I regularly commute roughly 50 miles one way to work. During the day it's not a bad drive at all, I'm not normally worried about falling asleep at the wheel. There was one night in particular I will never forget.

It was a perfect summer day, and I was stuck at work. I worked a customer service center for a major insurance firm and I had a long day. I was forced to work overtime and it was around midnight when I had finally left work. Getting there at six in the morning and working that long, needless to say I was exhausted. I had nowhere to stay, and didn't have enough money for a hotel, so I decided that even though I was exhausted, I was going to drive home.

Of course, I was scared that I was going to fall asleep at the wheel, I could barely keep my eyes open standing up, but I was also stubborn. I was determined to make it home safely.

Without thinking, I got in my car and took off. The first few miles or so were okay, but once I hit the open country highway, I could tell this wasn't going to go so well.

The first thing that happened was my eyes started drooping. The first few times I could fight it off, but it kept coming more often. Sometimes my eyes would cross so that I would see double of everything. That was especially worrysome due to oncoming traffic.

I started to panic. I didn't want to wreck my car, or lose my life, just because I was too stubborn. Even though I was panicking, it didn't stop sleep from coming. First thing I did was roll the window down. That helped for a little while, but when the wind against my face began to comfort me, I had to think of something.

Next I tried to turn the radio on, but it wouldn't work. It had a short in it that I had meant to get fixed but never did. I started to look around for something to drink. I had nothing. I was out of cigarettes as well, so that wouldn't work.

For I'm not sure how long, I tried just to stay awake by sheer force of will. That seemed to work for a while, but then I heard the constant blaring of a truck horn coming ever closer. With the short burst of adrenaline, I managed to wake up enough to swerve back to my side of the road and get back on track.

While I had adrenaline running through my veins I tried to come up with a plan. I was terrified to pull over and sleep, after hearing all of the horror stories about roadside murders I was sure I was not going to do that. As I usually do, I bit my lip while thinking, and when I bit it hard enough, it woke me up.

A lightbulb went off in my head. When I started to nod in the slightest bit, I bit my cheek. I instantly woke up. Next time it happened, I pulled my hair. I pinched my thigh, I slapped myself, I did everything I could think of to cause a small dose of adrenaline.

Next thing I knew...I was home. With a great sigh of relief I stepped out of my car and walked upstairs to my apartment. I was never so happy to be home to my crappy apartment in my life. Ever since then I've taken extra precautions to help prevent falling asleep at the wheel. In case you are curious, and haven't clicked the above links, here is some helpful hints to keep you from falling asleep while driving.