Murphy's Law and . . .

. . . Cumberland' s Law

Is there a difference between those two laws?

Guess not. Murphy's says "Everything that can go wrong will go wrong."

There's another that says "Nothing is an inevitable as a mistake whose time has come." I will substitute here "break-down" for "mistake", with the explanation to follow further down.

Ralph's Law say" It is a mistake to allow any mechanical object to REALIZE that you are in a HURRY."

And then there's CUMBERLAND'S Law, which contains a lot more words than all the other laws.

I. E. -

(1) -Windshields must break on a regular schedule.

(2) - Motorhome heaters must quit on coldest nights.

(3) - Propane tanks must go empty in the middle of cooking a meal.

(4) - Motor home roofs must periodically peel off.

(5) - Vehicle (any) tires must wear out when wallets are thinest.

(6) - Well-laid plans must alway s have a (nasty) loophole.

Now to explain:

Yarnangler and Geezer, Chica and Sage Words planned a Memorial Day triip from Tucson to Hobbs to begin at 4 p. m. on Friday.

At 7 p. m . Yarnangler, on the cell phone with a lousy connection, let it be known that because of a problem (unexplained) the foursome was just getting started from Tucson.

About 7:30 p. m. Sage Words and Geezer got on the cell phone and anounced the Jeep's transmission was acting up - giving them some type of a problem- and that they were in a rest area awaiting a tow truck to pick them up and haul them to a garage for a looksee evaluation and hopefully a quick get-on-the-road-again fix.

That didn't happen. About 9 p. m. Yarntangler crisply said to Old Newsie: "Go to bed. I'll call you in a bit if we get on the road again. If not we'll go to a motel and phone again in the morning."

Morning came. No call. Saturday noon came.. No call.

So I cell-phoned Yarntangler, got Geezer, who said a mechanic was just then looking over the Jeep to see what is wrong. Once something was determined, maybe in a half hour, he'd call back.

Geezer indicated the group was in Benson, west of Willcox, Arizona, (probably in the hills of Texas Canyon, home of the legendary Cochise and location of Cochise's Hangout).

The gang was still about eight hours away from Hobbs. They are still planning on the trip UNLESS . .

Unless what? Who the heck knows? Well. now it's one o'clock and Geezer hasn't called back. To me, this does not sound hopeful but I'll keep on praying and hoping. I think I better phone Lady B and the other families down by Fort Worh to add in their prayers too. I did.

This blog is being prepared at 1:30 p. m. Saturday. Please stand by for further details.

Here we go, good news and bad news says Yarntangler.

Bad news first

"We can't make it there. The mechanic found the trouble, a broken line from transmission to radiator (to keep transmission fluid cool) but we are in a very small garage with no parts to fix us and if ordered would not be in until late today and fix tomorrow so there's no way we could make it there, have time to visit, and get back."

Rosy says: "It's simple to fix but not a guarantee to go more than back to Tucson. We will put a temporary patch over the hole and clamp it into place, a temporary fix that should get us back to the house."

[Rosy probably could have fixed this on the spot with a little gum and some duct tape if she'd had it - she's an Air Force gal].

I've fixed mufflers on several cars many times with tin cans and radiator clamps. [Comon sense - to quote Lady B].

The Good news: "It's not as bad as we thought, no new transmission needed. When Noel first noticed the problem as we drove into a rest stop (probably the one in Texas Canyon half way to Willcox) he stopped right away and that prevented the transmission from overheating and quitting.)"

Rosy says: "Maybe we can think of Fourth of July and I WILL RENT A GOOD VAN TO BE SURE WE GET THERE."

And that folks, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.

Everybody have a good night's sleep now, go to your church on Sunday and thank God for being merciful to the travelers.

And don't forget to pray for the safety of all our servicepeople - and on Memorial Day, remember all those who made sure I could write this blog today and you could read it.

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