Murphy's World

Anybody got a chainsaw?

Dear Murphy,

I was taking a break from produce and thought I would try some end-dump hazardous work. My day started at the load site at four in the morning, and none of the paperwork was right. The truck scales on my tractor seemed to tell me my weight was good, but the on-site scales showed heavy. I took it anyway.

I ran down to Kettleman and Bakersfield. It took two hours to dump, and that was not counting the time it took to get the trailer out from underneath some tree branches. Aluminum trailers and tree branches don’t mix, let me tell you. I thought I would never get that thing out of the tree. The further I went up and pulled forward, the worse it got stuck.

That was a losing day for me. I don’t know what I was thinking. What a day!

Steve Rusher

Castro Valley, CA

Dear Steve,

Just when I thought I had seen everything, along comes this vision of your truck stuck in a tree. It just goes to show you that if you hang around this business long enough, well, forget it. What am I saying? The fact is, you can hang around this business forever and the day after forever you’ll wake up and see something you ain’t never seen before.

I don’t blame you for wanting to take a break from produce. I’ve never met a driver who likes to haul produce, what with all those 3 a.m. deliveries to warehouses in the worst part of town. I just want to know why you decided to try some end-dump hazardous work instead. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire.

You said it yourself: What were you thinking? Don’t ask me. I just live here, along with all of the rest of us over-the-road professionals in this little chunk of craziness we like to call “Murphy’s World.”

By the way, how did you get away from that tree? On second thought, let me keep that picture in my head of you and your truck up a tree without a chainsaw. Some things are truly priceless.

Regards,

Murphy and Lucky Dog