With most of us grounded, but beginning to get restless, the great road trips are starting to become appealing like those portrayed in National Lampoon’s Vacation, The Blues Brothers, and Almost Famous.
I’ve avoided car trips, preferring to fly, dating back to the summer after I graduated college. I moved cross country from California to DC for work and made the drive in three and a half days. And I did it in a Geo Storm. It so traumatized me that I didn’t return to the Texas Panhandle for over 20 years, which I covered in a review of Cadillac Ranch.
But is there any road trip greater than the one that MilesQuest highlights, a five year old who steals his parents’ car so that he can take his $3 savings and buy a Lamborghini in California?
A Utah boy was pulled over on the freeway by police troopers. He wasn’t driving well and stood out on the road like a sore thumb. That and probably that they couldn’t see a driver behind the wheel, and there are no active autonomous vehicle projects in Weber County.
Questioned by officers the 5 year old shared that he had a fight with his mother. She told him she wouldn’t let him buy a Lamborghini with his three dollars. So he set out on an epic road trip to California to buy one anyway.
One of our Troopers in Weber Co. initiated a traffic stop on what he thought was an impaired driver. Turns out it was this young man, age 5, somehow made his way up onto the freeway in his parents' car. Made it from 17th and Lincoln in Ogden down to the 25th St off-ramp SB I-15. pic.twitter.com/3aF1g22jRB
— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) May 4, 2020
His story is that he left home after an argument with Mom, in which she told him she would not buy him a Lamborghini. He decided he'd take the car and go to California to buy one himself. He might have been short on the purchase amount, as he only had $3 dollars in his wallet.
— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) May 4, 2020
There are several notable things about this story, aside from the fact that a 5 year old stole a car or that he formulated this plan to begin with.
- The boy managed to steal the keys, drive the car onto the freeway, and properly stop when ordered to do so by police.
- The mother told him he wouldn’t be allowed to buy a Lamborghini. I say, encourage it! If he can get someone to sell him one for $3 shouldn’t that be rewarded, not punished?
- If he’s able to drive, he can earn his keep, it’s time to start saving – with a decade of work he might be able to afford a used Lamborghini by the time he’s legal to drive!
Credit: Alexander Migl via Wikimedia Commons
Normally I’m against vehicular theft. I imagine reduced traffic from the coronavirus pandemic made the trip somewhat safer. Ultimately I feel like a boy this industrious needs to be encouraged, not punished.
Traumatized by driving cross-country? Wow, I guess I should be dead already…..
I’m with you Gary. If he can already get that far, his odds of getting a Lambo for $3 during a pandemic and economic downturn probably aren’t too shabby.
Fortunately, due to COVID-19, the Utah bars had limited hours or were closed. Accordingly, we didn’t read about this five-year-old getting a ticket for DWI.
this is what we teach kids to do – you can be anything, do anything you desired to, without first teach them the basic rights and wrongs of life. its cheating kids out of their life and throw them into lions den.
That’s why I have a stick shift. Sorry kids.
I have a 5 year old son. In what world is that kid 5? Maybe it’s just a bad angle but sweet Jesus he’s enormous. Get him an NFL contract
Are you kidding me? Encouraging a boy to endanger his life and others? He is lucky to be alive and well.
I read this story on line and I just do not believe it can be true. Physically, how could a 5 year old drive a car? Does not seem possible, let alone drive it well enough to get on a freeway. Nope, I do not believe this story at all. If ever there was fake news, this has got to be it.
funny news tidbit. thanks for sharing, Gary!
Here’s an update of what happened to that 5 year-old:
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/adrian-zamarripa-lamborghini-jeremy-neves-183636928.html