For two years, we set it on my birthday – but soon Christmas rolled in, and then summer unfolded, and then the rains came. Last April, I just announced a date hoping that my three children would plan their schedules around it. Only Carlos was there to go with me.

I invited Aris and Anjo to each bring a child and join me. Anjo had an appointment in Manila, so it was only Aris and his 13-year-old daughter Tisha who joined us for that "dream drive."

To us, there would be nothing boring in that journey. But to a first-time long drive passenger, like Tisha, it was just one long road and she reminded us of that everytime she asked – "Are we there yet?" Her father gamely replied: "In about three days, we will be there!"

Rising before dawn (at 3:30 a.m.!) had its rewards. We had clear highways from the North Luzon Expressway to the towns of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.

After lunch from a roadside restaurant in Sta. Fe town, it was my turn to drive. Since Aris was asleep and could not comment on my non-aggressive maneuvers, I enjoyed driving through the roads of Dalton Pass. I drove those roads at night three years ago, guided by the ‘glow-in-the-dark’ road signs. Unlike the Halsema Highway, the roads are pleasantly winding, with wider shoulders and lanes even at the curves. And the inclines were not significantly steep, it was no problem driving the Alterra steered by automatic transmission.

Driving Halsema from Banaue to Bontoc to La Trinidad to Baguio – adds a flavor of adventure. After the well-paved roads leading to Banaue, expect rough mountain roads, sharp stones, signs of landslides, and deep valleys of green forests, yellow rice terraces and pine trees.

It was a dream come true to drive through the narrow and steep winding roads of the Halsema Highway from Mt. Data to Atok in Benguet, passing the 7,400 feet elevation marker of RP’s highest road system.

There are no straights, just zigzags that are steep with real hairpin corners. I was glad I had the power of the Alterra 3.0-liter engine with automatic transmission, which could easily climb – or quickly downshift to crawl down – an incline.

A good advice to follow: Trust the road signs! Several times, I thought a U-turn sign with the arrow pointed right must be mistake. I was following a road drifting towards the left and could not see a lane going to the right. But the sign was correct – the U-turn lane was going steeply down to the right, almost not visible to the driver!

There were a few times when I was a little anxious about my driving skills although Aris seemed to trust me enough to sleep through the whole thing. We passed through a collapsed road pavement and I had to drive over a very narrow dirt road with uneven terrain. Passing very close to the cliff, and with all of the workers watching me, I thought of my 4x4 driving lessons in Isuzu 4x4 Land in Pattaya, Thailand. I could almost hear my instructor say: "Hold the steering wheel steady, do not step on the brakes."

I was uneasy when I saw the fog coming down on the road ahead. A year ago, I was in the same highway on a rainy afternoon and the fog thickly limited our vision, even with our headlights and fog lights on bright. Fortunately, the fog that afternoon was not so thick, I drove through it without waking Aris.

The best part of the drive was having Carlos as my navigator. I was pleased to find out that he liked being in the mountains, and talked about plans to someday ride the trail on his mountain bike. Through more than 50 kms of that highland highway, I heard my son’s spirit of adventure through the scenes he pointed out – the landslide face of a mountain, the green valleys, the rain clouds, and the character of the winding trail. Now I can say I’ve driven through the mountain highways in the Cordillera and Sierra Madre mountain ranges. I’ve been there and done that!