We are in a particulary strange predicament.............

We have snow and a beautiful training trail here at home - but no place to go with our trained dogs to race!!!!!  No races in Quebec yet (Bellerives have only 1/2 of their training trail with snow on it and are still using a 4 wheeler to train),  Jan Bootz-Ditmar told Randy that they will decide whether they will have the 3 bears race this weekend and that already it had gone down to 8 miles for the 10/unlimited dog ; Jim Lyman told us this week that he only had a few inches of snow in NH and didn't know if the Laconia race would happen; and we are believing that Anchorage is not going to get enough snow to have the Fur Rondy.............

So we will continue to train on our "Alaska-like" trail and hope for snow!!!!  Will post more when we actually know something!!!  thanks for hanging in there with us!!

Jiggety jig all the way home!

Friday and we are up to get ready to leave on our trip – We left after the second drop, shortly before 11 – the first part of the trip is quite mountainous – through the Laurentian Mountains I think – if you look on a map you will see that you can’t hardly get lost – there is only one road going up north!!  By the time we got to La Tuque it was less hilly but we did have some 11% grades going down – that “jake brake” has come in handy on numerous occasions.  You know how when you are the passenger everything seems scarier because you have no control over the driving ? – well I found a way to have a bit of control………….the jake brake!!  When I think we are going downhill too fast I put it on!  It’s positioned on the dash almost in front of me!

We made it up to Lac St. Jean and then headed northwest – about that time I expected to start seeing signs that would tell us which of the turn offs from the highway would take us to Saint Methode –(the gps would only show me the St. Methode way down south and when I spelled it the way it had it on the map it said “no results found” so the gps was no help at all) because I wasn’t for sure which dot on the map was the dot that was Saint Methode- you know how when there are lots of little towns together it’s difficult to tell which dot is which town?! so I started questioning myself , and even more when we had to make a final choice at a Y in the road – I thought it looked like it was off the Y to the right so we went that way – then no more signs saying Saint Methode made me more nervous so I asked Randy to pull over and look at the map to be sure which dot was correct – he looked at the map and didn’t remember for sure which dot is was but thought we should have gone to the left at the Y…………I say this calmly in writing it, but the conversation was not very calm………..  So we turn the rig around in this medium sized town and go back to the Y- then we see a dog truck going the way we had just come from – now we are both not sure which way to go – so we take the left Y and I suggest we stop and ask – so Randy pulls off at some office and I go in and fortunately the man in there spoke quite good English (usually it is show the person the map and say the place you want to go and have them point to it…) and he even drew us a map of where to go – as we are pulling out of the parking lot we see the Bellerives procession go by and try to follow them but couldn’t keep up – we follow the guy’s map and it turns out that both the left and the right legs of the Y make a triangle and so we could have kept going the way we were on the right leg and ended up in the same spot!!!  We finally get to Saint Methode and I see why I couldn’t get the gps to work – lots of towns in Quebec have 2 names – one on the top of the sign and another in parentheses on the bottom- the top name of Saint Methode is St. Felecien!!!!  If I had put that in we wouldn’t have had any trouble but who knew???!!

There were signs directing you to the dog race in the town and we had also gotten directions from Claude – we followed the signs and arrived in a big open field with a spot the size of a football field plowed out and 2 trailers parked – we were the first ones there and there is nothing, I mean nothing here.  We parked where the guy told us and settled in for the nite. 

This morning Melanie went out 4^th and had a good run but said it was very fast and the last 2 miles of the track were ice where the field had melted on the warm days and then frozen (oh yeah I forgot to tell you, it was -32F last nite – the generator only ran out of gas once meaning Randy had to get up and then worried about it the rest of the nite)

Randy is taking out only 10 dogs – it is a lucky coincidence that the track is so icy and we only have 10 healthy, unhurt, motivated dogs on the truck!!  Depending on whether Dee poops before he leaves (she likes to stop the whole team when she has to poop in a race or training) he will have Sterling and Dee or Beika and Sterling in lead. 

Well I know you are dying to find out…………Dee did poop and she did lead!  Randy had a good clean run and averaged 17.23mph to come in 17 out of 20!  He is happy about how they all did – some like T-Bone and Blanche that are older dogs can’t really go any faster than that but the little girls that are 1, Caleb and Trix kept up easy!!  And the powerhouse was the point dog Viper – Randy said that he set the pace better than the leaders did!  Claude is 3^rd (6 seconds separte the first 3 teams!) and Hermel had a tangle passing, couldn’t get his hook out (I know how that feels – that’s why Randy is missing part of a finger –he had to come and help me get my snow hook out and missed his chute time and then went out to train on the trail alone and had the trouble) and is in 16^th – Melanie we think said she was in 2^7th because she held back on the fast trail.  So day one down and one to go!!

Sunday = much warmer – went to a musher’s banquet in town- neighbors in another trailer took us in after he offered us Jack Daniels and gave us some syrup!  We had Lac St. Jean meat pie – it was traditionally made with all wild game but this was with beef and pork and a very thick crust on the top and botton!  Delicious!!!

Used Dee and Sterling in lead again and it went well but they were still too slow – held on to 17^th place, Claude 3^rd and Melanie think 6^th!  Claude left the chute a minute late because one of his leaders wouldn’t go so he had to switch him out and Melanie had problems with a tangle.  Took 4 hours to get home – so by 8:30 we were back at Bellerives.

Monday – Renell and Melanie wanted to have one last meal with us so they took us out to breakfast at the restaurant in town – a very tearful goodbye………it had been long time since we had been able to spend quality time with them and this month made us all remember why our relationships are so good………

Left Charette at 10:30 – one wrong turn going through a very busy Montreal but Dorothy/gps got us back on track without too much problem.  Stopped and fed the east side of Toronto and got to the other side of it in 45 minutes – we were just celebrating how well we were doing when we hit a stopped expressway!!!  After 45 minutes found out it was a overturned semi in the ditch – went a bit farther and found a place in a strip mall to park in Woodstock (all the rest areas were full) – to bed at 11:30 – will let you know how the day goes – hope to be home about 3p

Spent over 1/2 hour at the Blue Water Bridge at customs - they checked the inside of the vehicle in front of us and looked in the back of us and at dog food- looks like it will be 4:30 before we make it home - now in Saginaw!!!

Last race of the season!

Wednesday cont. – had dinner at the Bellerive’s house – chicken caccitore (spelling) I believe – no one could tell me for sure because Lise the housekeeper made the dinner- too much food – I was full and then Claude insisted we have dessert –sugarpie, banana bread and ice cream!  Ooof!!

Thursday we thought about training but the weather changed from spring back to dead of winter !!!  cold enough to think about mittens over the gloves again!  Randy went out to check the trail once and it was very crusty – what we gained by giving them a bit of exercise we might lose by hurting feet.

We were picked up at 6:30 by Renelle and Claude and we joined Melanie and Patrick at the restaurant in town for dinner.  Patrick is feeling better without nearly the pain since he started taking Lyrica but is sleeping a lot – like most of the day and nite. 

Speaking of sleeping- I had a terrible nite Wed nite – it was blowing back in all of the cold air!!  I kept hearing buckets and poop scoops blowing around all nite and it felt like it might blow the whole trailer down the road!!!

We are leaving this morning (Friday) at about 10:30 or so for St. Methode – Randy says we will probably come back here on Monday and spend the nite and then leave Tuesday morning early so we get thru the rush hour at Montreal.  Don’t know if I will have any internet access this weekend so you may not hear from me till Monday!!

Tuesday morning we awoke to an even warmer day.  We decided to train after the second drop and went out with me on the snowmobile with the team that Randy last raced, minus Raisin and Captain – Captain had pulled back so bad at the race that he is not going to use her this weekend at St-Methode and Raisin didn’t work hard so he is not going to race him.  After the training run he decided that Wolf wasn’t working very hard and might not use her!  Other than that the run went fine.  Then we tried taking a group out with Willy (the leader we got from Claude that was sore in the shoulders) and Cloud at lead for a 2 mile run– well we tried 5 or more times to have them leave and every time Willy would stop or turn around –so we don’t know what the deal with him is – whether he needs to know us better, he is testing us or just plain doesn’t want to leave here in lead!  Hermel says he has never done that before and is always charging ahead – so go figure!  We also took Spot (who ended up being in lead with Cloud and did very nice..) General, Jane, Dicksy, and Teddy- it was more for exercise than anything since they are all out of shape to race anyway even if they are not hurting anymore.  We all got back safe and sound with Randy having to get off the snowmobile (they were hooked to it) about 5 times to turn them (Spot and Cloud are not very good at Gee and Haw).

Well it looks like we are going to leave from this weekend’s race to come home (if I have found the right location on Mapquest – it would not make sense to come back to Bellerives since it is south of here and a bit west).  So we could be home as soon as Tuesday nite or Wednesday!  Say, Mark Kukal; if you have to come up and get some dog meat you might drop that snowplow blade down and clear a place for us to back up into…….

Wednesday:  Break out the flip flops and t-shirts!!!!  I spent most of the afternoon outside in a long sleeved t-shirt –you all have probably already had the weather that we are getting now!  I had to turn the furnace down and just use the heater and the it has been plenty warm all day in the trailer – what a change in the weather!!!

Busy day – started at the second drop by cleaning out boxes for the weekend and the trip home .  We had one more bag of soak and one bale of hay and had to totally clean out 7 boxes down to the boards.  Then refilled everybody with more soak and hay.  Then we went shopping – I was looking specifically for a plastic pretend grass mat to put outside the front door what with everything melting and wet boots coming in it can get pretty stinky –also bought an air freshener!!!  First went to Canadian Tire to see about getting some transmission fluid – Randy didn’t think to bring any with us and last weekend Hermel’s truck blew a line and thankfully Claude could find some in his truck – we don’t have the luxury of traveling in pairs……  We looked for a pair of boots like I got there for Randy because they are very light and easy to pull on and off (as opposed to Randy’s Muck boots or his Mickey Mouse boots)- the shelves where they were a couple of weeks ago are now filled with sandals and flip flops!!

Then we went to Walmart – no luck on a rug there either – then we had lunch at the Mcdonalds in Walmart – then to Rona for propane and no luck for a rug there either!

Back at 3 then I cleaned the house and Randy washed the truck and trailer – you can imagine the salt build up over the month!  Things look brand-spankin’-new!!!  So fed dogs and now Randy is waiting to help Claude feed his – then we go up to the house for a chicken dinner after we do our “after dinner drop”-

I was wrong about the weekend race location – apparently it is 5 hours north of here not south (Randy and Claude looked at the map last nite an there must be 2 different St. Methodes) – that means we may or may not stop back here after Sunday – just depends – and then it takes us about a day and ½ to get home.  So I will be able to post tonite and probably even Friday morning before we leave!!!  Who knows if there will be a place in St. Methode – we have never been there, obviously…………

Boy, do I have a story for you!!

Saturday nite was uneventful and we got up even earlier than the morning before to the sounds of dogs being dropped.  At about 10am we heard a lot of activity but thought it was the 4 dogs teams going out - only to learn that it was daylight savings time and Melanie had already gone out in the 6 dog without our help.  She ended up with a very good day and won the 6 dog race!!  It was good we found out Randy had to get ready an hour before we had planned - so we were ready in time and everthing went well.  He used Beika with Sterling in lead and moved other dogs around in the team but went with 14.  Since he was last I watched all of the teams come in and finally Randy- it seemed like he was faster coming in than the 2 minutes between team departures so I hoped he had moved up a place- well that didn't happen!  He had a bit of trouble on the trail----- he fell going around one of those right angle corners (he had mentioned yesterday that they were pretty tricky) dragged for a while, saw trees coming and let go, jumped up and started running after them (the sled was on its side behind the team) , remembered he had seen some snowmobiles a bit ago and started yelling "HELP" - a guy zoomed up to him, he got on the machine sidesaddle, the took off very very fast, winding around corners and curves and when they saw the team the guy was going to try and go past them and stop them and Randy said "No, no,no!!" so he pulled up next to the sled (which was upright miraculously!!) and Randy jumped from the machine onto the runners of the sled and took off!!!  Just like in a Western movie!!!!!!  He never ceases to amaze me!!!!  So the fact that he was able to pull that off was a big win for him even though he still came in last!

We fed the dogs at the race site and left for Bellerives at about 4:30 - it was good weather but oh so slow (20 to 30 mph) for the first 30 miles - we thought about going the way we used to go, but chose to go with a known evil...... tons and tons of frost heaves!!!!  We stopped in a Canadian Tire parking lot and dropped dogs about 1/2 way and arrived at about 8:30.

Slept in till 9 this morning and it was sooo quiet!!  In the house today to do some laundry, washed some rugs in the barn (some smell pretty uriney from coming in the front door!) and got bread out to tear after it's thawed.  It is a beautiful sunny day and the warmest since we left home!!!  Probably need to change out some bedding in about 1/2 the boxes - the stinky ones!  We looked at a trailer that one of the English speaking young dog drivers that we knew from years before (Charles Saucier) and he had built dog boxes in a trailer and had rubber mats on the floor of the boxes and had drainage from each box down into receptacles below!  Now that's a neat design!
More later!!