help of this wonderful thing calledAAA Plus, it would have cost us $200 dollars to get picked up. Not cool. So,listen up. When taking a road trip remember three things: 1) Have AAA Plus 2)Keep your cell phone charged at all times and 3) Don't get into a tow truck withanyone named Butch. (And by the way, I never made it towork).