The Case of the Sideways Diner

The year was 1985 and I was working the day shift in patrol. My assignment: to meet and escort the two halves of what was to become the . The modular building would be exiting the highway at exit 55 and then traveling on East (one of five) Main Street to its final destination.

My supervisor, the sergeant, and I stood by as we anxiously awaited the word that the silver dining emporium would soon be coming in for a landing. The sarge was known to be a bit nervous at times but today he looked surprisingly calm, perhaps thinking of souvlaki and fries.

The word came over the radio just as I  caught my first glimpse of the the new diner exiting the highway. One very large flatbed trailer swung out onto East, (one of five) Main Street. I had stopped traffic on my end as the sarge did the same. No problem so far as the trailer started to swing in to the lot. Suddenly a loud crunch and scrape–"Holy baklava batman," the trailer got stuck. Now we had a trailer with half a diner on it stuck sideways across the road, bringing traffic to a standstill.

Sarge's nervous and excited voice came over the radio,"What's the problem?" I told him the trailer is stuck on the hump in the road. Being a quick, on-my-feet-thinker, I told him I have a solution to the dilemma. Just leave it there."What, have you been smoking? Moussaka or something?" He blared. "No, sarge," I said, "just leave it here it can be an open air diner, then build a road around it. We can even call it Main Street South and  we'll have six of them." I guess that was not a workable solution, but very clever on my part, so I thought.   

The traffic continued to build as the driver attempted to remove the diner from the road. After an half hour of maneuvering, the trailer freed itself and went on to its final destination.The second-half driver having witnessed the other driver's attempts to deliver the diner and parked his part as smooth as butter on diner hotcakes.