An electrician in Illinois recorded goodbye messages to his wife and children after becoming trapped for hours inside a giant gas station sign more than 130 feet above the ground when the lift he was using malfunctioned. A.J. Gow was servicing the truck stop sign in Wilmington on 21 July with a colleague when the telescopic boom lift failed after his co-worker climbed down for water, leaving Gow stranded without water or a fan in searing heat for around four hours.

As his fear grew, Gow used his phone to record what he believed might be his final words to his family, describing it as "essentially a goodbye without saying goodbye." His rescue was complicated because local fire ladders reached only about 100 feet, short of the sign's 130-foot height, forcing responders to source a taller lift from nearby Joliet with help from Illinois State Police. Gow was eventually brought down safely and uninjured, and says he now insists on staying inside the lift bucket rather than entering signs when working at height.