more...

 

more of the race................

 

the board they track the racers on from check point to check point - this is day one

this guy is wearing a wolf coat that his mother made for him

this was to show that it was 11 degrees in the mid-afternoon

2024 trip to Fairbanks!!!

Since we are getting out of dog racing, we thought it would be a fitting end to come here and see all of our racing friends one last time (well who knows what the future will bring.......)  It was a big surprise for everybody here!!! We made the reservations the day after we got back from Quebec and it was too close to be able to go to the Rondy - Randy always says the Rondy is his favorite race to run but he really wanted to come to ONAC.

So we left Grand Rapids airport (had a glass of liquid gold on the concourse- $25 with the tip!!!!) at 3p and stopped in Dallas and then Seattle before landing in Fairbanks at 3am!!!! Spent most of Thursday recovering from being up most of the night but did go out to dinner for halibut at Pikes restaurant.

Got to the race site at 10:30 and surprised Bruce and Laura first!!!  Then Ken and Lori, Buddy and Lina, Michael Tetzner and many others!  It has been 12 years since we were here last and 20 years exactly that we came up to watch Jason Rodenhouse run some of our dogs in his team at ONAC.  It was cold but we were both prepared for it with lots of layers - I even borrowed some hiking boots and overboots from Lydia and brought my fur hat and long skirt and fur mitts!  It was great fun to see everyone and help out whenever we could!  Randy did get clotheslined by Laura's team but other than that we made it through the day without injury - came back to the hotel and got recommendations to eat at Brewster's for halibut again!!!  Delicious!!!!

our table at Pikes overlooking the Chena river

the picture is to show you that it was 11 degrees in the afternoon

peanut butter pie

halibut

Pike's resort - look at the animals on the wall

picture of the broken mirror on our U haul rental pick up!!!

End of times...............

 The hamburgers were good!!!

Did go to dinner at Melanie’s and Patrick’s and had St. Hubert chicken – that’s a very food chain up here and we had only tried it one other time but it was good (not quite as good as Popeye’s though……….)    

We did learn that the race in Pont Rouge was likely to be cancelled but trained on Friday just in case – tried the 3^rdyearling in lead with his grandfather and things would have gone really well except we had a girl right behind him that’s in heat and that made it really difficult for Granite to concentrate!!!- he was all over the place at times but really charged hard the rest of the time – the trail was perfect and we really enjoyed what could be our last run!

Saturday Randy asked Claude to try 4 of our yearlings in a team and so he did – and he is taking them – they will be very good dogs for him and 3 of them already lead – Claude has been so good to us over The hamburgers were good!!!

Did go to dinner at Melanie’s and Patrick’s and had St. Hubert chicken – that’s a very food chain up here and we had only tried it one other time but it was good (not quite as good as Popeye’s though……….)    

We did learn that the race in Pont Rouge was likely to be cancelled but trained on Friday just in case – tried the 3^rdyearling in lead with his grandfather and things would have gone really well except we had a girl right behind him that’s in heat and that made it really difficult for Granite to concentrate!!!- he was all over the place at times but really charged hard the rest of the time – the trail was perfect and we really enjoyed what could be our last run!

Saturday Randy asked Claude to try 4 of our yearlings in a team and so he did – and he is taking them – they will be very good dogs for him and 3 of them already lead – Claude has been so good to us over the last 16 years it’s the least we could do…..   And then Emiy Therrrien came and bought Tyler (she has had litters with hime and they turned out great----so now we are down to only 12 dogs!!!  Sure makes dropping them go faster!!

We had another lovely surprise when Hermel (Claude’s dog trainer) asked us to dinner – we thought we would be going to his apartment to eat but he took us to a great restaurant not far from here that we had not been to before –he had escargot and oysters on the half shell for dinner!  Me, onion soup which was delicious and Randy a burger!  It was very kind of him to spend an evening with us and we talked about a lot of shared memories especially our first meeting – we had just raced one day of Claude’s race (it turned to slush after I ran the 6 dog) and were having lunch in the restaurant and speaking English (which back then it was pretty uncommon up here)           and Hermel came to speak to us in English and Randy asked him if there were someplace to train nearby, and that’s when we got invited to come and stay at the Bellerive’s!!!!

Tonite a goodbye supper with the family and then leave mid-morning tomorrow to avoid the horrible traffic going through Montreal!!!  Should be home by Tuesday nite if all goes well so until then “Au revoir”!!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              the last 16 years it’s the least we could do…..   And then Emiy Therrrien came and bought Tyler (she has had litters with hime and they turned out great----so now we are down to only 12 dogs!!!  Sure makes dropping them go faster!!

We had another lovely surprise when Hermel (Claude’s dog trainer) asked us to dinner – we thought we would be going to his apartment to eat but he took us to a great restaurant not far from here that we had not been to before –he had escargot and oysters on the half shell for dinner!  Me, onion soup which was delicious and Randy a burger!  It was very kind of him to spend an evening with us and we talked about a lot of shared memories especially our first meeting – we had just raced one day of Claude’s race (it turned to slush after I ran the 6 dog) and were having lunch in the restaurant and speaking English (which back then it was pretty uncommon up here)           and Hermel came to speak to us in English and Randy asked him if there were someplace to train nearby, and that’s when we got invited to come and stay at the Bellerive’s!!!!

Tonite a goodbye supper with the family and then leave mid-morning tomorrow to avoid the horrible traffic going through Montreal!!!  Should be home by Tuesday nite if all goes well so until then “Au revoir”!!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The hamburgers were good!!!

Did go to dinner at Melanie’s and Patrick’s and had St. Hubert chicken – that’s a very food chain up here and we had only tried it one other time but it was good (not quite as good as Popeye’s though……….)    

We did learn that the race in Pont Rouge was likely to be cancelled but trained on Friday just in case – tried the 3^rdyearling in lead with his grandfather and things would have gone really well except we had a girl right behind him that’s in heat and that made it really difficult for Granite to concentrate!!!- he was all over the place at times but really charged hard the rest of the time – the trail was perfect and we really enjoyed what could be our last run!

Saturday Randy asked Claude to try 4 of our yearlings in a team and so he did – and he is taking them – they will be very good dogs for him and 3 of them already lead – Claude has been so good to us over the last 16 years it’s the least we could do…..   And then Emiy Therrrien came and bought Tyler (she has had litters with hime and they turned out great----so now we are down to only 12 dogs!!!  Sure makes dropping them go faster!!

We had another lovely surprise when Hermel (Claude’s dog trainer) asked us to dinner – we thought we would be going to his apartment to eat but he took us to a great restaurant not far from here that we had not been to before –he had escargot and oysters on the half shell for dinner!  Me, onion soup which was delicious and Randy a burger!  It was very kind of him to spend an evening with us and we talked about a lot of shared memories especially our first meeting – we had just raced one day of Claude’s race (it turned to slush after I ran the 6 dog) and were having lunch in the restaurant and speaking English (which back then it was pretty uncommon up here)           and Hermel came to speak to us in English and Randy asked him if there were someplace to train nearby, and that’s when we got invited to come and stay at the Bellerive’s!!!!

Tonite a goodbye supper with the family and then leave mid-morning tomorrow to avoid the horrible traffic going through Montreal!!!  Should be home by Tuesday nite if all goes well so until then “Au revoir”!!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Happy Valentines Late!!!

 Happy Valentines Day!!!!

Quiet week – the trail was too soft to train on so we wouldn’t wreck it and the next day it got cold and froze the ruts into it – so looks like no training this week – the temp will have to get just right for us to smooth the trail and then cold enough to harden it up again……………whew……..who knew so much science went into putting in a training trail!!!!

Lots of movie watching this week in stead of training (thank you Moe and Lydia for all the movies) and Randy is going through about a Louis L’Amour book a day (also thanks to Moe) so the fact that we have been invited to dinner at the Claude and Renell’s on Tuesday and Melanie and Patrick’s on Thursday really brightens up the week!!   Melanie did find out for me where we could go to Ash Wednesday services and so we drove to St. Elie de Caxton (about 4 miles from Bellerive’s house) and had Mass in French!  And imagine the surprise of the priest after Mass when I went to confession in English!  He handled it smoothly though he must have been shocked-

Tonight we will find out whether the race at Pont Rouge is still on for a week from Saturday- as cold as it has been we should have kept whatever trail they had put in unless something or someone damaged it by going on it when it was soft…  That has always been a blessing for us to have Claude being “in the know” and keeping us up to date when we otherwise would be in the dark!  So if we find out tonight that the race is cancelled for one week from now and we know the last race has been cancelled already that was to be March 17 (the snowmobilers didn’t want to share their trail on the weekend……….) we might be on our way back to Michigan rather abruptly!!!

Another big trip to Walmart today…………out of a few essentials like bread and milk and Randy was ever-so-sweet to buy me a bouquet of flowers!!!!

Next we are going to lunch at a small restaurant here in Charette that is owned by a man we have become friends with over the years we have been coming here – he used to work for Claude in the shop here in Charette but his wife wanted to open a restaurant so he quit!  They started out small with just a window service out of  a caboose (as it’s located across the street form the railroad) and last year opened a full blown restaurant with inside seateing. He has always been so good to us helping with problems with the truck or the generator and speaks English which is the really big bonus!!  So will let you know how the hamburgers are!!

Simon's restaurant in Charette

the beginning of his restaurant

kind of a Halloween picture - Yeti decided to kiss my face with his foot!