PORTLAND (AP) – Paul Gilfedder’s 20-mile solo ride in the wee hours of the morning in his new gas-powered go-cart proved to be a terrifying experience for both the 8-year-old boy and his parents.

Steve and Wendy Gilfedder thought Paul was sound asleep in the upstairs bedroom of his Cornish home when they were awakened before 5 a.m. Friday by a police officer who told them their son was found by a passerby on Route 107 in Sebago.

“It was horrifying,” Wendy Gilfedder told the Portland Press Herald. “I have four children and I am always careful with them. Yesterday was the first time I could talk about this without crying.”

Paul was so eager to test out the new machine he had received as a birthday gift that he sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night after his parents and three siblings were asleep and rode it along the highway, bound for Standish to visit a friend.

“He knew the route because we had driven it many times,” the boy’s mother said.

Hours after Paul began his journey, Penny Thorne spotted him standing beside the road as she was riding to work in East Baldwin. “He was scared and tired,” said Thorne, who initially mistook the boy for a deer. “He is a brave little boy.”

Wendy Gilfedder said Paul desperately wanted to show the cart to his best friend, but was told that he couldn’t drive it in the rain. The parents left the machine in the garage, having no idea that their son would take it on the road at night.

Paul even grabbed a gas can to ensure that he’d have enough fuel, but he lost the container along the trail.

The boy had long discussions with his parents about why his midnight ride was a bad idea, talks that were reinforced by a meeting with a police officer. Paul’s mother indicated that her son was contrite.

“He would never, ever do it again,” she said.