A Simple Road Trip Nearly Killed My Family
But they never knew their lives were in danger
The road’s switch-backs resembled a snake climbing a sheer granite cliff face that had ant-sized cars slowly crawling up and down its back. With the children in the car, my thoughts screamed, ‘Are you F’ing kidding me!’
Halfway up, my no-fear five-year-old’s squeaky voice stabbed at my self-confidence. “Hey daddy, I can’t see the road. Wow, look. I see the ‘merican river way down there; can you see it daddy?”
Her innocent observation and a children’s rhyme blaring from the speakers caused a bead of sweat to drip from my brow. The salty drop landed on the back of my hand and slowly rolled through my death-grip, white-knuckle strangling of the steering wheel.
Safety demanded hyper-vigilance, my hands glued to the wheel and my unblinking, laser-focused eyes on the treacherous road. There was no possibility of reaching over to fast-forward past the insulting, non-empathetic nursery rhyme.
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown;
And Jill came tumbling after.
Taking an unplanned three-hour road trip with three children under the age of…
