Sidney Appleby, on a family road trip

"OOHHH, look kids another cactus..." their mother said as she drove.

Sidney sat in the backseat of the family mini van as it crused through the desert. He had his headphones on and wasn't listing.

His younger sisters were sitting up in the middle row.

"Mom... this is Arizona... there's a million cactuses on the side of the highway..." one of them, Zoe, said.

"Come on... this is fun... a family adventure across the country."

"If we flew we would have been there by now..." Zoe muttered.

The three Appleby kids knew why their parents were making them drive from Los Angeles to Minneapolis. Ronda, their mother, was petrified of flying.

In two weeks time, on a farm just north of the Twin Cities, Gran-Gran, AKA Roger Appleby, Ronda's grandfather and the three's great-grandfather, would celebrate his 100th birthday. Ronda really wanted to be there... but her fear of flying was too great, and as head of the family, she decided to take the drive instead. they were on the short section of I-15 that skirts through Arizona before entering Utah.

Ronda's phone began to ring. Her husband, Clark, picked it up.

"It's your cousin, Linda." Clark said, putting the phone on speaker.

"Howdy Cousin." She said.

"Hey... I just got a call from Bethany. She's in Denver. Do you think she could come with you?"

"Sure... there's room for one more..."

Sydney sunk into the back seat even further as he tuned out his mom and her phone call. Bethany was the worst. She was a lanky dork. Big stupid glasses. Acne for days. Sydney had a reputation as king bee of the school from his high school days. he didn't want to anywhere near his loser second cousin.