A Nap in Time Saves Eight!

Intermittent conversations at my workplace today brought to mind how fraught with adventures our trip to the jungle home really was! To add to the fun element, we'd decided that we'd cover the journey of more than 5 hours, by travelling in the night. We hired a van and driver for the very purpose. Little did we know that the driver of the van really meant to give us the ride of our lives! After the eight of us had been picked up from our respective points and we were well about an hour and a half into the journey, we realized that the vehicle was not cruising along as smoothly as is expected! A glance in the rearview mirror confirmed our worst fears. The driver was sleepy as hell! After many bouts of insisting conversations, with us asking him to rest a while and him refusing, he finally relented and brought the vehicle to a stop outside a cafe. Leaving him to close his eyes for some time, the rest of us traipsed into the cafe, offering to get him some caffeine too, which he vehemently refused. After a good many quarters of an hour, we set off once again. The same rigmarole was repeated a second time! The spotting of droopy and steadily closing eyes on the rearview mirror, myriad shoves and taps on the driver's shoulders, unending refusals of cups of coffee; all giving the semblance of a déjà vu of sorts, with the man finally agreeing to have a cup of tea when it all happened for the third time!
Narrow misses were the order of the day (night?)! Phew! We missed ramming into that truck by an inch! Woah! Look out! There comes a median! Were we glad or what when the first rays of the sun finally broke through the dimly lit sky! Out we all trooped, bleary eyed and aching all over, all of which was forgotten the minute the misty and cold air hit us right on our faces! We spent a good many hours there, leaving the driver to catch his fill of sleep, wistfully hoping for a safe enough descent down the treacherous mountain pathways! Please don't remind me how we got up the mountainside in the first place, what with us battling hairpin bends, coupled with the man steering being unable to keep his eyes open for even a few seconds at a stretch! As A opined, the charging elephant seems so tame in comparison, nay!?!