Answer:
So it was the summer of 2015, I had just graduated from high school.
What a relief!
Finally, I was going to execute my vendetta. My life very triangular life (of school, work, home and occasional hangouts) was boring me to death. Okay....let's just say rectangular. Thank God I made it! I made it to graduation and with good grades too. So I had nursed this revenge mission for a long time. An act of revenge against my boring life.
Make no mistake about it. New York City is a very pleasant place to be. It has at least 20 parks. Many Holly Wood moves have been shot in NYC. There are countless recreational centres. But I was bored all the same. If it was NYC, I had almost seen it all. The one thing that ate away at me was that I had never travelled outside NYC.
So at this time of my early teenage life crises, (I was nineteen) I had this road trip all planned out and my parents didn't object to my mission.
Of course, I had plans of going to college. I had written to quite a few but didn't have any particular preference yet. I felt this road trip was going to help me clear my mind.
First time alone from my parent for 2 months? I was definitely going to get my head clear.
The plan? Drive with a friend or two to California. Make major stops along the way so we could work for some cash for food, gas, beer (oh yeah beer! that's on a class of its own) and extra bucks if possible.
So my parents helped with details. What to pack and what not to. They even sponsored it partially. Partially coz I had saved for it and even though I had enough according to my budget and forecast, they generously gave me an additional $1000 for exigencies. "You never know when extra cash may come in handy", said mum. In addition, they helped me rent a good caravan and let me use the Ford Pickup.
According to my travel advisory, California was 3000 miles (that's approximately 4,828 kilometres).
If we drove for 4-6 hours every day, we'd get there in about 11 days.
On July 31st, I and three friends set out to California.
We had barely driven 30 miles when the accident happened. Suddenly we noticed that the Ford became lighter. We all looked at each other as my friend Dave with the instinct of spider man slowed down and made a U-turn all the time checking the Caravan which was still coasting towards us from the kinetic energy of the truck. That way he'd be able to easily steer us clear of being hit from behind by the Caravan.
We meandered left and right trying to avoid the Caravan. And when we did he brought the car to a stop.
We jumped down and ran after the Caravan like we were going to stop it with our bare hands, all the time terrified at what might happen if it collided with oncoming traffic.
3 minutes later we were all sitting by the roadside. Sweating and heaving from pursing the Caravan which somehow managed to park itself off the road.
So we had taken care of every little detail except ensuring that the Caravan was properly hooked to the Ford.
Did Dave do the right thing by driving toward the Caravan? What would have happened if we died?
I was only nineteen and I was just 30 miles into my Vendetta.
