One of the main reasons I wanted to attend was the fact that Dave Whitlock was scheduled to be there.
Before the day of the event, I bought a nice Columbia cap. It is a great looking cap with the bill covered in what appears to be pigskin. Anyway, I selected it with no intention of ever wearing it. I bought it specifically to get Mr. Whitlock to autograph the bill.
Not knowing what to expect, I arrived at the event quite early (about half an hour early in fact). Little did I know that the gates would not be open. As I got out of my car and started toward the front entrance of the facility, I saw a gentleman who had arrived equally as early waiting for the gates to open. When I first saw him, I thought he had a familiar look to him. Not too tall, khaki pants, bright red shirt, khaki vest, white hair. As I approached, I was amazed to see that Dave Whitlock was standing outside the front gate waiting to get inside. What an amazing opportunity! I walked up to him, offered my hand and introduced myself. We both stood there in the cold, misty morning air chatting for over 20 minutes. The whole time I kept thinking of how "normal" this icon of fly fishing was. I saw Mr. Whitlock in all of his presentations that day as well as several other times around the facility. Each time he said, 'hello'.
Funny thing is, I never asked him for his autograph. Just didn't see appropriate for some reason. Silly maybe, but 20 minutes alone with him just chatting was worth more to me than an autograph.
That was the year that I started something that I said I would never have the time or patience to do. Tying flies. I've never enjoyed anything more. Later, I tied in public for the first time. It was at Fly Fish 2002 in Athens, Texas. I wore that Columbia cap.
- Gary
At 08:44 PM 12/21/02, you wrote:
Mike, ...About 10 years ago I met Dave Whitlock for the first time... DonO
