The girls are sleeping before we hit the freeway, and Allison's sleeping before we get out of the county. But, I am driving, so I must stay awake. About 85 miles later, I start yawning. I think yawning is an understatement. My yawn is so violent that the car starts swerving, and I cross over to the lane next to me. About 5 miles later, several more yawns, and more unauthorized lane changes, the inside of our car lit up like a blue and red Christmas light show. I pull over, wait for the police office, and wake up Allison. The police office walks up to the driver's side window and asks if I've been drinking. I start to explain that we're driving to Omaha and wanted to start our trip while the kids were sleeping. Allison (still trying to wake up) starts talking, well, not so much talking as sounding really, really drunk. The police office looks in the car and sees the girls waking up in the back seat (Allison still rambling quietly in her seat), and the officer looks me in the eye and says, "I only have one thing to say to you - Montana is BIG!" Then he said (and no I didn't point out he already said one thing), "Now that I've pulled you over, you're totally awake now, aren't you?"
I said yes and thank you as he turned and walked back to his police cruiser, and as I pulled away, both the girls started asking me why I needed the police officer to help me stay awake and keep me in my lane. Soon, Allison and Emma were sleeping, but Madison stayed awake to talk. She fought sleep for about another 90 minutes getting us to the mountain pass around midnight. With all the crazy weather (snow, rain, hail, high winds, dust storms, etc.) we experienced and the 150 miles of Wall Drug signs, being pulled over by the police officer in the first hour and a half of our more than 55 hour adventure was one of the highlights. I thank God that the girls had lots of fun and had great attitudes throughout the the whole trip.
Gregg
