Old Man Ron

Long time lurker, first time poster...hoping I'm in the right section since this is an older vehicle.

1996 Olds Cutlass Ciera (upscale version of the Celebrity I believe), FWD, 3.1L V6, came off the highway and within minutes it started idling poorly, barely made it home. Felt like it was running on 3 or 4 cylinders, temp was at normal (not overheating). Pulled the codes and got the dreaded P0300 (multiple random cylinder misfire) and P0441 (Evap emission system incorrect purge flow).

I have some *very* basic auto knowledge but only enough to get me into trouble. Replaced the gas cap just in case that was part of the problem (of course it wasn't)...but at least that's ruled out.

Only other interesting thing to report is after it sat overnight and cooled down, upon first starting it idled up for a few seconds sounding like it was running on all 6, then slowly idled down and coughed and sputtered and almost died for a few seconds, then returned to a high idle running on all 6, back down to coughing and sputtering...I'd say a ten second cycle of up and down, then repeat for another ten second cycle up and down.

Fuel pump and plugs/wires are all roughly 3 years and 30k miles old.

Any thoughts on where to start first? Can't afford to randomly replace parts in hopes of fixing it, and certainly can't afford the local $75/hr labor rates, so I'm in a bit of a pickle. Somewhat colorblind, definitely disabled, but I have time and gumption...plus a desire to learn.

Any tips, tricks, thoughts, or "yeah good luck with that one" would be greatly appreciated and replied to as quickly as possible. Thanks in advance folks.
Ron :-)