No doubt every one of us has an old golf shirt or such from some place we’ve visited that brings back a special memory. This morning I pulled out a shirt and put it on without thinking and later when I gave it a good look I realized that it was a gift from a contractor who was working for BP Mobil at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska back in summer, 1998. I had been at Prudhoe Bay which is located right on the Arctic Ocean for over a week. I did three days for them and then flew back to Anchorage for the weekend and rented a car and drove over to Homer, Alaska and I swear I saw eagles on every boat bow in the harbor and then later I watched a hundred eagles landing and taking off and what a thrill. Then I returned for more safety programs on Monday thru Wednesday and I had a flight back to Anchorage and home on Thursday morning.
This Safety guy from Veco asked me how much I would charge them to do a 45 minute presentation at their safety meeting the next morning before my flight out. Frankly I already felt so overpaid for that wonderful experience in Alaska that I told him I would not charge him anything but I would like to get a t-shirt that said Prudhoe Bay on it. Early the next morning he introduced me and as he did he presented me with an Arctic jacket and under jacket that could be worn in the Frozen North. Then he gave me the T-shirt as promised. They were a wonderful audience and put the topping on this adventure. I felt sort of strange carrying that jacket on the plane. It was a hot day in July. Later I was invited back to talk with all the contractors’ employees but it was for February and it sometimes gets 50 below zero up there. Thank goodness I was already booked for February. Now I am going to look at some of those other shirts in my bottom drawer.
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