Rolling Thunder - The Forgotten Tale

Now how could I have forgotten this part of our weekend adventure?? I'd mentioned in my previous post that on Saturday night, we'd checked out a couple of bars and then made our way over to the docks, where we met up with Jamie, the very cool boat captain. But I forgot to mention a very cool happening that occurred in between the bars and the docks.

We were strolling down the sidewalk and a limo/town Car pulled up to the curb just in front of us. The driver and the front passenger both jumped out and did a quick scan of the area to ensure things were safe. Who could be in the back of the car? Who? Who? Well, the window slid down just as I walked past and lo and behold; it was Ben Stein! Frikkin' Ben Stein!! I turned to say to Kerry "Hey, that's Ben Stein!" but Kerry was not behind me any longer. Where was Kerry? Why, she was AT the car, with her head stuck into the back window!! Ok, so she hadn't stuck her head into the car, but her head was right at the window, and she was saying hello, and that her brother thoroughly appreciated what Ben had done for him, and did he remember her brother, etc.

Well this in-your-face approach seemed to catch the two guys that had jumped out of the front of the car, completely by surprise. Ha ha, they came right up to K but quickly realized she was not a threat and they backed off. And here's where things really get cool.

Ben (I can call him Ben, we're tight now) stepped out of the car and right up to K, hand extended, saying that yes indeed, he definitely remembered her brother, and how was he doing, and where was he currently. Man, for a someone as important and famous as this guy is, he was incredibly approachable.

(As a footnote; Ben, who is very supportive of the troops, was contacted by Kerry's brother (who is in the military), requesting that Ben speak at a Serviceman's event, and Ben gladly accepted. But things went even further than that; K's brother wound up picking Ben up at the airport when he flew in, and spent the whole day with him.)

Ben spent more than a few minutes talking with K and asked that she pass along his well wishes to her brother. How cool is that? We were all blown away. And even after he moved on, he paused for others on the street and let them take pictures with him. I gotta say, he was one nice guy.

This is a great story, isn't it? But there's nothing like a little proof to show it really happened... So here you go; here is Mr. Ben Stein, alongside our lovely hostess; K!

Not too shabby, eh?