Picture this. You’re in one of America’s beautiful national parks with your family for the weekend. With the family hauler packed and the sun beginning to set behind the mountains, you begin piloting the winding roads back to civilization. The radio suddenly gives off an intrusive shrill. Your gaze goes back to the road while in the background you faintly hear that calm voice reciting a message from the Emergency Alert System, only this time, it doesn’t say, “This is only a test.”
Highways are at a complete stop. All lanes in both directions jammed with cars going nowhere fast and with no end in sight. After an hour and a half with no information coming over the radio, people begin abandoning their cars to go on foot, carrying with them what they can. There are chirps and flashes of lights as car alarms are armed. Worried owners perform quick walks around their vehicles, making sure everything is secure. As they walk away, some look back warily at their parked cars as if to say: “Don’t worry. I’ll be back to get you when whatever this is all blows over.”
Rather than get stuck in the impromptu parking lot, you find a part of the shoulder that leads to an elevated parallel dirt road and pull off to collect your…
