It all started as a dream. I was gonna get away. Take a day or two away from everyone. I really just wanted out of Wichita.

This summer just wasn’t as quite exhilarating as the last, and I had to fix that. I had to take a risk, have a little fun, or so I thought I had to. So I set out to find an accomplice.

Her name’s Devan Horning. She wanted to do the same thing, just didn’t know who to do it with. This whole adventure took off from a tweet. That explains most of it.

“I just want to get in my car and drive far far away.” That was what sparked the flame. Of course, being me, I jumped at reading that. I got excited; then I got scared. Then the excitement took over.

Immediately, I hit Devan with a favorite and a response. “If you do, take me with you.” Our minds have officially been made, and this will happen. No matter what.

The planning period wasn’t really used to plan. We decided to take a few weeks, get some money saved, and then go.

It was the night before we left, and we went back to Devan’s house around midnight. The plan was to wake up early on July 26, get ready, pick up her check from work, and then get breakfast and go. But to where? Yeah, we still didn’t know. This is where you get the gist of how this story is going to end.

We woke up, not so early. Took our precious time to get ready, and left her house around 11. The rest of our tasks took maybe an hour and then we were on the road. Instead of getting breakfast, we stopped at Quiktrip for some snacks, filled up on gas, and on the road we went. But to where was still the question. That question was answered quickly, and out of nowhere.

“Let’s just go to Kansas City and come back later tonight,” I said. Neither of us really knew how to actually get to Kansas City; we both just had a hint of a memory from previous times going with family. So we found our way onto the interstate and followed signs. Around 1:30 we stopped in El Dorado and ate at a Chinese buffet.

After lunch, we got back on the interstate. We were jammin’ and cruisin’ for a good 30 to 45 minutes. Then we felt this weird thump and the car started shaking awkwardly. We just looked at each other.

Devan pulled over on the side of the interstate, legitimately in the middle of nowhere. We had a flat tire. The passenger side back tire had blew and we did not know what to do.

We stood there, watching hundreds of cars pass. None stopped to help. About 15 minutes later a police car drove by, flipped a U-turn and pulled someone over on the other side. Uhm, hello? Two teenage girls stranded on the side of the road over here. A little help? No.

After standing in the sun for about 30 minutes, calling people for help and asking how to change a tire, this kind gentleman stopped to help.

We had everything we needed, we thought. Turns out we were just missing the lug wrench. Luckily, this man had one. It took him about 10 minutes to change the tire and help us with directions back to Wichita.

The man who helped us was from Missouri. We tried to pay him for his kindness, but he wouldn’t accept. After a warm thank you, he explained why he wouldn’t accept our money.

“I have 3 daughters, and if they were stranded on the side of the interstate I would hope somebody would be nice enough to help them.” That was the last thing this man said to us. Then we were off again.

We drove about half a mile then came to this little exit we were directed to take. We got off on the exit, and it was like we had just driven into a ghost town. There were old buildings, old houses, old cars, everything, but where were all the people? Who knows.

Driving down the main road of this little town, we realized we were in desperate need of gas. We drove around and couldn’t find the towns gas station. Oh no.

Devan Googled the closest gas station. It was about 20 minutes away. We found a road to take that led us back to Newton. Our drive back consisted of taking back roads, trying not to get lost and staying out of peoples way since we had a spare tire on.

Finally, we arrived back in Wichita around 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon. Exhausted, Devan and I went our separate ways and both ended up napping the rest of the day. This adventure was the most fun I had all summer I would say.