In Muscatine on Wednesday, August 16, 1950, Dale wrote, “Worked 8 to 4:30. Pay day. Paid Louie $50. Only $50 more & the car is ours. Ate lunch at home. Paid grocery bill $27.89. Paid $4.40 hospital bill. Mowed the yard.” The car was a 1939 Mercury he painted red like the one above.