Trip to Boise

Okay, so I've been thinking about this post since the trip, its just taken me awhile to put it down, so... here goes.
My nephew was graduating so my parents and I decided to take a road trip to see the miraculous event (if Kevin reads this, he knows I'm kidding) and as much as I persisted to take my car (VW Passat) my mom insisted on taking theirs (Ford Expedition) that had just had new brakes put on and was still creaking a bit... So they picked me up at about 9am, after I had run some errands and got some snack food. I'm not a big morning person. I can get up and moving, but usually remain quiet until I am fully awake, if I take a shower, then its right after that, if I take a shower at night, that time increases in the morning.
So as we started out I put on my headphones and tuned into my iPod. We stopped in Farmington for gas and more road trip snack foods and then were on our way. About two hours (halfway) I needed to stop at the restroom and my dad decided Rupert would be a good idea. As we exited the tires made the WORST noise I had ever heard. It sounded like the axle was dropping off the tire and hitting the frame of the car. My mom started to freak out and grab the handle on the door and she started asking my dad what it was. As he was not under the car, he was not sure, but knew it was something with the brakes. We turned into the gas station and went to the bathroom. I love my parents dearly, but with stuff like this, I know my dad will figure it out and would just as soon tune out the discussion of how between the two of them... sometimes. So when I got back I put my iPod back on and waited to hear what we would be doing. Turns out that a bolt that held the brake on had shimmied out and no longer was holding the brake on. Rupert was only 5 miles off the exit so we decided to head that direction and hope to find a car parts place. As we headed toward the street my dad put the foot on the brake and it was a horrid sound. Before I know it he is turning the car around and driving backwards. At first I thought he was just going to try it out in the parking lot... OH NO! He drove as if the back of the car was the front down the main street of Rupert ID. (The brake was held in place if we stopped in reverse) He said he would go slow, but 45 mph backwards doesn't feel very slow. We came up behind a tractor/harvester and he pulled around it quite quickly. I was getting nauseous, my mom kept yelling that he wasn't going slow enough, I thought that we were going to die. My dad finally got sick because he was driving backwards so he turned around and decided to try the emergency brake. Well the emergency brake was just shaved down so it was not great at stopping... But we made it alive to a little car parts place called Schow's and this shop was AMAZING! They helped my dad find a bolt that would hold on the break until we could go to the wrecking yard and get the right one. They also did not charge us for the bolt they gave us. We made it to the wrecking yard, got the right bolt on and were on our way to Boise, ID.
I told my dad that although I thought we would die, it would be a great story that I'm sure we will talk about for years to come!