On the highway.
It was a road trip planned with my best friend and a friend of his whom I only recently met. We were going to use the other guy's car. I believe it was a Saturn. Shortly after pulling away from the amusement park that my best friend insisted we had to visit. (Three hour drive from NYC.) I had recently gotten my driver's license. Both of my travel companions knew this. However, as I began exiting the parking lot of the park in order to get home; I got a bit confused by the poorly placed signs that led to the exit. The other guy nearly freaked out. He insisted that I had no clue what I was doing, and that my best friend drive. My best friend was exhausted. His other buddy didn't care, and didn't volunteer to drive his own car for awhile. Okay, it was his car. Not like we could argue the point with him. Soon after we leave and head into the night, one of the tires blew.
We were just far enough out that they both decided not to turn back, get a motel room for the night, get the tire fixed in the morning, and then head out. You know . . . the sensible thing. So we drove on a donut. Trying to not go over 35mph. After awhile, my exhausted best friend became far too exhausted to drive. Not only did his other buddy refuse to take the wheel of his own car, but he actually threw a hissy fit! Demanding that my best friend take him home now! "I want to go home! Take me home now!" Did I mention already that the owner of the car was a dude?
By now it was obvious my best friend could no longer continue. Mr. hissy fit said he now didn't have a problem with me driving. So, we stopped off at an all-night gas station. I got a large coffee and some Mountain Dew. Alternated between swigging the coffee and the Dew. Now I was wide awake! So, I drove for about 2 hours before my system started to crash. The road up ahead looked like a giant tongue. The lights looked like eyes, and I started hallucinating that other bits of the highway looked like Satan's face, and that we were riding down his tongue; straight into his mouth. Okay, time to get off at the very next rest stop. The rest stop had a full-blown mechanic shop attached to the gas station there. Earlier we had bought a full-sized spare from an all-night tire place. They gave us the spare, but told us they lacked the equipment to put it on the rim for us. (Lovely.)
Now at the rest stop in Ohio, the mechanic was kind-hearted enough to help us out. Even though his boss actually told him not to bother. We were finally on our way with the full-sized tire attached. My best friend felt more awake by then, so he drove the rest of the way as the Sun slowly came up.