Man tries to woo back (TI)N(A) with hillside message

The Sideshow

Almost everybody has a story about the one who got away. For Brent Wilbur, "the one" was Tina.

Wilbur dated Tina for only nine months roughly four years ago, according to a report from KOLO-TV. But he never forgot her. Hoping to woo her back, he devised a plan: write her name in giant letters on a Reno hillside.

The best part: Wilbur would only have to write three letters, a "T," an "I and a "A." A gigantic "N" made of white rocks (in honor of the University of Nevada at Reno) has been on the hillside for 100 years.

On a moonless night, Wilbur drove his truck up the hill to begin Operation: Romantic Gesture. But he underestimated how tough it would be to write such huge letters in chalk in the middle of the night.

"I started with the 'A' and just ran out of steam," he told KOLO-TV.  That was weeks ago. Since then people have wondered where the "A" came from.

This week, KOLO-TV got the scoop.

Via KOLO-TV:

"I rented a truck, I bought a palette full of marking chalk, actually I bought all they had left, I had to perform experiments with the drop-spreader to see if it would form a 180-foot line and I had to find a road," Wilbur said.

Wilbur said it took five and a half hours of exhausting work to create the "A," and he abandoned plans for the "T" and "I."

But Tina, whoever she is and wherever she may be, shouldn't take Wilbur's lack of follow-through as a sign that he doesn't value the time they had spent together.

Sounding a bit like the most heart-breaking country tune you've ever heard, Wilbur said this when asked by KOLO-TV if he was worried about any potential legal troubles he may face:  "There is nothing that anyone can do to me that could compare to being without her for the last four years."

He continued, "I owe her a great many apologies for the way I treated her."

No word on whether Tina has seen the report or is impressed by Wilbur's devotion. Charges against Wilbur for his chalk stunt are unlikely, KOLO-TV reports.