Chipman — The 2012 Dodge Caravan was packed with 3 kids, a couple of suitcases and 2 parents hopped up on double-doubles and extra-strength Tylenols.
The Campbell family was leaving their home in Chipman to go to visit Grampy and Grammy Patterson in Hartland.
“Mom and Dad haven’t seen the kids since Alex turned 3 in the spring, and I was hoping that the hubby and I could pawn the kids off on them for a while so we could get some alone time down at the covered bridge or something,” said Daisy Campbell, visibly disappointed that the trip was cancelled.
About 10 minutes into the 2-hour drive, the kids starting fighting. The aforementioned Alex, 3, wanted to watch Bob the Builder on the portable DVD player, but Anna, the oldest of the children at 5 years old, really wanted to watch something more to her refined taste.
“I just really wanted to watch something with princesses on it,” Anna exclaimed, still in complete shock that her father actually did turn the car around.
Brian Campbell, the patriarch of the family, was having a rough day already, and really wasn’t looking forward to the drive. “Even before we got into the van, those kids starting yammering on about what show they were going to watch. I told them they’d better not be yelling at each other the whole way there, or they wouldn’t be going at all.”
Brian gave Anna and Alex a stern warning when the discussion first arose during the drive as well. “I told them that they were getting one more chance to stop the whining, and that’s it — one more chance.”
Daisy still thinks her husband overreacted about the whole situation. “I didn’t even think they were acting that bad, really. I didn’t care what show they watched; I just didn’t want them to wake the baby. Brian ended up waking the baby himself when he started yelling at the kids the second time.”
Sure enough, the kids started arguing again, and that’s when Brian did the unthinkable: he turned the car around.
“I told them I’d do it — I told them,” exclaimed Brian, with adrenaline still pumping through his veins. “I told them I’d do it, and I did. Truth is I wasn’t really looking forward to going to Daisy’s parents’ house anyway. Being stuck in that place for a few days seems like forever, and Daisy always wants to see that stupid bridge. I just don’t see what’s so special about it — it’s just like a really long barn to me.”
The Manatee‘s reporter was able to find millions of instances where similar threats were made, but no evidence that anyone had ever followed through until now. The Guinness Book of Records has been contacted to verify this astounding event.