by Nolan Booth, Director of Lodge Operations, Churchill Wild
Look what I found!
We have a new hire this year and it’s been a pleasure to have him around. Joshua Robson came on board this past winter to help with the hauling of equipment and materials over the sea ice to Seal River Heritage Lodge and Dymond Lake Lodge. We cut wood and hauled materials for 10 days and Josh was instantly hooked on our lifestyle.
Josh made his love of soccer known from the very beginning. He had traveled to Ecuador on a mission to build homes, and his stories of playing soccer with the kids as a way of getting to know them were inspiring.
We don’t play soccer at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge. We don’t own a soccer ball, and the bears would likely be too tough to beat anyways. Eating the ball all the time and… well, you know.
Anyways, last Friday night a funny thing happened. The guys and I needed to get out of the compound and blow off a little steam after a long week so we gassed up the bikes and loaded up the new Rhino II for its maiden voyage to the Mistikokan River east of the Lodge.
After about an hour of laughing and bumping along the coast with numerous stops on the sand ridges to gather handfuls of fresh strawberries, take photos of giant wolf prints in the mud and enjoy a wandering polar bear, we were nearing the river and the end of our journey, when Josh suddenly yells “Soccer Ball! and jumps out of the moving vehicle to snare his prize.
A young man with an extreme love of soccer, finds an old weathered soccer ball still full of air, hundreds of miles away from civilization, on the remote coast of Hudson Bay. What are the chances of that?
Good karma.
