(renamed the Wigsphere) on their car, crushing it, they are left stranded. Bart places a collect call to Lisa — who has spent the entire spring break with Homer at work — to help him return home while concealing the ordeal from their parents. On her advice, Bart becomes a courier. However, as he fails to earn enough money to get home and as none of his assignments get him anywhere near Springfield (his first involving flying organ transplants to Hong Kong), Bart again asks Lisa for help. After making Homer promise he will not get upset, Lisa reveals Bart's predicament. To get Bart home, Homer orders equipment for the power plant from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, pouring cola over his work station in order to justify it. He ships it from nearby Knoxville, with Bart as the courier and the boys stowed inside the crate. While Lisa and Homer quietly fume at Bart at the dinner table, Marge remains clueless about his misadventures. At night, Marge receives telephone calls alluding to Bart's mishaps from Principal Skinner (who spotted him in Hong Kong), the Tennessee State Police, and the courier service. Homer nervously ducks under the covers and quietly laughs as Marge remains oblivious. Production The episode was written by Richard Appel, who wanted to do an episode that had two things; a "go to work with your parents day" and Bart getting a driver's license. The "go to work with your parents day" idea appealed to Appel because it was something he "lost the right" to do when he went from public school to private school as a child. Appel considered those days to be his favorites because he "didn't have to do anything" at his parents' job. The idea of having a driver's license was something that Appel dreamed about when he was younger. The writing staff had never done a spring break episode before so they thought, "What would Lisa and Bart do on spring break?" and came up with the road trip plot. Bill Oakley, the show runner of The Simpsons at the time, said that road trips were something that the writers liked to write stories about. The idea of four children going on a road trip was "so exciting" that they immediately knew they wanted to write it. There was a debate over where the children would go, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was first suggested,