It's vacation time, and the Barclay family is off like a herd of turtles. Well, almost: they haven't even left yet. Young Jimmy is going to journal about the trip. One of the first things he records is that his older sister, Donna, doesn't want to go. She prefers to remain in Odyssey, but her parents have overruled that notion, so Donna is not a happy camper. Jimmy also documents a brief, pre-trip visit with Whit, who has given him a new invention, "Whit's Boredom Buster" — to be used only when Jimmy is "absolutely, without question, no doubt about it, as bored as you've ever been in your life."

At last, the Barclays are on the road... and aren't 20 minutes into their trip when trouble starts. Donna and Jimmy argue about backseat space; George runs over something that everyone thinks is a small animal but turns out to be a piece of tire rubber; they have a chewy lunch in an old diner; they sing every praise chorus they know; and the batteries go dead in Donna's tape player, further souring her mood.

To top it all off, the car suddenly dies. When George gets out to investigate, Jimmy sees a man they passed on the road rapidly approaching them. Donna speculates that he's an ax murderer. She screams for her father to get back in the car. Just as the man walks up, George pops the cap off the hot radiator, sending up an explosion of water and steam.

This plot section is too short and should be expanded. »