Remember when you were a kid and a three hour drive felt like three years? We got this postcard from Douglas Hernandez about "the boring-est road trip in the world." Douglas' postcard was delivered to us courtesy of producer Kitty Felde and the community group Heart of Los Angeles.

The Longest Trip
by Douglas Hernandez

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Dear Rudy,

Long road trips are boring. Trust me. I have already experienced one of the "boring-est" road trips that anyone has ever taken.

My family was going to San Francisco. I liked the idea. I wanted to experience how the landscape changes, how people change. How I would change. But I had no clue about the boredom that was awaiting me.

The trip was only supposed to take six hours. It felt like six years. There were three adults in the car and three of my little cousins. Two of my cousins cried for the entire trip. The third cousin was not much company either, because he slept the whole time. The adults were even worse. They reminded me of Energizer bunnies. They would keep going on and on. They never stopped talking. I knew the driver was lost. She never stopped talking. She looked at the road for three seconds and then at the adults for three seconds. I think she forgot that she was driving.

For me, the boredom was not good at all. It was like sitting down, staring at a wall for the entire six hour trip. The only time I was not sitting down was when we took bathroom breaks and I got to stretch. Rudy, do you know what real boredom is? Well, for me boredom is like everything is dead and you're all alone in the world. Boredom feels like you don't have a mouth to talk with or ears to hear with. It feels like you're in an elevator all alone and the elevator never stops going up. At last we arrived, even though it seemed like we were never going to get there. Everybody was safe.

Or were they?

When we got there I remember getting out of the van and waving my hands so that everybody would pay attention to me. My sister looked like she had frozen. Her pupils had rolled up so you could only see the whites of her eyes. I was not scared. I thought that at last here was some excitement. We called the ambulance and went to the hospital. My sister was safe after all.

When I was a little kid, I thought that any sort of excitement was good. Now I know that some excitement is good and some is not. But you know Rudy, boredom is always bad. Everybody hates to be bored. Everybody needs a little of excitement in life.

Sincerely,
Douglas Hernandez