midnight,
Wednesday morning
Jimmy Hale had elected to drive . July Fourth of that year falling on a Friday , he had decided to start his vacation , nominally , on the following Monday , July 7 , actually , on the morning of July second . He argued logically that it might take several of his vacation days to clean up the story . Hite not offering any objections to this , Jimmy started shortly after midnight , Wednesday morning . The fates were unkind to him . He ran into a rain storm in Connecticut , which followed him through most of Massachusetts . Shortly after he left Brattleboro , Vermont , behind him , he asked two separate individuals for the shortest road to his destination .