June 2, 1991

At first, I lay in bed and hope that JoAnna will forget about her family plan for the morning.  But then I figure, what the hell, let's get the day off to an interesting start.  We drive the van to Endeavor to attend Ben Brancel's farm breakfast.  The faces there are unfamiliar; must be all locals in attendance.  The food is great:  hash browns, scrambled eggs and ham, rolls, coffee and.  We walk around the farm so Andy can see the cows and calves.   Misadventure on the way home.  I'm sitting in the middle seat reading the newspaper when JoAnna announces that the van has suddenly lost power.  The starter won't even respond to my golden touch!  I start to walk to the next exit, which, fortunately, is only a mile away, but even better, before I can cover 100 yards, a kind soul pulls to the side of the highway and offers me a ride.  While the tow truck rescues my family, I attempt to call Barb collect, but the long-distance carrier I have to deal with has no agreement with Mid-Plains or Ameritech so they can't put my call through.  I get into my preachy mode, dish out some subtle abuse, ask to speak to a supervisor, but ultimately make no progress, can't get my point across.  I'm amazed by the quick reunion with my family.  JoAnna calls Barb using her credit card, but like my previous direct-dial effort (for which I lost $2.05 and used the loss to spew more abuse) the phone rings forever.  We call Larry Martin and the sweetheart of a guy agrees to provide taxi service.  While waiting for his arrival, we spent the time in the Petro (a massive truck-stop complex) restaurant.  JoAnna and I drink coffee.  Andy plays with his hamburger.  Eddie continues to be an angel.  After Larry arrives, we wait around for about a half hour, we learn that the van won't be ready to drive away until tomorrow.

Back home I plant the rest of the vegetable garden.  Larry calls to convey his regrets:  he and Martha can't accept our invitation to a cookout.  Other plans.  While preparing the ribs and chicken, I drink a substantial amount of gin.  After supper, JoAnna pays Kathy Blumenfeld a visit, and the boys and I watch baseball on TV.