Today I had a great belly laugh after opening a package from my friend, Pat Hanson, who lives near Thief River Falls, MN and drove the marketing semi commonly referred to as “AC1”. Pat and I worked together in the marketing department for many years, and spent time together at a multitude of snowmobile and dirt events, sharing many, many laughs along the way.
AC1
When the media and Arctic Cat employees attended one of my marketing events, you were always welcome to hang out in “AC1”, but I had three basic rules:
1. Hang your stuff up. I’m not your mother and wont do it for you.
2. Don’t steal any of marketings stuff.
3. Whatever you leave behind in the trailer is mine to do what I want with.
Mike Seim
Knowing the rules, Ill rewind this story 13yrs to the first day I met Western field test rider, Mike Seim, at Arctic Cat’s Island Park facility.
Mike had an infectious personality, one that always made me laugh because of his high energy, great story telling ability and constant practical jokes.
Mike got me with a joke he liked to call, “Surprise in a box”. I was determined to get him back – And I did.
Seim messed up when he left his gloves and facemask in AC1 after a West Yellowstone Snowshoot event. If you refer back to Rule #3, I kindly returned them to Mike, but not before I rolled up a couple fudge CLIF bars (they look just like turds) and stuffed one in each glove, then put the gloves and facemask in a plastic bag and completely sealed them in several rounds of duct tape.
Long story short, Mike received his packaged, was pissed when he saw the duct tape, but was even more irrate when he discovered the “turds” in his gloves. He threw them all away thinking they were real turds! LOL.
Mike passed away in 2010, but I think of that first meeting often and the good times we had together. I sure do miss him.
Fast forward to my box today from Pat – I open it up and find a duct taped package that said, “I was going through a box of stuff that I cleaned out of AC1 and found some of your sh#t!”
Upon reading, my mind instantly reeled back to Mike Seim and I knew what was in store when I cut through that duct tape…
And there it was…gloves I left behind nearly 2yrs ago in AC1 and a “turd” wrapped in my facemask! Hahahahaha!
I hope you all have “friends” like this that can brighten your day with a laugh at any given moment. Thank you Pat Hanson!
(L-R) Pat Hanson, David Fischer, Kale