Murphy's World

A weekend in Murphyland

Dear Murphy (and Lucky Dog),
In my years of driving I’ve had my share of Murphy days, but I recently had a Murphy weekend. It started on Friday afternoon when I unloaded in Michigan. I was unable to get another load until 10 p.m. Sunday at the rail yard in Chicago. I got there early and was told it was it was already trackside. Must be my lucky day! Wrong!
     It was neither trackside nor on the train. I looked all over that rail yard for over an hour. Finally a yard driver took me to my container, which was on a different track and still on the train. At 1 a.m. they took my container off the train. I tried to hook it to my fifth wheel, but it wouldn’t work. I got out to see what the problem was, and the pin handle came off in my hand. Great!
     The closest shop that could fix it was in Gary, IN, where I had to wait another hour and a half for a 30-minute repair job. By then it was 3:30 a.m. on Monday, so I took my break and decided to try again Monday afternoon.
     That’s when I discovered that the electrical outlet for the pigtail didn’t work. The rail yard workers said I should drop my trailer back in the lot, go to the chassis storage lot, pick out another chassis, go to the “flip” yard and get my container put on the new chassis. As I made the first turn to drop my trailer, I heard a loud pop. Both of my mud flaps and their brackets snagged on the chassis and broke off. Would this day never end?
     I finally got my container on another chassis and got out of there. That was Monday. On Tuesday, I got lost two times in Minnesota trying to find my customer. It’s now Wednesday morning and so far no problems, but the day is still young and Murphy is lurking close by!
     Matthew, Tina and Roscoe (our own Lucky Dog)

Dear Matthew,
I’m getting dizzy just trying to follow the bouncing ball on this weekend of yours. It sounds like you were bounced around more than a pinball – go here, no go there, get that chassis, no put it back and get another, now flip everything over, do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about – at least in Murphy’s World.
     At least you got one thing right: Murphy is always lurking nearby. Enjoy the rest of your day. By the way, your lucky dog “Roscoe” sounds about as lucky as Lucky Dog. Don’t you just love it?

Regards,

Murphy and Lucky Dog