Speed Demon

Hooray! My three day weekend has finally arrived and the kids and I are headed off to visit the grandparents'. Since Eric and his friend are headed to the Steelers' game on Sunday, he wouldn't be joining us this time around.

We got the kids loaded into the truck, safe and sound and in the dark of the night, which now happens around 6 p.m., we left for our almost-3 hour drive. Not long into the trip, both kids had fallen asleep, I was enjoying the peace and quiet and making a few phone calls on the way to catch up with some old friends. At one point, when I was off the phone, I decided to finally pass 2 giant semi-trucks that I had been following for too long. As I made my move into the passing lane, I looked down to discover that my speedometer was reading 95 mph and climbing. Although I instantly freaked out, I knew that I wasn't going that fast. I moved my foot off of the accelerator immediately and slowly began to press the brake, wondering if my brakes were failing. I let the stupid semi trucks pass me once again and knew they had to be wondering who let this idiot driver (me) behind the wheel. Every time I let my foot off the brake, my rate of speed would escalate. I panicked and called my dad, knowing that I was only less than an hour away from their house. While I kept my dad on speakerphone, I called OnStar and had them run a diagnostic on my truck. I was more than relieved to hear that no systems were failing, yet nothing could explain the fact that I was inching along the highway while my speedometer had run out of numbers beyond 120 mph. It quickly became apparent that my speedometer had broken.

Crap. Scary crap.

In the end, I made it to my parents' house safely without even a child waking during my freak-out. Now I know why we pay that astronomical annual fee for OnStar service and why is good to have parent's who sit at home on a Friday night waiting for their babies to come home. Thank the Lord, we made it!