Swallowed by an underground void that gulped everything into its vacant cavity, jagged sections of asphalt roadway disappeared in the blink of an eye. A sinkhole had consumed my truck. It fell without warning into the cavernous unknown at an uneven pace.

The vehicle fully insured, my disappointment in its submergence would have been minimized had I not been driving with my dog when the ground opened wide. Lost in the giddiness of an epic adventure, we hung our heads out the window, ears billowing in the breeze, and watched as we sank deeper towards the center of the Earth.