h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

On that great day,October 12th,Coloumbus day(US),1998 I left Iowa with a friend and $1400 in a $400 car. We spent a month driving around the southwestern region of the US of A,sleeping in tents at rest areas or in feilds with cows and coyotes,or in the car.
throught Okjlahoma,Texas,New Mexico,Texas again,New Mexico again,Arizona .. we finally made it to Nevada. just a 2 hour drive north of Las Vegas,on the backside of Nellis Air Force base,theres a great little place called Area 51. We visited the (Steve's)Mailbox,took pictures of the nifty graffiti,then we ventured to Rachel
to the little Ale'inn (SP?),then we slept in the car awaiting sunrise.
That morning I prayed to God that this would be an interesting day.
We drove up the main gravel road,to the bottleneck area where they have the no tresspassing signs or we will kill you etc and the no photogrophy signs,where we were watched by the security guy atop the hill as we took pictures. Then we left and went off roading by the restricted zone border,heading straight for it when we saw the helicopter. The US gov't helicopter started circling our car,so my friend drove off through brush to turn around and hit a rock,popped my CV joint out,which promptly flopped around and smashed my tie rod in half and broke the brake line in half.
We spent 5 or 6 hours trying to fix the car in the desert,we finally got it to actaully move (4-wheel drive controls were all messed up)
pounded the ruptured brake line in with a hammer,didn't lose too much fluid. and I proceeded to try off roading with only one working tie rod,a diffucult task. only having one tire that would steer,I could only make right hand turns,the other tire just floated loosley where it wanted to.We made it back to the main highway,the car drove not too bad,the weight of the car kept the tire straight withe the oether one,so I started driving 40-50 mph...then witrh no warning my car decided to make a immediate right hand turn,we got the car out of the ditch and tried it again....couple miles later I tested the strength of a guard rail to the max,slamming into it at 25 mph.
We decided not to try the 120 mile drive to Las Vegas,and got a tow truck,the friendly driver from Alamo towed us to a Las Vegas salvage yard,where we spent the next 2 nights sleeping at a salvage yard trying to fix our car,and wandering the streets of North Las Vegas with only $50 left to our names and a wrecked AMC Eagle.
On the third day,we got our car drivable with a $5 tie rod,my parents
(thanx mom!) wired me $300 and we limped home with a car that only had 3 working brakes,and would veer right hard everytime you hit the brakes,no exaust after the ditch incident and the engine smoking from a melted plastic valve cover,leaking 40 quarts of oil on the 7000 mile trip.