A several-mile hike in the biting cold on Friday morning didn’t damper the spirits of three youngsters determined to make it to school.

The fact that the school Christmas party was set for Friday, may have influenced the youngsters’ decision.

The adventure for the cousins, two girls, 6 and 7, and a 10-year-old boy, started around 8 a.m., when the children missed the school bus on Kilburn Avenue and decided to hoof it to Carneros Elementary School — a pretty good jaunt.

Deciding to walk to school was the kids’ first mistake. The second — an even bigger no-no — was picking the same route the school bus takes on Highway 29.

The children made it to southbound Highway 29, just south of First Street and began their trek.

“I was parked on Imola Avenue at Highway 29, when a citizen stopped and told me three kids were walking southbound on Highway 29 on the shoulder,” California Highway Patrol Officer Wayne Bernard said.

Bernard took off to investigate the report, and as he entered the highway from First Street, he saw a red Ford Expedition pulling off the shoulder of the road into traffic.

“I followed the Expedition. The female driver took the Imola Avenue offramp,” Bernard said. “I was still following the vehicle, and I could see a child in the back seat.”

Bernard pulled the Expedition over at Golden Gate Drive. “I confronted the driver and could see three children sitting in the back seat.”

The driver had seen the children on the highway, stopped and told them it was unsafe to walk on the freeway. She told them to get into her car, Bernard said.

“She meant well, but I really scolded the children for getting into a car with a stranger,” Bernard said. “I also told the driver she should have driven off the freeway, immediately stopped in a safe place and called authorities. She was going to take them to school.”

After getting identification from the driver, Bernard said, she was free to go.

“I took custody of the kids and drove them to the CHP office,” he said. “I called the school and confirmed the children were students there and also got the telephone numbers for the mothers.”

Napa police were called. The mothers showed up at the CHP office a short time later to retrieve their offspring.

“I talked to the mothers and told them that they needed to educate their children to never get into a car with a stranger. If the wrong person had picked up those kids, we wouldn’t have even known they were missing for about eight hours until after school was dismissed.”

Bernard said he forwarded a copy of his report to Child Protective Services for review.