UNFORGETTABLE SPRING BREAK We had been planning our trip to Florida for about one year. We were to drive to Florida, and stay at our aunts house in St. Augustine. We planned to visit a few places in St. Augustine and go to Disney World, Sea World, and where ever else we wanted to go. We were driving a 1992 Chevy Lumina Z34. It was the vacation of a lifetime, or so we thought.
It was the end of the last period before Spring Break started at Pike Central High School. My brother and I met at the front door of the school and ran to the bus. We could not wait to get home and leave for Florida, to visit with our aunt, uncle and two cousins. The seven mile bus ride from Pike Central to Petersburg seemed like an eternity. Finally, we could see our house.
Louis Comfort Tiffany, Window of St. Augustine, in...
English: Panorama of the St. Augustine Lighthouse ...
English: Panorama of the St. Augustine Lighthouse ...As the bus turned the corner into our subdivision, my brother and I were already standing, waiting to get off the bus. We ran into the house, threw down our backpacks and ran upstairs to change into different clothes.
Mom yelled, "Get down here, we have to leave before 4:00." It was 3:55. As we got our final necessities, a pillow, CD player and Game Boy in the car.
"Lets go lets go, we have to leave," Mom was right behind us yelling.
We finally got in the car and my brother said, "I have to pee." We finally got on the road at 4:10. We made it all the way to Evansville when we decided it was time to get something to eat. We chose McDonalds, since they have just about everything. We made a couple more rest stops and it was time to get gas. Grandma got a big cup of coffee to keep her awake while she drove, while I filled up the gas. I remember waking up once after that stop. It was to tell Mom about this dream I had. I dreamt about a van that went down a big ditch between the two lanes of the interstate. Then we talked for a little while about what we want to do the next day once we got there. I fell asleep again and woke up to screaming.
Mom was yelling, "Unlock the doors, the car is going to explode!" Grandma said, "They will not unlock, they will not unlock!" I asked,"What happened?" Grandma replied, "I fell asleep." When I woke up all the way, I realized all they had to do was push the knob to the unlock position. So, I reached up and unlocked the doors since everybody else was in a panic. When we got out of the car I told mom it was steam, not smoke that was coming from under the hood. We all looked at the car, and wondered how we survived the crash. About ten feet to our right was a huge pond that a farmer used to water his cattle. I walked to the rear of the car and looked around to see what we hit. Grandma drove the car down a big ditch just like that van did in my dream from earlier, hit about four fence post, and threw them about twelve feet from where they were supposed to be.
"Where are we," Mom asked. Grandma replied, "Somewhere on interstate 75." I looked up and saw a police car about a quarter mile down the road with its flashing lights on. I ran down to the police car, told him what happened. He radioed for a tow truck. Mom rented a car from somewhere in Valdesta Georgia, from a car rental place. When we got to my aunt's house they were just sitting down to eat lunch. Everybody was wondering where we were.
Mom told them, "We had a car wreck." We returned the car that afternoon, and decided to use my cousin's car if we went anywhere. We decided to just lounge around the pool for a couple of days, and relax. Since, we were all sore, from the wreck. We all got burnt from being out in the sun too much, and did not feel like doing much of anything. Jeff, my step dad told us he would be down to pick us up in his Blazer in about three days. The three days came and went, and it was time to go. Everybody loaded up there things in our 1994 Chevy Blazer and we took off to Valdesta Georgia, to pick up our wrecked car. We rented a U Haul trailer, and hauled the car back to our house in Petersburg. The trip on the way home was interesting, there were five people in the Blazer. Jeff, my step dad was driving, mom rode in the passenger seat, Aaron, Grandma, and I rode in the back. The ride was cramped and very uncomfortable.
So, remember when planning a vacation always plan on the unexpected. It might not turn out to be the vacation of a lifetime.
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