My boycott of Wendy’s came to a peaceful end this afternoon. I drove back to the Wendy’s in Glen Ellyn for the first time since I was shocked to find it closed on that communist holiday one month ago. I walked in, was greeted courteously, ordered my usual modified #6 combo, and received it promptly. I ate it, and happily for all parties involved, it was good (the Coke wasn’t quite topped off, but in the interest of peace I’ll let that slide).

Hopefully old wounds are now healed, and we can all get on with our lives again. I say that because while I did have to go a whole month without my favorite combo, Wendy’s suffered far more: from the close of the NYSE on May 1 to the close on May 31, Wendy’s stock fell from $61.41 per share all the way down to $60.28—by my math, that’s a net loss of 74 trillion dollars. I’d hate to have to punish them further.

During my boycott of Wendy’s, Burger King Holdings had an IPO and saw its stock rise from $17.50 to $18.70 per share, Truett Cathy opened 133 new Chick-Fil-A locations in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, and Dick Portillo bought Lake Michigan. Coincidence? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

I hope Wendy’s has learned its lesson, and can’t help but think it wouldn’t have come to this if Dave were still with us.

…

Three utterly fascinating tidbits about my voyage from Chicago to Jacksonville and back:

1. The ‘Rolla averaged a whopping 41.5 miles per gallon. Check that, a flabbergasting 41.5 miles per gallon. I was in awe the whole way home.

2. In southwestern Virginia, there is a stretch of interstate which is labeled I-77 North and I-81 South. The road itself runs east-west. This is called a “wrong-way concurrency.” The signs pictured in the article are exactly the ones that baffled me on the road.

3. Indiana’s noblest contribution to Western Civilization has to be the placement of ice cream vending machines in interstate rest areas.