Murphy's World

The night the lights went out in Alabama

Dear Murphy,

I started my day in Tifton, GA. I got a late start and had a 321-mile deadhead across back roads between Tifton, GA and Pennington, AL. Other than the long drive, my day was going OK, but then it got dark and my volt meter got down to 12.4. I called the company to get the number for a shop. The shop was 65 miles from Pennington, so the mechanic and I agreed to meet in Linden, AL. I gave him all the information he needed about the alternator and the truck. By the time I got to our meeting spot, my volt meter was at 12.1.

The mechanic arrived, looked at my alternator and said, “I brought the wrong one. I’ll have to go back and get the right one.” He took off, leaving me in a not-so-good part of town. I couldn’t crank up my truck or turn my lights on or anything. Two hours later, the mechanic showed up again, put it in and handed me a bill for $450.

I finally get to Pennington to pick up my “pre-loaded” trailer. They told me it was loaded but they hadn’t brought it up from the mill yet. An hour later they brought it into the yard.

I got hooked up and headed down the road. I was the only one on that two-lane except for a deer that darted across the road! I struck her with the right fender of my truck.

Other than a scratch down my fender and a slight vibration in the front end of the truck from the deer and being $450 lighter in my hip pocket thanks to the mechanic, my “Murphy Day” came to an end! At least I was still in one piece, which is more than I could say for the deer.

Matthew H.

(Wagener, SC)

Dear Matthew,

The last sentence of your letter sums up our philosophy here in Murphy’s World. Sure, anything that can go wrong will, and usually at the most inopportune time. But the thing that keeps us going is the knowledge that it could’ve been much worse. If you think you had a bad day, what about the deer?

I’ve never been to Linden, AL, but the thought of hanging around the “not-so-good part of town” (by the way, is there a “good” part of Linden?) in the middle of the night with no power, no lights and no prospects for things to get any better sounds a little spooky.

After spending all of that time on the back roads of Alabama in the middle of the night, I guess I-20 would look pretty good. Keep on truckin.’ We’ll leave the lights on for you.

Regards,

Murphy and Lucky Dog