I used to drive OTR tractor/trailers.
I would pull off on a legal shoulder when tired and take a power nap sitting at the wheel with the motor running.
In neutral w/the brakes applied.
One time I woke up and hearing the motor running slammed on the brakes with the foot pedal!
Then discovered the vehicle wasn’t moving.
What an adrenalin rush, got to the yard WIDE awake lol
I can relate as to your story. Before I became a firefighter, I worked in a family lumber business. One time I went to an auction about 300 miles away and bought a bunch of lumber mill equipment. The way things worked out I ended up staying up for over 24 hours. On the way back all the rest stops were full. I finally got off the freeway and drove down a rural side road until I found a nice open field to park in. I turned the truck engine off. It was actually just a 1966 Ford C700 Cabover 5 ton dump truck loaded up high like a 1930s Arkansas Prairie Schooner. It is surprising what we used to be able to get away with.
When I woke up in the morning there were kids climbing all over my truck and getting into my saw blades, planer knives, rip saw, swing saw, and a bunch of other sharp dangerous lumber mill equipment and actually running off with some smaller things. I had parked at the side of a play ground for a school. This was long enough ago that they didn’t have any fences around it. I chased off all the kids and took off before the duty teacher caught up with me. Hopefully none of the kids hurt themselves with the stuff they stole. Although at the time I wouldn’t have felt all that badly if they had.