It’s a strange feeling when Reality finally sets in. For example, imagine The Bearded Man’s surprise when his epic road trip began to turn south. Yes, in the beginning it was all adventure, giggles, and fun, but as he was about 50 miles into the Eyre highway, the infamous road linking western and southern Australia, things began to get bad in a hurry. For those who are unfamiliar, the Eyre highway is one of the longest purely straight roads in the world — over 90 miles without a single bend or turn to speak of. The Bearded Man had picked up an interesting bunch of fellow backpackers, and the ragtag group had rented a small camper van to make the trip. What they had failed to realize was there is no cell phone service out there, and there wasn’t a gas station for another hundred miles at least. In fact, they had already noticed that many of the “towns” along the way only consisted of one building owned by a family that may or may not have had a tiny gas station attached. As their camper van puttered and ran out of gas, things were looking pretty grim for the group, and the blistering mid-day sun began to take its toll. Their water supply was dangerously low, and it looked like they could barely make it through the day. By the time the sun finally set, they still had not seen so much as even one other car passing by on the road — that’s how deserted it is out there. Yikes. Just when all hope was lost, they spotted something gleaming in the distance. After what seemed like an eternity, a 3-car road train got close enough to hear. The Bearded Man grabbed a burning stick from the fire like a maniac caveman, and ran into the street, jumping up and down and waving it at the approaching truck. Luckily for the group, the driver not only stopped, but he had plenty of fuel and water on board. The day was saved! Another great story snatched from almost certain doom.
