Goodbye Season 2023!!

 

Well it looks like the Dekuiper blog adventures are over for another year………….

There is another race here in Quebec but we have decided to take our friends’ word for it and think that it may be very short, very scary, and very dangerous for a 75 year old dog racer…………..plus we are getting 10 to 20 cm of new snow so that , Randy says, would make the trail even worse by being soft- I am certainly not opposed to going home once more to my real house (because I have 3- the trailer, dog camp in the UP and our real house in Hesperia!!) and being able to see all our family and friends and sit in the hot tub!!!!!!!  I know they were having an ice storm yesterday so I am not sure what the weather will be like driving – the snow we are getting today is supposed to be over in the middle of the nite.  As long as we have a clear path to get in the driveway we are good!!  I don’t think west Michigan has much snow on the ground – you might know, now that all the races have been cancelled we will get a load of snow!!!!!!

We saw friends last nite – Mario and his daughter Myriam came over to bring us 2  8 month old pups – we had given them some dogs in the past and they had promised to give us some pups when they had a litter.  We accidentally got a pup from them when a guy (I will say guy cause I don’t know his name) traded us a big dog for a little girl last year – the little girl turned out to be a daughter of the dog leader we gave Mario, Greg!!!!  So these pups are out of her brother and a dog Myriam brought back from when she lived in British columbia and was a Jeff King dog – these guys (Blue and Cookie – because he looks like and oreo cookie) are adorable and sweet but  Cookie (Biscuits in French)is doing a bit of complaining about being in the trailer…………….he will love to get home and enjoy our yard!  We are also getting  few dogs from the Bellerive’s – don’t know for sure how many- so we will have a “booked hotel” on the way home!!!

Today is Thursday and even though it is snowing right now we are going to “make a break for it” and head home!

We had delightful dinner with just Renelle and Claude last nite (the first time we have ever been with just the 2 of them – it’s taken 15 years of coming here at least once a year for to feel comfortable talking to us without extra translation help – it went perfect!) at an Italian restaurant and we got a tour of the improvements they have made over the last couple of years to their entertainment center in Shawinigan (it’s a complex with a restaurant, bowling alley, arcade and cinema and a party room for 100 called Place Bierman’s if you want to look it up on the internet) I was amazed at the games they have now!!!  Especially the one they had that was 4 wheeler racing where you sit on the 4 wheeler and actually steer it and  lean to make the corners!!!!! Another one was giant tarantulas attacking you and shooting them!!!  How realistic!!!!  Lots different from the old pinball games!!!  They even have bumper cars in it!!!

So a sad good bye and a request for Blessings on our travel over the next 2 days -  it’s been a short dogsledding season but a long time traveling (since Jan 5) so we are ready to go home – Melanie asked me the first thing I wanted to do at home and I told her “fill the hot tub”!!!!  The travel has been good – seeing lots of new and old acquaintences and giving us time to do a lot of “holy moments”, reaching out to show people we care even if it’s only opening a door for them or giving them a smile…………

Already planning for next season – I am sure we are not going to try Wyoming again – pretty hard going for us “old folks” ===  we are getting 4 dogs from Claude, and just traded one of our dogs for a smaller faster dog with a guy – so it’s fun to imagine the changes our kennel will have with 2 new puppies, 6 puppies at Dee’s and 4 new dogs and a new traded one, Molly!!!!  I guess that’s what keeps us going- always imagining and even better next year!!!  God Bless you all!

Well it looks like the Dekuiper blog adventures are over for another year………….

There is another race here in Quebec but we have decided to take our friends’ word for it and think that it may be very short, very scary, and very dangerous for a 75 year old dog racer…………..plus we are getting 10 to 20 cm of new snow so that , Randy says, would make the trail even worse by being soft- I am certainly not opposed to going home once more to my real house (because I have 3- the trailer, dog camp in the UP and our real house in Hesperia!!) and being able to see all our family and friends and sit in the hot tub!!!!!!!  I know they were having an ice storm yesterday so I am not sure what the weather will be like driving – the snow we are getting today is supposed to be over in the middle of the nite.  As long as we have a clear path to get in the driveway we are good!!  I don’t think west Michigan has much snow on the ground – you might know, now that all the races have been cancelled we will get a load of snow!!!!!!

We saw friends last nite – Mario and his daughter Myriam came over to bring us 2  8 month old pups – we had given them some dogs in the past and they had promised to give us some pups when they had a litter.  We accidentally got a pup from them when a guy (I will say guy cause I don’t know his name) traded us a big dog for a little girl last year – the little girl turned out to be a daughter of the dog leader we gave Mario, Greg!!!!  So these pups are out of her brother and a dog Myriam brought back from when she lived in British columbia and was a Jeff King dog – these guys (Blue and Cookie – because he looks like and oreo cookie) are adorable and sweet but  Cookie (Biscuits in French)is doing a bit of complaining about being in the trailer…………….he will love to get home and enjoy our yard!  We are also getting  few dogs from the Bellerive’s – don’t know for sure how many- so we will have a “booked hotel” on the way home!!!

Today is Thursday and even though it is snowing right now we are going to “make a break for it” and head home!

We had delightful dinner with just Renelle and Claude last nite (the first time we have ever been with just the 2 of them – it’s taken 15 years of coming here at least once a year for to feel comfortable talking to us without extra translation help – it went perfect!) at an Italian restaurant and we got a tour of the improvements they have made over the last couple of years to their entertainment center in Shawinigan (it’s a complex with a restaurant, bowling alley, arcade and cinema and a party room for 100 called Place Bierman’s if you want to look it up on the internet) I was amazed at the games they have now!!!  Especially the one they had that was 4 wheeler racing where you sit on the 4 wheeler and actually steer it and  lean to make the corners!!!!! Another one was giant tarantulas attacking you and shooting them!!!  How realistic!!!!  Lots different from the old pinball games!!!  They even have bumper cars in it!!!

So a sad good bye and a request for Blessings on our travel over the next 2 days -  it’s been a short dogsledding season but a long time traveling (since Jan 5) so we are ready to go home – Melanie asked me the first thing I wanted to do at home and I told her “fill the hot tub”!!!!  The travel has been good – seeing lots of new and old acquaintences and giving us time to do a lot of “holy moments”, reaching out to show people we care even if it’s only opening a door for them or giving them a smile…………

Already planning for next season – I am sure we are not going to try Wyoming again – pretty hard going for us “old folks” ===  we are getting 4 dogs from Claude, and just traded one of our dogs for a smaller faster dog with a guy – so it’s fun to imagine the changes our kennel will have with 2 new puppies, 6 puppies at Dee’s and 4 new dogs and a new traded one, Molly!!!!  I guess that’s what keeps us going- always imagining and even better next year!!!  God Bless you all!

Race results

Yesterday was not as good as we had hoped - we think we might not have given enough runs to get the dogs from "stage stop speed" to "Quebec race speed"---------- we came in last place and part of the problem was that Randy was overtaken by JR Saucier and his dogs wouldn't pass easily so Randy had to stop twice - 

Today was better!  Our dogs hung in there tough and Randy moved up 5 places to 15th!!!!

It was not as cold either but I still put bag balm on the dogs scrotums and ears so they wouldn't freeze..............

Back to  Bellerive's tonite!!!  we are having a problem with the generator again and so we are running the little one and it will be good to be able to be back at our Quebec home to plug into the barn!!

There has been some discussion with Claude about him not  going to the race next weekend - he has a contact that is telling him the trail will not be good - Randy says if he doesn't go we won't likely either! So we'll see!!!

Race Day!!

 First day of the Pont Rouge race in Quebec - Randy goes out 5th - less than 11 mile course!! Very cold temps!!!  will let you know how he does!!!

Had dinner at Melanie's house on Thursday - left for the race on Friday at noon - no problem getting to the town of Pont Rouge but had to stop 3 times to ask people where the race site was!!!  finally found it - it's a drag racing site in the summer!!!  looks like they have everything planned out well - hope the trail is good!!!

WE are in Canada!!

The only problem we had letting us in was that we were "red flagged" for coming to the border one year and not having our covid test result sent to us yet from the pharmacy so they sent us back to the US!!!

We drove till Deep River, Ontario and then the next day made it here to Charette!!!

The Bellerives are busy with business lunches and dinners today so we will see them tomorrow!!

We had a quick hello with Claude yesterday because he was at the barn to train some dogs before the race this weekend!! 

We trained all of our dogs today and they all looked good - we also trained 3 of Claudes old dogs - don't know if he is thinking of us getting them or what..............

I was doing great until I just fell on the ice and tweaked my back............just a bit of rest and it will be fine!!!!! 

Not as great as we hoped but good!!!

We got to the race site fine and found our parking spot and had a great spaghetti dinner for the prelude to the race meeting at the golf course in Iron River Wisconsin - good friends there, Moe and Lydia and the Beabers and next morning Lori and Ken Chezik - you all probably (that care) know the race results from the one day race - Randy came in 4th after having about 20 4 second or more problems that kept him from getting 3rd or 2nd!  it was close!!!  One of them in particular was a confrontation with a mid-distance driver that he passed (part of the trail there were both mid-distance and unlimited teams running on the same section) and then she wanted to re-pass him right away without giving him the chance to pull away again - some trail help difficulty and etc.........  All in all if was a great fun race for us with lots of people we enjoy!!

This morning on Sunday we left the race site and made it all the way to Sault Ste. Marie Michingan and in the morning we will cross the bridge to Canada on our way to Quebec and the 2 final races in their season - it may sound crazy but you gotta do it while you can still do it!!!!

Will let you know what happens next when I have service!!!

Yay we are in Wisconsin!!! And no problems!!!!!

 After recovering (my back and arms took notice!!) from the day that will go down in infamy-----"The Bad Training Day/Valentines Day" it was time to head for the race in Wisconsin.  We had a goodbye dinner with Jan and Lynn Witte and Stan Bontrager on Wednesday nite and I took a long-awaited shower!!!!!  (Thank you Jan!!!!) We left Deer Park about noon yesterday and went to Newberry and got fuel and some groceries and got rid of our trash and then took off for Iron River - I thought I had heard that it was 10 hours because I ususally think of the UP taking 7 hours to cross but I was thinking wrong as our "stalker/tour guide" daughter, Amy, pointed out!!!  It was only 5 and change! But that would be if we actually drove the speed limit and never stopped!!  

We had every kind of winter weather imaginable --- dry roads, snow covered, icy, sunshine......We took a short cut around Marquette and  saw a sign for a stop sign, and slowed way down as it looked like the stop sign was at the bottom of the hill - well we finally did stop at the sign............after sliding about 20 feet!!!  It was that fine coating of snow that turns to ice thing going on..................

So we ended up getting as far as Ashland, and sure enough there is a Walmart!!!  So we found a good place in the parking lot and settled in.  Randy took a nap and I went in and got some things I had forgotten just that morning shopping!!!! Shopping twice in one day and I still forgot some things!!!!!! Must be "senior-itis"!

We had a comfortable quiet nite and awoke at the crack of dawn.............10am!!  (Us old dog mushers like to sleep in!!!)  Only 8 degrees!!  We must be pretty used to the cold because it didn't really seem that cold. We watered and are than going to drop and head for the race site - should be about 45 minutes,  Once there I can't remember for sure if we had any cell service so you may or may not hear from us until Sunday or Monday - and then maybe you and I will know where we are going next!!  On bad days, Randy says we are going to our "real home" and on good days it's out to do the last 3 races in Quebec!!  So we will see how the dogs do this weekend!

On a "tour guide" note,  yesterday we saw an eagle, then while I was pointing to another eagle and saying "look at that" Randy was thinking that I saw the moose he was seeing!!!  Pretty fun!!

Mored info!!

 

Happy Valentines everyone !!!!!

We have been here at Deer Park for about five days and have trained three times and because it rained last night what was a beautiful training trail probably isn’t as beautiful anymore.

We trained yesterday and if I hadn’t been there I would’ve thought Randy had made the whole thing up because we had so many things happen bed in the course of an hour it doesn’t even seem possible!!!! first of all a dog ate his harness then we got them all hooked up into the lines and we’re ready to go and Randy couldn’t get the stick to move to release him and the 14 dog team from the truck – then when he did get going the front end of the team wasn’t ready and they got balled up. While I was trying to untangle them another dog bit the tug line into. Then he got going again and two females in the team started fighting. So I had to move one of the two girls into another place to prevent them from fighting again then he finally left and I got on the snowmachine and followed him. Then while we are about halfway done with the training run the snow machine quit. I tried to figure out what was wrong did not and walked back to where I knew Randy would becoming back on the trail after going around the circle. I told him I didn’t know what was wrong he thought maybe it was the choke. So she told me to get on and go back with him on the sled and I did not want to do they’re going over a very hilly section of trail with 14 dogs. So I stayed at the snowmobile and waited for someone to come and help me. And that time I made a snow gnome and even laid down on the snowmobile for a little while. So Ken Chezik came to my aid and by that time I had looked at the gas cap and it sure looked like it was on empty to me! So Ken told me and the snowmobile and the drag back to our truck and then when I got there I found out that in just the blink of an eye one of the dogs had gotten loose and bread one of the other females! These things only happen in the movies!

So tomorrow morning we’re getting up early-ish and going to take off for iron River Wisconsin. We hope to be there some time midday on Friday. They’re having a dinner writing night and drivers meeting so we want to be sure and be there by then. Then Saturday and Sunday hopefully I’ll be able to write to you and let you know how Randy’s done and the race and after this weekend we don’t know where we’re going for sure so you and I will find out at the same time!

Well it's Thursday,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

We ended up making it as far as South Haven on Tuesday nite and stayed at a gas station - Wednesday as far as Baldwin and found out the race was cancelled for sure and then made our way up to Newberry to be able to train the dogs after another week of traveling!!  So tomorrow we will drive up to Deer Park and try and get the kids in shape for racing in a week in Wisconsis at the Northern Pines race - Ken adn Lori Chezik are also up her and it will be great to see all the people we left up here 3 weeks ago!  It sounds like there is still a decent trail here and they got more snow talk later - update when I have either wifi or cell service again - we will be living in the trailer  whiler we are here so not opening the handlers quarter that we rent at all

Talk soon!!!!

CATCH UP WITH WIFI FINALLY!!!

 

I will be brief--- it’s been so long since I have had good cell service and/or a place to actually type without bumpiness!

Last we talked it was Thursday =

We made it back to Alpine on Thursday nite – went to the race/training site in town at the trail head of the Snake River canyon- we did pick up our snow machine at the close-by fix it shop and for only 100 dollars they cleaned the cabruetor by running it down the road at 45 mph!!!! and did adjust it so it would run best going only 20mph which is as fast as we ever go with it whether grooming trails of running dogs.

The next morning on Friday was the race leg of the stage stop at Alpine and so we were parked just beside where everyone still racing was……….it was very bittersweet to see everyone and not be a part of the group any more   we did thank yous and goodbyes and felt like good sportsmen even though we were pretty downhearted and disappointed!  They did say we could come to the awards banquet but that would have been even more difficult and it was a 1/2 days drive in the wrong direction-

At present we are just outside of South Haven, back in our own state!!  The trip so far has been so much better than the way out - but it still takes us a day per state to cross - so we left on Saturday (Wyoming) Sunday(Sidney Nebraska at the original Cabelas) MOnday (Iowa) and today almost home!!  Actually we are going to Baldwin because we want to be there to help Lydia and Moe put on their race if they still have snow!!

2023 racers, handlers and committe

they have these snow stoppers all over Wyoming and Nebraska - they make a beautiful snow drift!!

many many cabins and fences like this and always horses and cattle

training at the Alpine course on the snake river - 25 yards down to the river from the trail with little stopping you from going over!!

We gave a presentation to most of these kids at Afton - so when Randy walked up to the starting line he was surprised to see thay had posters saying "go Randy" and were shouting it at the top of their lungs to all the mushers!!

the bridge they have for the range animals to cross the road!

my favorite fencing!!

Hard day!!!

the people in Pinedale are soooooo friendly - in fact all of Wyoming is so friendly!!!!

Big day in Pinedale!!!  Went shopping at Family Dollar!!!  Saw the guy we bought the delicious pork ribs from 2 days ago at the meet and greet here in Pinedale and he remembered us!!!!!!

We got the truck back late Wednesday afternoon and sure enough it was all fuel system related including the fuel gelling – even with the block heater on it all nite!!!  So $869 lighter in the wallet and we are ready to head out to Alpine to see if our snow machine is fixed to run optimally at 20 mph – they were going to adjust the carburetor to make that happen.

We don’t feel like the dogs would have a fair chance of succeeding if we went to the Yellowstone race next weekend what with all the down days from training they have had so who knows where for sure we will be heading next!!!  Will keep in touch!!!!  PS-------please tell Murphy to leave us alone now,  we are quite humbled but live by the philosophy that if things don’t work out the way we planned them, God has a reason to prevent something worse from happening!!!!!

Just a funny note= yesterday Randy walked to the post office to mail birthday cards for Bec and Luke and our fine for losing the trailer and when he walked in a guy with a cowboy hat, bandana and boots opened the door for him and said “I’ll let you break trail for me…..”  Cool, huh?

As I told Mitzi, I think that Murphy has taken up residence in our trailer..............

 

I know you will all be shocked to hear that we are in the middle of a valley, with no cell service, at the race site that they cancelled the race for because it’s too cold………..we have been here 36 hours without a soul except 2 people from the wrecker service to come and try for 2 hours to figure out what is wrong so that the truck won’t start =  I have to tell you it’s a pretty weird feeling to go into your trailer and the next time you look out the window ever single vehicle in a huge parking area filled with trucks trailers and cars is empty in this desolate valley!!!!

So let me go back to where the last time I think I wrote in the blog…………..Saturday I think…………..We drove from Teton (where I think you know Randy ended up about 5^th from the bottom of 18 drivers) to Lander – the drive was supposed to be a 2 hour enjoyable trip through the pass…which turned out to be over 4 hours and in a lot of snow on the road!  We let Aeja our granddaughter (who is going to college in Lander at the Wyoming Catholic College) know that we were  in town and she came to see us in downtown where we were parked to be able to show the townspeople what sled dogs and drivers look like………..she brought 2 friends and we had a short but wonderful visit!

Next morning , Sunday, we had already driven to the race start site and Aeja and 4 different friends arrived to help us get Grandpa started!!!  They all helped with everything and from Aeja’s last year’s racing experience she was a huge help and knew what to do before we could even ask!!!  Grandpa went out 5^th (they reversed finishing order from the day before) and the teams started coming in……………and coming in…………and coming in…………..and coming in…………and finally after over 3 hours he finished – with a dog with a sore shoulder in the bag and one that had had a seizure on the race trail……….

There was a lot of vet attention and conversation – they disqualified the 3  year old dog that had never had a problem before and gave advice about the sore shoulder .  we said goodbye to Aeja and headed for the next race site, Pinedale .  This was no small accomplishment……….the road we took was closed beacause it was too dangerous……….they have us special permission to use the road and we drove over in a caravan!!  Most was okay but slippery.

They gave us free tickets for a food concession trailer in Pinedale and we enjoyed a delicious dinner of pork ribs – then set off for the race site following Bruce because I couldn’t get the instructions on my phone for some reason! 

We still don’t know the actual temperature or the wind chill temperature ………….but first they delayed the race until 10……….then 11………….then 11:30 and then decided it was too cold for dogs and mushers------ and then that’s when everybody left us, because we couldn’t get the truck to start !!!  So it wasn’t total abandonment – they have a guy named Bob who took most of the day to find a wrecker/fixit service to help us and they did come last evening and in 2 hours didn’t figure it out .  Now I said it was cold – the day before at Lander Randy frostbit 3 fingers and his ears and the guy parked next to us frostbit his hands………..so this was worse here than it was there!

Today we kept warm in the trailer, fed and watered dogs in the boxes and let them run around the parking lot for fun!!!

It’’s 5:30 and within the hour there will be a semi wrecker here to pull us back into Pinedale and figure out our problem – so will let you know more when I do!!!

Needless to say, we missed the starting chute time today so we are out of the race………

It’s Wednesday morning and we just had breakfast in the restaurant they brought us to and unhooked from the truck and then took the truck to be fixed – don’t know for sure what’s wrong = it was 11 oclock last nite when we got here so they are just now at 9 am starting to look at it.  The thoughts so far are fuel pump, geled diesel fuel or fuel filter – we shall see!!!!

the first one is done!!!

 Randy went out first this morning (as I said..........I won the computer leg because I got him registered  first!!!)

but did not come back first...............😕  Laura (who is driving her soon-to-be-husband's  Bruce's -team because he dislocated a thumb) came back 1st and left 4th, and Al Borak, driving Bruce's second team came back 2nd

We for sure knew we do not have a winning team though this is the year to be the most competitive because a lot of drivers backed out at the last minute and it's down to 18 teams (usually 25-30)

The weather was beautiful the trail was good and Randy is exhausted and taking a nap!

as soon as the parking lot clears a little we will be on our way to Lander for the next leg (our grand daughter that goes to college there will meet us!!!) and a dinner put on by the local people!!!

more later!!

elk herd on our way to Afton to do the school presentation

Dinner tonite at the National Wildlife Art Museum -

Bruce Lee who has been the "voice of the Iditarod" for the last 20 years!!!  I screwed up and said he looked much smaller in real life!!!

Dinner was fabulous!!  many luxurious appetizers and choice of rare red meat (Randy said it was buffalo) or chicken and met the owners of the Mars corporation!!
 

pictures finally transferred from the phone!!!

this is what our "train" looks like!!! notice the trailer=behind=the=trailer!!!

this is the vehicle and 2 guys that got us unstuck in the Walmart parking lot

this is what a mess the Walmart parking lot was!!

wyoming sunset

view from the pass heading to Alpine

Rocky Mountains ahead!!

 

the news worth knowing................???

 

One nite so far at Alpine and we are very happy with the choice – the parking lot is huge which we knew before we arrived having stayed here 2 years ago when we did this race.  There is much less snowmachine traffic as it’s the middle of the week and plus there is snow in more locations than there was 2 years ago –

Today is “school day” so we are going to the Afton (1/2 hour south of here) elementary school and do a presentation to 120 first graders= Randy seemr s not worried about what to say (he did a lot of those presentations after he did the Iditarod and then we have done some since in Anchorage) and I have little voice having picked up a doozy of a cold!!  So we shall see how it goes!!

We saw the big loader come in this morning and move snow out of the banks to make room for the trail to cut through to the parking lot when we race here in a week and a half- we will train tomorrow so it will be really good to be able to have the dogs finish the run at the same place they will be at the actual race here – (the last time we raced here we had been training coming back to the truck the way the snowmobilers do so when it came time for Yeti to turn gee and use the new path they had made to get to the finish/parking lot, he didn’t want to budge and it seemed like forever before he went the correct way!!!)

Last nite we went over to Ryan and Sarah Beaber’s trailer and had some delicious chicken and noodles that Sarah had made in her instant pot!!!  We were outside eating about an hour and then it started getting dark and colder so we came back to our trailer.  It’s so nice to have other dog people in the lot!!!

 

Tuesday was presentation at the school day!!!  We went to the Afton elementary school and did a 50 minute dog sledding presentation to 120 1^st graders!!!!  We wore our dog sledding clothes and brought a sled and harness into the school while the kids sat on the floor before us!!!  They had lots of question but the most questions were about Randy losing his finger tip while training dogs in Alaska!!!  They wer all very well behaved and are going come to the race to see us next Friday!  The first thing one little girl did was to give us each a piece of her candy and hug us!!!  We told them to call us Grandpa Randy and Grandma Cris!!!

Wednesday was training and deciding who will be in the pool of 14 dogs for Randy to run in the race we took 2 teams of 8 out with the snow machine (and God Bless us it actually worked better at the lower altitude in Alpine) and were reminded of how beautiful scary the trails here are  - lots of the trail in about 3 feet from the ledge of the cliff going down to the river 100ft!!!  Most everyone looked good and Randy made his final decision who to take to race (they will all be in the trailer but you designate who your actual members at the vet check)

This is Thursday and we have driven to Jackson Hole (about 45 minutes from Alpine) with good road conditions though a brutal storm is supposed hit the area tonight!!!  We were cordially invited and are going to a welcome dinner tonite at the Wildlife Art Center – so I will take pictures if I am allowed!!  We have good cell service here so until we move tomorrow nit to the Teton Park race trailhead I should be able to keep up the blog!!!

2 for 2 but with a few glitches!!

 So the 2 days we were up on the mountain south of Laramie Wyoming at 9 or12,000 feet we had trouble both days with the snow machine!!the first day we went out kind of fine and made it most of the way back - a driver of his snow machine told us that probably our fuel jets were not right for the altitude we were at - and he was right!!  when I say most of the way back we were probalbly 2 miles form the truck and the snow machine quit - so Randhy flagged down a snowmobiler and asked him to take me back to the parkinglot so I could ask someone to come out and give us a tow -and I did and Marco Rivet did bring a machine out and did tow Randy and the 9 dogs back!  the second run team we used Bruce's machine and had no problems--- Sunday not so much - went out with the first team and made it back but not with the second team - we had to turn them around in the trail and then did barely make it back to the parking lot!!!  Not to mention the times Randy got off and ran with the machine trying to get them going and the times that i got out ahead of the team and tried to get them to pull and then when it was going jumped on again..............

 

Tonite we are at Rock Spirngs and in the morning will leave for Alpine and then  after that, do the 1^st grade presentation on Tuesday afternoon, go to Alpine and train Tues and Wed, go to a dinner in Jackson on Thursday nite and Friday nite is the ceremonial start in Jackson – the one where I have to move the truck from the start to the finish, about a mile through the center of the city!!!!!

Randy is out on the snowmachine........

with quite a few other machines right now - could it be that it's saturday???

he is going to put in a turn around for us and then we are taking both teams out for a run - probably 10 miles , more later!!!

Finally made it to Wyoming!!!

 We were planning to leave the parking lot at Walmart today but didin't know when ---- we talked about it briefly just after giving the dogs breakfast and decided to get on the road as fast as possible - we thought we could pull out of the spot we were stuck at but we did need some help from this wild ducklike national guard like vehicle that pulled us out of a snow bank!!!

Once on the road got directions from Bruce and Laura to come to a training trail near Laramie and that's where we are tonite!!!  not much info but know that we are happy!!!!

lI'ts a beautiful snowy day in Lexington, Nebraska!!!

 We should know because we are stuck here with about 80 semi trucks in the parking lot of Walmart since last nite when they shut down I80 because of a major winter storm/blizzard - by now we have gotten about a foot of snow and I don't know when they will re-open the highway - meanwhile the dogs are getting re-acclimated to cold weather and snow and don't reallt care to come out of their nice warn boxes!!!!  We are missing time to train/prepare the dogs and us for the race but it can't be helped..................at least we are safe and warm and have shopping at our fingertips!!!!!

More when we know we can get started again!!!

 this is the screen showing the trailer behind the trailer from the cab of the truck

What can go wrong next????!!!!!

How does one handle a day when it goes from bad, to worse, to this can’t really be happening -----can it?????!!!!!!!!

Slept good at the rest area about ¼ way through Iowa………….that was the last good thing that happened………….

On our way and all of a sudden Randy notices that the truck and trailer lights are gone……….now I should interject at this point that we are not driving just your run-of-the-mill truck and trailer………..we are driving a train ----with a huge truck, very long trailer, and pulling a snowmobile trailer behind that!!!! (with a snowmobile and sled on it).  So we worry about that and try to imagine what’s causing it for an hour, stop to drop dogs and Randy has me trying to find GMC dealers close that would have time to look at our electrical problem- he gets frustrated and leaves me in the rest area building and I finally find some places to call-  the first 2 don’t answer and the 3^rd says he’s booked up but referred us – we went there and while he’s talking to the mechanic about our problem he thinks of what might be causing the issue!  So he gets the name of a “tractor supply-like” store and we go there and buy some magnetic tail lights for the snowmachine trailer because it appears the wiring in it is drawing power from the truck and trailer making the lights dim and go out--  we gorilla tape those on and we are on our way again!

So that fixed the problem and everything is working good again including the camera he installed on the back of the trailer so he can see the snowmachine trailer behind us.

We are going down the road about ½ hour later and Randy says “I wonder if we should call and get insurance on the snowmachine trailer?”   Talk about jinxing yourself!!!!  Not 10 minutes later Randy says “I can’t see the snowmachine trailer!”

We go to the next exit that we can turn around and sure enough, it’s gone………..  by the time we make it back to where it came off we see flashing lights and I’m just praying nobody got hurt!!! We talk to the cop and he gives us instructions to follow him and the wrecker that picked up our trailer from the middle of I80 with a bazillion cars and semis buzzing around it and we meet at the scale pull off.  It turns out we get a ticket for not securing our load ($112.50) and have to have the trailer put back together – so we spent the nite in the parking lot of the wrecker business in Altoona, Iowa (very quiet and no people to gawk, by the way…) and it’s now 10:35 and we still don’t know when we will be able to go………Have you ever noticed that these crises seem to happen every time we take a dog trip??? 

More to come when we actually make some progress towards getting to Wyoming where we can let the dogs get some exercise and we all can try and get acclimated to the altitude!!!

On the road again..........................

Well we are finally on our way to Wyoming!!!!  It’s been a very busy week or so trying to pack and see our friends at Deer Park before we leave and seeing Lori and Ken Chezik who were up for 5 days to train on the gorgeous trails!!!  Training was excellent the last week and we got to the perfect number of miles (30) just before it was time to go!!!  All the dogs are in good shape except for one 3 year old who was off for a while  with an injury so now she is only back up to 10 miles comfortably…………

We left Newberry on Saturday afternoon and traveled downstate to Baldwin and spent the nite there in the our church’s parking lot (no Mass or people at 8 at nite!!)  and had dinner with Lydia and Moe as we had a dog to bring him.

Sunday up and got a bit of a late start after breakfast and traveled to our house where we dropped of f the yellow truck and filled the blue truck with diesel from our farm tank.  We brought the yellow pick up down because we usually need it for something in the spring before it’s time to be able to get into the driveway at “Dog Camp”!  We didn’t start the day very well as Randy got up early in the dark and missed the step and fell out of the 5^th wheel bed onto the floor and broke the table!!!!  So a hurt thumb, hurt back and knee got his day off to a roaring beginning!!!  We were able to weld the table back together while we were at the house for a ½ hour so now it’s fixed already!!!

Left there about 12:30 and just now have stopped not too far into Iowa for the nite at a rest area – going to drop dogs shortly and then to bed – it will probably be a 2 day trip yet but I will keep you updated!!!

I know............it's about time I started writing again!!!!

The Christmas tree is still up here but today is the last day of our church's Christmas season...........so we are ready for 2023!!!

Since I spoke to you, we have been training 2 teams regularly - a team of 10 we are sure that will be in our 14 dog pool at the Wyoming stage stop race and the other 10, who for a variety of resons, got a bit behind in the training speed and miles (some age, some illness, etc.)  We have plenty of snow for the training trails (even though the Tahquamenon race that takes place within 5 miles of our rental house up here at Deer Park).  The race was canceled because the first 4 miles of the race leaving from the Muskalonge Lake State Park are on a dirt road and that part of the road didn't have enough snow on it when it came time to make the decision to go or cancel, to be safe for the dogs.  The rest of the trail system is beautiful!!!  As Randy just told some of our friends "you'd have to drive 5,000 miles to the Open North American race in Fairbanks to find a better trail!!!  Right now there is at least a foot of packed dense snow in the trails and miles and miles to choose from!  So far we have over 1000 miles on the dog trainers and about 800 on most of the dogs!!!  We will be sad to leave these beautiful trails when we leave the latter part of this week to travel to what will be our first race this year - the Pedigree Stage Stop Race in Wyoming - you can go to their website if you want to see the schedule of the races and the all different locations each day - include one race in Lander, where our grandaughter Aeja DeKuiper is going to college!!!  We are really looking forward to that leg of the race!!!  The first race day is a ceremonial race held in downtown Jackson and Randy goes our number 1 both for the ceremonial race and the first day of the stage races (because we entered first and that was because I was sitting on the computer waiting to be on time - I was so on time I did it first!!!!  so I guess I win the computer portion of the race..................)  The first real race day is at the Grand Tetons park near Jackson on January 28th and the next day we race in Lander and can see Aeja!  We are praying for good weather for the drive out there takin I80 west - it can be pretty unpredictable and was terrible the first year we went!!  We will go first to Alpine to train the dogs for a week or so and try and get both them and us used to the altitude (last time we both had some difficulty breathing and being tired!)  We are familiar with the area and so it seems like a safet bet to go to Alpine - that doesn't mean that we might not end up someplace else to train - we just saw some pictures of the training at west yellowstone and it looks great!

We were also supposed to go to a race this next weekend at Baldwin to our friends' (Moe and Lydia) race, the Baldwin Sled Dog Derby but they unfortunately also have cancelled due to little snow.  They have it re-scheduled for the middle of February (so our daughter Mitzi will still be able to run a team in the 6 dog) but it's not likely that we will be around.........if we are we will just enter again!!!

Also since December we have had some problems with the snow machine that we traded for our 2003 Harley - it has needed patching of the exhaust, new spark plugs, a solenoid x 2, new spark plug wires and it still sounds a little rough (I do love the rear view mirrors so I can see Randy when I am leading him and the team when he is on the sled!!).  The yellow truck had blown fuses twice and lost the tail lights (with our neighbor Frank Caldwell's help those are fixed) and the trailer had a flat tire that we needed to replace ( the tires were brand new last summer).............and all that before we even leave on a several thousand mile trip!!!

I hate the idea of packing up again (the 3 months have gone by really fast!!) but the thought of new places and people is exciting!!!

When I think of more I will write again!

Happy 2023!!