Long Trips in Old Audis

[auditude at neta.com]

When it happened to me, I was my '94 Saturn SL2, which has
reclining front seats.  I wouldn't quite say they recline to a "flat"
position, but they can go back and touch the rear seats.  I'm sure
the seat wasn't fully upright like when I drive, but it may not have
been fully reclined.

On one trip I had a set of wheels and tires in the car with the back
seats folded down, and for many trips I had luggage in the back
seat due to a large speaker box in the trunk.  This incident might
have been on one of those occasions.  I recall one where I had
three leaking air valves on a set of 40 series tires.  This may be the
same time when I woke up startled, it was definitely the same rest
stop.

Keep in mind that I normally make this trip straight through without
napping (about 6 hours), so when I did nap this time, it was
because I left without sleeping first or something similar.  The point
behind I was quite fatigued, where my eyeballs would start
involuntarily looking all around instead of where I was trying to point
them while driving.

Maybe you are right, and it is not possible to have the reaction I
had.  Maybe I was sleeping in the driver's seat and dreamt that I
had the reaction. :-)

Maybe I was less than 1/2 awake when it happened.  I don't recall
the actual ratio of awakeness to sleepingness.  If I had to guess,
and it would only be a guess, I would say that I was about 3/8th's
awake.  Yeah.

Or maybe I'm just big freakin' wierdo that gets all tripped out over
normal stuff.  Have you ever been just about drifting off into sleep,
and all of a sudden for no reason you just "jump", like WTF?!?!?
It's like your whole body convulses, as if you were falling in a
dream and just hit the bottom?  Only without the conscious buildup
fo the fall, just "bam!"?  This is without a steering with and
dashboard to wake up to!  I hate when that happens!

It's ironic that I put "YMMV" at the end of that particular email.  I
don't often do that.  "Your mileage may vary", meaning what
happens to me might not happen to you.

As for who the recommendation is from, I may have came up with it
myself after having that experience.  I was just hiding behind the
"they say" thing so you all wouldn't know how I trip out over nothing
at all, or dream about doing so.

If you detect sarcasm, it's because I'm trying to illustrate that I'm
not trying to argue a point or impose my reality upon anyone else.
I just passed along something that could be thought about by
others.

I like the occasional "boxing match" as you describe it, but I just
can't get into trying to convince someone that I got startled when I
woke from a nap behind the wheel.  I'll be sending another post that
I might care more about tho', maybe there. :-)

"Peace"

Ken

On 16 Jan 2002, at 21:45, Michael L. Riebs wrote:

> > They say if you do take a nap in the front seat
> > (while stopped), that it is a good idea to do it
> > in the passenger seat or in the back.
>
> > When napping in the drivers seat, like during a
> > long trip, it can be quite a shock when you start
> > to wake up behind the wheel and forget that you
> > were stopped and napping rather than falling asleep
> > while driving!
>
> Is this in vehicles WITH or WITHOUT seats that recline to a flat position=
? I
> have slept in the driver's AND passenger's sides. Most recently in the
> passenger's, since I discovered the hard way that my driver's seat only
> reclines part way (Bruce - comment?).
>
> My point is, I can see this reaction in the upright being possible, but i=
f
> it is reclined... How would that "shock" reaction be possible? I mean, I
> think that I would be coherent enough to realize - even =BD asleep, that =
I
> didn't fall asleep - then slip the seat to its reclined position - and th=
en
> wake up, all while still driving...
>
> So, is this recommendation from folks who do not have the reclining optio=
n,
> such as older US cars, with bench seats, or what?
>
> Michael Riebs
> Grand Rapids, MI
> '90 V8Q (#7)
> '98 A6Q Avant (#6)
> Only 6 & 7 remain.
>
>
>