Welcome readers of the Orange Room! It's July 2021 and I find myself 62 and RETIRED!!! I'm as shocked as anyone by the fact that I was able to make a living, raise a family and save enough money to be able to enjoy this luxury. Thank you Lord. When I look back at my career, I'm reminded of the many moments of uncertainty. I had no skills. I had a Communications Degree but it was nothing that was going to land me a career job. Second shift Videographer position at a local TV station at minimum wage perhaps, but that meant giving up my weekends playing music and I loved that too much. So, I chose to remain poor and play music on the weekends with the Moonbeams.
When Famous Barr came to Peoria in 1985, I applied for a Job and much to my surprise....I was hired....and so was my soon to be wife. We were both living in a basement apartment at the time. Our bedroom was in the kitchen which meant it was easy for a midnight snack!!! Through a door, was a long living room area and on through another door was a small bathroom. The job came just at the right time because days earlier as I was showering, I noticed a grey ribbed shape on the wall. When I touched it, it slithered back into the wall!!! DAMN!!! RAT TAIL!!!!! I knew we had to get out of there.
Even though we didn't make a great deal of money, it did allow us to rent our first house which was next to the Sky Harbor on Airport Road. Daryl Klusendorf was my land lord and that meeting turned into a life changing event that became the FLYING D'RITO BROTHERS. More on that later.
So, here I was, out of college, renting my first house, working for Famous Barr. I was an adult right? Well, not always. I was still on the fence about adulthood and I had several years of relapses into childlike behavior and still participated in assorted debauchery. There were still many nights of partying with friends of my youth. Many of these friends used to hang out with me in the ORANGE ROOM back in the mid 70's. The only difference was now we could legally drink and had some money to blow. Not much of course.
One such night found one of my Mardell Manor buddies and I on Main Street in Downtown Peoria. I can't remember what led up to our meeting but it was late, money was low and we were six sheets to the wind. One of us decided that before we piloted our two ton death mobiles up the hill with blurry vision, we should take a leisurely stroll over to the Pere Marquette hotel and ride the elevator up to the highest floor and observe our fine city from our desired altitude.
I remember it was a hot Summer night and we strolled through the lobby like we owned the place. As the elevator opened, we cordially asked the couple, "is this elevator going up"? We entered and proceeded to take her all the way up to the top floor. We exited and decided to walk around a bit but then wondered why we even came up! Oh yeah, The view! We found the closest window and gazed upon our beloved city, looking pointy and shiny. Maybe it was the fact that the night was about over, or maybe it was the fact that we were going on a half hour with out beer. Or maybe, the view was just not what we expected that hot Summer night. We felt unfulfilled.
We pressed the down button and after a minute, the door slid open and we re entered the silver tube. Now I'm not sure how many floors there were in the Pere Marquette hotel that night. Maybe 20? Maybe less. But as we started our decent back to the lobby...somewhere around the 16th or 17th floor, my buddy decided that we were going to make a memory and eyeballed the red fire extinguisher on the wall inside the elevator. Around floor 11 or 12, he got this mischievous look on his face, and before we reached the 6th floor, the pin was pulled and within a nano second creamy, foamy, liquid white was filling every inch of that compressed 4 x 12 steel compartment!!!! Have you ever emptied a fire extinguisher in an enclosed area? It fills up up quickly!!!!
When the door opened in the lobby seconds after, we looked like something out of a Three Stooges movie! The two of us wiped our eyes and ran out of the elevator like our pants were on fire. Out Of Our Way !!!!! I remember saying as we bolted for the lobby door and took off into the night. I remember the look on a couples face.... the confusion as if we were running from a fire. As we passed the security guard, all he managed to say was HEY!!!!! We both split up into the night with out saying goodbye and each found our own car. Somehow we had made it out of there
safely and into the night. Even as I write this, it seems a blur, but it was just another tale from the ORANGE ROOM.
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