Years ago back in 72 I was driving back from Toledo after dropping off my date. It was very late and I was having trouble staying awake. Then I see a roadside rest with a sign up for "Free coffee." It was some kind of Holliday highway safety thing. So I pulled in hoping a cup of coffee might help keep me alert and home safely. I walked up to the picnic shelter for my coffee... and found the coffee volunteer sound asleep with his head laid down on the picnic table snoring away. So I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down at the picnic table facing the sleeping coffee volunteer.
I made a bit of noise thinking the coffee volunteer might wake up and notice he had a customer... but he never did wake up. After drinking my coffee and bidding sleeping beauty adue... I hit the road again. Shortly I was sleepy again and fell asleep at the wheel.
I awoke to find myself driving along gracefully in the ditch on the left side if the road. Fortunately this was on State Highway 20 which has a very wide gentle slope to the side of the road and not a deep ditch embankment. I pulled back safely on the road and continued on with the window down to keep me awake with fresh air. This helped none and soon I was nodding off to sleep again as I drove. Just then I awoke crossing a railroad track awakened by the blasting horns and light of a speeding freight train barreling towards me. We narrowly missed. That night I could not stop from sleeping... and now these days I cannot.
Moral of the story... sleep with your eyes open
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