Verrrrrrrry cold - didn't really hear the temperature but several people got frostbit out racing this morning!! By the time I went out for the 4 dog (here's the deal- yesterday we went around the trail on the snowmobile and found out it was very flat - like no birm to keep you from going out into the field instead of on the trail and very hard and fast and lots of curves so RAndy suggested perhaps I would be less panicked if I went out first with 4 dogs and then could decide if I wanted to run with 6 faster dogs - my horses) so things went pretty good but the dogs tried to get on anothe trail with another team passing by us and I did fall when the yearling I was racing for her first time shied at the people at the finish and I crashed into a bale of hay, fell, the dogs stopped, I got up and took off again and finished 12th.
I decided not to run the 6 dog team and so Randy ran them, an 8 dog team and the best story of the day is that he came in 3rd in the unlimited class (his preference/expertise) with lots of very good competition in the mix!! (38 minutes and 27 seconds for 12.5 miles - 14 seconds behind 1st place!! Of course tomorrow could be a very different day - today he did almost hit a fence post and doesn't remember how he was off running behind 16 dogs instead of on the runners just before a curve!! so his knee is very sore tonite and hopefully will be OK tomorrow with some wrap, Tiger balm and tylenol!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
1/9/09
Friday, Jan 9
Just after I left you yesterday we had the fastest customs crossing of our lives!!!!!! We don’t know where he was going or if it was just the beginning of his shift or the end but the customs guy just asked us where we were going, how long and if we had any firearms and said OK (he was putting on a flack jacket at the same time so in our imagination we thought perhaps he was in a hurry to confront some drug lords trying to cross the border and us trying to smuggle dog meat into Canada was just “small potatoes”!
Amazingly, the currency exchange was in our favor this year ($560 for $500) so that must be a sign I should buy some “stuff” while we are in Canada
We arrived at Warren , Ontario about 11am after sleeping in the parking lot of a mall just outside of Sudbury. It was pretty quiet until about 4am when the front end loader started dumping snow on a huge pile right next (like 20ft. right next) to our bus! Not to mention the engine noise, he banged the bucket 4 or 5 times to get the snow out and it sounded like a gong being bonged in the bus!!
The setting for the race is lovely farm country- fairly flat and we are parked right across from 2 horses in their corral.
The drivers meeting took way longer than it should have –the times and drawing for place for going out today were goofed up and what should have been over in an hour took 3 – the most fun was seeing friends we don’t see except when we race. And we met some new people – they’re from the Czech Republic (flew in to Boston and drove here in a rented motorhome) and their little 2 year old boy.
Just after I left you yesterday we had the fastest customs crossing of our lives!!!!!! We don’t know where he was going or if it was just the beginning of his shift or the end but the customs guy just asked us where we were going, how long and if we had any firearms and said OK (he was putting on a flack jacket at the same time so in our imagination we thought perhaps he was in a hurry to confront some drug lords trying to cross the border and us trying to smuggle dog meat into Canada was just “small potatoes”!
Amazingly, the currency exchange was in our favor this year ($560 for $500) so that must be a sign I should buy some “stuff” while we are in Canada
We arrived at Warren , Ontario about 11am after sleeping in the parking lot of a mall just outside of Sudbury. It was pretty quiet until about 4am when the front end loader started dumping snow on a huge pile right next (like 20ft. right next) to our bus! Not to mention the engine noise, he banged the bucket 4 or 5 times to get the snow out and it sounded like a gong being bonged in the bus!!
The setting for the race is lovely farm country- fairly flat and we are parked right across from 2 horses in their corral.
The drivers meeting took way longer than it should have –the times and drawing for place for going out today were goofed up and what should have been over in an hour took 3 – the most fun was seeing friends we don’t see except when we race. And we met some new people – they’re from the Czech Republic (flew in to Boston and drove here in a rented motorhome) and their little 2 year old boy.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Oh does my head hurt!!! My crash yesterday left me with a strawberry rash on my cheek and a headache that hasn't totally gone away yet!!! As I said yesterday, it sure seems to take longer getting ready the older we get - got up at 6am and had to water and drop dogs we left on the truck last nite and then didn't really leave until after 9:30 and here it is 1:20 and we are about to the bridge (Mackinac). For sure will get to Bruce Mines to pick up our sled and maybe a bit further down the road after that (have to feed about 6p and then drop them 2 hours later and then again before we go to bed) It took me an hour to put everything away in the "doggy motor home" so far and I am about 1/2 done!!! It's surprising how much stuff I can jam in here and I still don't know where I put the digital camera (that's the 2nd time this week!)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
New departure date!
Thought we would be leaving today but had some problems training this afternoon - and it seems like it takes twice as long to pack up as it has in previous years!!! (could it be because we are a little bit older????) So now the plan is to leave early in the morning and still get over to Canada (up through Sault Ste. Marie) by afternoon tomorrow.
Found out today talking to AT&T for wireless card service that for the money (limits on KB I can access and pay per KB thereafter) I will have to be a little conservative blogging - so I may wait until we get to a WiFi location every other day for me to update. So I am thinking that I will send out an email to let you know when I have posted updates - actually it may work out best for me to document in a Word file and then add them all to the blog every few days!
Whatever - this is a new experience being able to communicate by cell and computer in Canada - have to learn the ropes to make the best deals!
Found out today talking to AT&T for wireless card service that for the money (limits on KB I can access and pay per KB thereafter) I will have to be a little conservative blogging - so I may wait until we get to a WiFi location every other day for me to update. So I am thinking that I will send out an email to let you know when I have posted updates - actually it may work out best for me to document in a Word file and then add them all to the blog every few days!
Whatever - this is a new experience being able to communicate by cell and computer in Canada - have to learn the ropes to make the best deals!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Update on travel plans
Talked to Lou Serre last nite and he tells us 2/3 of his racing trail in good and that they are supposed to get 5 inches of new snow tonite and so the race should be on.. Our plan is to leave on Wed, stop in Sault Ste. Marie and pick up the Gatt sled that we ordered and head over to the North Bay, Ontario area (Markstay, to be specific) for the race Sat. hoping that we don't run into the cold weather.
I did some Cris training yesterday behind the snowmobile (too icy on the trail to run the dogs) so we hooked up the sled to the snowmobile and went from our house down to the Benton Lake training trail (about 10 miles total) so icy!!!!!!!! only fell 3 times - it was different/harder than riding behind the dogs and I never knew when Randy was going to slow down for sure (the dogs never slow down) so most of my problem was going around the corners - regardless it brought back a little of my dogsledding confidence!!!
I did some Cris training yesterday behind the snowmobile (too icy on the trail to run the dogs) so we hooked up the sled to the snowmobile and went from our house down to the Benton Lake training trail (about 10 miles total) so icy!!!!!!!! only fell 3 times - it was different/harder than riding behind the dogs and I never knew when Randy was going to slow down for sure (the dogs never slow down) so most of my problem was going around the corners - regardless it brought back a little of my dogsledding confidence!!!
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