A short time ago…
In a District not so far away…
There worked a volunteer by the name of Rachel. For over a year she had been toiling (Well , 4 hours every other Sunday.) in the Star Wars: Magic of Myth exhibit. Tirelessly clicking visitors in & out. Answering questions by the barge load. (Even doing so one day when she had *no* voice. Found out you could answer 99.9% of all questions, with a dozen answer cards.) Her solace being that she got to be in the presence of real Star Wars stuff.
One of the perks of being a Smithsonian volunteer is that you get a 20% discount in all shops. Including the special Star Wars one. They had everything from pencils to Pez to big ticket items like a Han Solo Frozen in carbonite.
For the last couple of months, of the exhibit, I had been joking around with the clerks & the other volunteers that since it was floor damaged & since most of the price of the Frozen Han was shipping, I was gonna offer the museum store to take it off their hands and drive it home (on top of my Tercell) if they could make me an offer. Since the museum was selling it for $1,500 (While the "Star Wars Insider" has it for $1,200.) I figured it was a pipe dream.
A week before closing, I talked to the head clerk. Seems since it was floor damaged they couldn't send it back... To make a not so long story short (too late) I could have it for $350!!!!!!! (Well $349.99)
Now the kinky upshot... Han was listed in the master inventory as a "Toy".There came upon the exhibit a time of sorrow… the last day.
The day dawned clear, with the queue stretching down the building. (The AM tickets were gone in 20 minutes.) I flashed my ID at the guard, to get into the underground parking, for the last time. (Our IDs were expiring that day too.)
There were the frenzied final moments of trying to get the last visitors out of the exhibit.
The volunteers were to hide out in the video viewing area until the exhibit was cleared. We made the best of the time posing for pictures. Admiral Mary Jean vamping with a Stormtrooper. Me re-doing the infamous "Princess Leia-insky" pose. Etc.
Finally it was time to get Han. He easily slid off hanger & I walked him down to lying flat on the ground. 
(No way was I gonna let a fiberglass block fall to the floor, no matter how dramatic it looked in the movie.) By the big gray smudges on my white dress, I realized that he hadn't been dusted in 15 months. So I cleaned him off as I waited for my carrying help to come upstairs. Luckily Han fit in the tiny store elevator. I finally got across the idea that I wanted to do a blanket stretcher carry. So we laid him back down on top of my wool blanket rolled up the sides & proceeded to carry him out. 
Han's only about 75 lbs., so with 6 people carrying him, it was a breeze.
The highlight was when we were walking down the main hallway, and started singing the Imperial March at the top of our lungs. Folks kept saying since I was dressed as Leia I should be walking behind, sadly. I believe I responded, "Heck no! He's mine! I'm happy about this."
But then we got to the escalators. Yes, we took Han, head first, down the escalator. And it went off without a hitch. Roger was about to take us down the little escalator to the lot, but I nixed the idea. It was much easier just to take the elevator.
I had put my roof racks on before coming in that morning. So I pulled my little Tercell in front of the elevator. And we put the blanket across the bars and Han on top of it. We stopped to take a few pictures, before tying him down.
Now the Stormtrooper had been walking with us the whole time. By the way, found out STs are basically useless. In all that armor they can't carry anything, see anything, etc. 
We then got to the business of wrapping Han in an old comforter & tying him down. May I highly recommend having at least one Boy Scout around when tying something down. I had 2. I just handed my rope over to Roger, & let the boys play.
While we were on our little escapade, something horrible happened in the exhibit. We were told the lights would be on until 7 PM. The system shut the exhibit lights off at 6! Luckily I had gotten the pictures I wanted. But some of the folks were royally screwed.
A handful of us decided to go see the Imax film "Special Effects" one last time. By the way, if you get a chance to see it, do. They re-shot the opening of SW in Imax for this. You thought the Imperial Star Destroyer was big before…
Afterwards, we went back upstairs for one last walk through the exhibit in the dark. That's when I lost it. (I'm tearing up now just thinking about it.) I was a sobbing idiot. Star Wars has been such a big part of my life. And this was such a fabulous experience. I probably won't see them again… (Sniff. I'm on tissue 3…)
At one point in the afternoon, someone had made the comment that our good byes were like in "The Wizard of Oz." (Tissue 5, I think I'm rusting.) And it's true. But give me Oz over home any day. People kept asking what was I gonna do weekends. My first response, sleep in. Second, clean. See Oz is better. ;-)
The transport home went smoothly. Han didn't budge an inch. I think I was lucky that the Superbowl was on, there was little traffic on the highway. Had my hazard lights on & did about 35-40mph all the way home.
As to unloading… Well lets just say if ever have to move something bigger than myself ever again, I will get help.
I thought I was going to be okay, I had a hand truck. Ha. Han was a wee bit too tall for it to work. You know what? He seemed to get bigger as time went on. The Star Wars Insider says he's a little over 6 ft… Try 7+ feet. He was an inch too tall to get through the outside door upright. And 1/8 of an inch to tall to get through my condo's doorway.
It was raise, slide, lower, slide, raise, slide, lower, slide, etc. You see the sides are angled. If I tried to leave him on his side, he'd fall over. So if I had to leave him, he either had to be upright, flat on his back, or carefully leaned against something.
The funniest part was getting him down the building's hallway. I'd given up on the hand truck, and the blankets. So since the hallway was carpeted I decided to walk him down it… Picture this. I'm holding him by the hands, rocking him to the right & forward, to the left & forward. Stopping every once in a while to laugh my head off at how ludicrous this was.
Most painful part? At one point, inside my condo, I had to lower him sideways to get him through the hallway into the bedroom. Since I was concentrating on not hitting the light fixture, I did not notice where his hand was… Here, I had been thinking that it looked like his hands where going for a chest grab… All I can say is "Ow."
Han, my car, & I all had our little bumps & bruises. I heal, they won't. I keep telling myself that the paint on my trunk was scratched already from when my parents had dragged a rolled up carpet across it. And Han was floor damaged. But I've got touch-up work to.
I lucked out big time. I did not wrench my back. I think taking a large dose of Ibuprofen before going to bed helped.
Han just perfectly fits where I wanted to put him. (There's a 3 inch clearance between the top of him & the bottom of the duct.) I got this cute little black clip light. I clipped it to the end of Sr. Mary Spice's ruler. And used my copy of "Tales From Jabba's Palace" to wedge the ruler in place. So I've got the lighting from Jedi. It looks so cool.
There will be no bargain. I like Captain Solo where he is! He makes a great hat rack. 
Some other pages.
To the Star Wars: The Magic of Myth Volunteers homepage
Naboo Fights: Photos and lyrics to the Farpoint '99 "Best in Show" presentation.To the Official "Star Wars: The Magic of Myth" web site Warning. This site was created soon after opening, and does not include the Star Destroyer and X-Wing models that were installed in Feb. 1998.
To the Official Star Wars web site
