Ben's Adventure

Beware of the blob, it creeps and leaps, and slides and glides across the floor; right through the door, and all AROUND the wall... Help! The blob is back. If only for a moment. Gotta report on Ben Hevelone's adventure.

Ben's employer, ITT, is a huge supporter of Special Olympics. So they sponsor a ho-bunch of their employees (at a thousand dollar donation each) to drop 240 feet off the roof of the American Towers Hotel. They rappel down the northwest corner. The big boss even went down. The event was held on Friday, Aug 21.

Anyone who wanted to could go down, if they could find a sponsor or cough up the moola. I was concerned about finding a shady spot and a chair, so I took a small bucket and a pillow. I was not gonna stand for 1.5 hours! Well, when I got there I found a beautiful plaza with lovely seats near the restaurant. They had raspberry water and pineapple water for everyone to drink. It was really a well planned event, But I felt a bit like Jed Clampett arriving in Beverly Hills.

One lady kept glancing at this older fellow with a bucket and a pillow. Finally, she said, "Skyler, go say 'hi' to grandpa." It was SHELLY! Barb, Dean and the little mutton bustin' buckaroo soon arrived. The people were a-droppin' off the roof. Ben was scheduled for 1:30 but he went down at about 1:20. Very prompt.

Some of Utah's most famous dignitaries were sailing off that roof. Mayor Ralph Becker, the director of Special Olympics, at least one auto dealer and many others. I felt so fortunate to find a parking spot less than one block away. In the hot sun, of course. But I had no change. Very serious. I asked a lady if she had change for a dollar. She did not. I asked her if she had ANY change. She found a quarter and I gave her my dollar. That bought me some time. I went racing up the street looking for change. I eventually put 8 quarters in the meter and I was off to the event.

The participants were constantly being yelled at by their relatives to turn around for photo purposes. Many could not or would not turn around. They were frozen with their faces against the wall, determined to be alive at the landing. A very few of them looked down from the roof and said "huh uh. I ain't doin' this." Ben got turned around really well during his descent and Shelly and Barb got some great pictures. Go to "Cabin Fever" soon, (but not yet) for some great shots. You will also see Eli gettin' bucked off a huge, dangerous uh........... sheep. Also check Q-tips for more cute kids.

When Ben got down, he rushed into the dressing room where all the rappellers had their stuff stored (in alphabetical order). He grabbed a B H bag and came out to meet with us. As we were congratulating him, Barb and Shelly were going through his bag, looking for good stuff. (Maybe some coupons and gift certificates and things.) They soon discovered that this WAS NOT Ben's bag. He had grabbed the wrong one. He went racing back inside, hoping to get the exchange made before the other B H started calling 911. Fortunately, the guy was droppin' from the sky and knew nothing about it. Oh, yeah, who was this mysterious "other" B H? It was Bob Harmon, the president of Harmon Foods.

Well, the party soon broke up. Barb said, "Dad, can we take you to your car?" I said "why, where are you parked? She said, "under the hotel, of course. The parking is free!"

Jed Clampett slided and glided up the boiling hot sidewalk to his car.