Caffeine Extreme

It doesn't matter who you are, nearly everyone starts to feel exhaustion set in after driving on the road for 14 hours with nothing but the same trees passing by you after every mile. So when I stopped at a little gas station in Missouri, I was definitely starting to feel my eyelids droop.

I headed over to the coffee maker to grab a pick-me-up when I spotted a flavor at the far end of the machine. Next to names like "French Vanilla" and "Hot Chocolate" was a flavor that was handwritten in sharpie spelling, "Caffeine Extreme" and below it was scribbled "6x more powerful than a regular cup of coffee".

I still had 7-8 hours left on my drive and it was nearing midnight, so I thought I'd give it ago. I filled up my cup, paid and drove off a few minutes later. It only took me about 15 minutes to finish the entire cup and what came shortly after is a slightly hazy night that I will never forget. Word to the wise - When you have had nothing to eat all day and have already had two cups of coffee, more caffeine may not be the answer.

Within 45 minutes of finishing my cup, I recall rolling down the windows and screaming "Here's to never growing up" with the radio blasting as I sped down the interstate going  95 miles per hour. I had so much caffeine pumping through my system that I was actually waving my arms sporadically as I was driving to release the antsy, itchy feeling that I was getting. I felt like I just needed to RUN.

That single cup of coffee kept me awake (with a slight eye twitch) all the way from Missouri to Texas. By the time I neared Dallas, I could feel exhaustion wearing down on me but the caffeine seemed to glue my eyes open. I remember telling my Grandparents when I arrived "I'm not tired at all - I don't even feel a thing!" shortly before passing out in my dad's childhood room.

I had weird Star Wars dreams for the rest of the day.

Beware the "Caffeine Extreme"!