Thread reminds me of my most epic, bastard couple of days. I was basically moving house, going interstate. This is ordinarily a 14 hour drive, not exactly a zip around the block. I'm up at around 7 am on the day we're due to leave (monday), my parents fuck around all day packing and organizing and we don't leave till around 5pm that afternoon. They leave together and I follow in my car. Only now, after being awake for 10 hours already, does what I believe to be my epic 14 hour trip begin.
Fast forward to around 6am the following morning and driving all night and morning. I've done well but fatigue is now starting to take its toll. I'm now finding it quite difficult to remain alert and awake. All that stuff you've heard about microsleeps? Dozing off at the wheel for about one second? It's all true. Even worse, I'm now on the outskirts of a major city so I'm hitting peak hour traffic at this time. This is dangerous and stupid and I can't continue like this. I pull over from time to time and try to rest a bit but I can't sleep in the car. I get food and refreshments and this helps me push on, only being a few hours from my destination now. About an hour and a half from my target fatigue hits again and I realize I need to stop and rest again for a while as it's too dangerous to continue. This is now about 8am and after I've rested a bit I try to start my car back up. She's dead. I try again and again, no luck.
I'm in the middle of nowhere but fortunately I do have this roadside insurance service I'm in so I call them wait an hour from them to come out to check my car. The guy basically says the car probably needs a new starter motor so it needs to be towed to the nearby mechanic. I wait another hour for a tow truck and the car is taken to a nearby town. It's now around 11am Wednesday morning. I've since lost contact with my parents since the mobile coverage is shit in this area and haven't spoken with them since before my car fucked up. After my car is dropped off at the mechanic the wait begins, they say come back at 3pm while they work on it. There's nothing for me to do but wander around the town for several hours. I quite wide awake right now and couldn't sleep if I wanted to, and fuck did I want to. I finally do get in contact with my parents and let them know what's going on before I'm cut off.
I go back at around 3pm, it's not the starter motor it's the air conditioning compressor. Boom, $1000 right there, and they won't have the part to the following day. They say I can stay at a nearby motel but I figure fuck that, I want to get to where I supposed to be going and that's that. I ask about public transport options but that isn't going to happen as the place i'm going is too remote. The only option is to hire a car, but this is also problematic. The nearest hire car place is in another town about 15 mins drive away so I need a taxi to get there. It's around 4pm now and they shut at 5pm, and after I get the car I have to come back and load the stuff from my car into the hire car (I am moving house remember) and they shut at 5pm too. It's going to be a shit fight. After calling the taxi I make it to the hire car place with 15 mins to spare, I race back to the mechanic where thankfully one guy stayed back an extra 15 mins so I could grab my stuff. I toss everything I can possibly fit into the hire car (it isn't as big so I can't take everything) and drive off around the corner so I can reorganize everything.
After this is done I drive the hour and a half necessary to finally, finally reach my destination. It's now around 9pm. I finally get to sleep around midnight. The 40+ hour saga comes to an end at last. I drop the hire car off and pick my car up a few days later less about a thousand bucks.
