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Eventually, a car pulled over behind us, but when it got closer I knew we were in big trouble. It was a purple van. I figured the Beardos might try to ram us with their car, so I braced for impact. But the van slowed down, and when the doors opened, it wasn't the Beardos at ALL. It was pretty obvious that whoever these guys were, they were here to HELP.

But they didn't speak English, so we were having trouble communicating with them. Mom and Dad tried to act out what was wrong with the car, and I'm sure the two guys thought my parents had completely lost their minds. Then Manny surprised EVERYONE by speaking in perfect Spanish.

The conversation between Manny and the two guys lasted a long time, so I figured Manny was explaining everything that had happened on our trip. He must've done a good job making the guys feel sorry for us, because the next thing you knew, they were offering us a RIDE. And I'm happy to say their air-conditioning worked GREAT. I think we assumed these guys were taking us to a mechanic or something, but we were wrong.

We should've realized that if MANNY was the one doing all the talking, we'd end up going where HE wanted to go. Sunday. Like I said before, Mom was right about pigs being smart. She had it house-trained within a week, and the pig even knows a few tricks already. My only real complaint is that now I never get a chance to watch my shows on TV, because the pig has figured out how to use the remote.

But I'm gonna let that go, because I don't want to get bit a second time. WHAT SOUND DOES A COW MAKE? It's taken a while for everything to get back to normal after the trip. Dad had to take a few more days off work to cancel all his credit cards and get new ones. And tomorrow Mom and Dad are supposed to go out and get new driver's licenses and phones.

Our minivan's been at the mechanic since it was towed. We gave the BOAT to the drivers who helped us out as a way of saying thanks, which was actually Mom's suggestion. Mom's been saying that even though our trip didn't go the way we planned, it was still an adventure. She's been working on an article to send in to "Family Frolic" that I seriously hope does NOT get published. Mom's also been making a scrapbook, and she asked everyone to contribute a souvenir to put inside.