Sunday we awoke to a grey cold morning………actually it got colder as we went father north this morning – it was -15 in the trailer when we stopped to drop dogs! And that’s with the dog’s body heat keeping it warmer in there!! Now that we are out of the major mountains it is sunny and looks like it should be warm but sure isn’t!!
Last nite after I posted on the blog we had dinner in the restaurant that had wifi – we had quite the entertainment with 2 natives at different tables having a very loud, almost physical, conversation! The waitress just kept using a soothing voice and telling them they couldn’t do that in here……one of the guys at the table they couldn’t wake up when it was time to go – we found out after dinner from the waitress that that situation occurs often in this hotel/restaurant becase the natives own the place and figure they can act how ever they want to!!
My wish for flatter roads is coming true but there is still hard packed snow or ice on a lot of the roads – only occasionally do we see the pavement and then it’s like time to celebrate!!! We are getting close to Whitehorse where I might be able to find another wifi spot – no new wildlife sightings today – though I did forget to tell you we saw a snowshoe rabbit a few days ago – big as a small dog!!!!!!
Did not find a wifi “on the fly” (it’s kind of hard to find one when you only have the time it takes to stop at a red light……..). We pulled in to another weigh station and this time they wanted to talk to Randy but he said only to say “hi” – so no fines, etc.
We made it to Haines Junction for the nite and parked in a gas station lot. I seemed very cold (the thermometer is covered up in the back of the trailer) so we ran both the generator and the truck all nite to be sure it would start in the morning. When we got up it was cloudy and cold and fed dogs – and…….I saw that bird again (well I am sure not the same one,,,,,unless he is following us…….) that I mentioned before with the black head and white markings and long tail. I watched him in the parking lot and tried to sneak up on him to get a picture and he flew off – I went back into the truck only to see him fly up into the tree right next to me!!!! So I got a picture which should make it much easier to identify!!
Today (Monday) we stopped at Destruction Bay to drop the dogs and thought we would be blasted by the wind we saw blowing flags, but were delighted that it seemed to be blowing warm wind in from the south! The day got sunnier as we went farther north and the mountains were just beautiful. I never get tired of seeing how they look with the snow on them and the blue sky in the backround – took way too many pictures!
The roads all through Kluane park were terrible – they are flatter but are about 6 inches of ice with these “gulches” snaking all over in the icy roads that make your truck tires follow in the – my theory is that the icy road begins to crack like a windshield and then when the big trucks drive over it it busts it up and causes these creavasses! Not to mention all of the frost heaves !!! we probably averaged 35 mph for most of the day!!! Finally made it to the border and able to go through with them only wanting to look in the back at the dogs out of “curiosity”. Amazingly the roads became instantly better as soon as we were in Alaska!!!! On to Tok and are staying the nite in a motel room – it will be good since my hair reallllllllly needs to be washed! And we finally have Tracphone service – so we can communicate again!!!!
Randy has not been feeling well the last 2 days – think he caught what the dogs have……not good. Time to drop the dogs and will try to write more before we leave the motel!!!!!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Here we go again!!!
After we left Dawson creek we saw something big and brown on the side of the road ahead…………you guessed it!!!!! It was a moose, only this one was not up and walking – I thought about taking a picture but thought it might be a bit tacky ----
So we went down the big hill at Taylor and I will try to post some of the movie I took for you – I don’t know that you will get the full effect of a 10% grade but I will try!
Right now we just passed through Ft. St. John and into Charlie’s Lake and the weigh station was open so we had to go through. Randy was stopped and is in the office with our paperwork. What else could happen????!!!!!
Saturday:
To continue with the weigh station story – Randy came back out and told me to get the check book, they were going to make us get a fuel permit and a visitor license totaling almost $300!!!!!!!!!!!! We went round and round with them about the fact that it is a recreational vehicle, but he said that didn’t matter – then he called for me to the lady to tell me what to get and how to pay and she asked me how my day was going……………..I told her good up until now! And how we are trying to get to Alaska on a budget – she talked to the guy again and somehow they agreed to let us pass without the permits! Whew!!!
Off again – saw two more “not standing” moose and then a mother and her “mooseling” – that’s more than I saw last year going both ways!! Then we saw 2 elk on the roadside!!!! Close enough to spit at!
Made it to Ft. Nelson to Terry Streeper’s house to pick up a sled that they are donating to the Rondy for raffle to get day money (so if you do the best time for the day but don’t win the race you may still get extra money>>>). We got there just in time to see Debbie before she went to a funeral and for lunch – we met the 2 dog handlers they have living with them this year from the Chezk (spelling?) republic named Kat and Tom – they are very nice young couple and will stay in Canada until late spring – they actually wrote to Terry and asked about the position because they have seen how successful Streepers have been and wanted to learn about training sled dogs from them. Last year they were in Norway handling. Very interesting.
Well it was 1 o’clock and time to make a decision about whether to start into the Rocky mountains or to stay overnite and start tomorrow – we looked at the weather and it said no snow for the next several days but we had had that terrible snow storm and didn’t know what the roads would be like –thinking they probably wouldn’t get better any time soon, we took off. The worst part is going up to Sheep mountain and then down the other side – the roads were snowy but mostly covered over with sand and not too bad………..going up. Coming down was like the scariest carnival ride I have ever been on – one was especially bad – didn’t have hardly any sand or gravel on it and sharp drop off…….down to a curve with a 2 foot guard rail that if you didn’t make it, you would drop off a cliff! Things got a little better as the day started getting darker (it’s only light from about 8:30 until 4:30) and we were stressed enough and stopped on the roadside for the nite. The temperature dropped and we saw that it was -5 this morning. Rather than wonder about whether the truck would start in the morning we kept it and the generator running all nite. Up in the morning at 8 breakfast for the dogs and on the road. O yeah, as we were leaving we saw there were wolf tracks 25 feet from the trailer – this morning the dogs had howled in synch twice and I thought I heard howling from outside the trailer!!!! Beautiful sunny day after all cloudy yesterday – the mountains are breathtaking with the snow on them and all of the trees – got some great pictures of them this year (last year my camera froze and we didn’t get any!) Moving right along the road, not as good as yesterday’s surfaces, but less mountainous ups and downs (still scary occasionally!!) Passing thru the Muncho Lake area where the road runs up next to the lake on the left and shear rock face on the right and lots of bad you-cant’-see-what’s-coming curves, a semi truck comes at us from around one of the curves and Randy moves over to the right to give him more room and the front right tire catches in the soft bank and sucks us in! Now for those of you that are counting, like me……….this makes 3 so far………. We are really stuck good with snow packed into the trailer up to the man door bottom and I sitting in the cab at a 45 degree angle – the thing that makes getting off the edge of the road bad on the Alaska highway is that they have a sharp drop off on both sides that is not visible unless they have plowed it back all the way – and in this area that isn’t possible. So Randy gets out to survey the damage, a trucker stops and volunteers advice but doesn’t have any way to help. Mind you we’re still 300 km from the next town and this is a Saturday……. Finally after ½ hour the equivalent of a county truck/snowplow stops and Randy talks him into trying to pull us out. It is working for a nanosecond and then the heavy duty pull strap he just bought snaps in 2!!!!!! (At this point we are wondering if AAA would cover Miday Towing coming to save us—what do you think, Mike and Sue????) The county truck guy says he will be back after he checks to see what else somebody might have to pull us out with – he comes back in an hour and has mega-chains, hooks on to us and voila……we are back on the road and $100 less rich but a bazillion happier!
Down the road a little farther we see 2 more moose and right on the side of the road, 2 caribou!! By Liard River we see the same buffalo herd on the side of the road that we saw last year, but no wolves watching them this time. I will see how good my photo skills are when I download them! We are getting out of the mountains but the roads are even worse! When it snows the truckers still keep driving and pack it down so that we are driving in icy ruts and being jerked all over the road – I will be so grateful for some clear, flat road………………
So we went down the big hill at Taylor and I will try to post some of the movie I took for you – I don’t know that you will get the full effect of a 10% grade but I will try!
Right now we just passed through Ft. St. John and into Charlie’s Lake and the weigh station was open so we had to go through. Randy was stopped and is in the office with our paperwork. What else could happen????!!!!!
Saturday:
To continue with the weigh station story – Randy came back out and told me to get the check book, they were going to make us get a fuel permit and a visitor license totaling almost $300!!!!!!!!!!!! We went round and round with them about the fact that it is a recreational vehicle, but he said that didn’t matter – then he called for me to the lady to tell me what to get and how to pay and she asked me how my day was going……………..I told her good up until now! And how we are trying to get to Alaska on a budget – she talked to the guy again and somehow they agreed to let us pass without the permits! Whew!!!
Off again – saw two more “not standing” moose and then a mother and her “mooseling” – that’s more than I saw last year going both ways!! Then we saw 2 elk on the roadside!!!! Close enough to spit at!
Made it to Ft. Nelson to Terry Streeper’s house to pick up a sled that they are donating to the Rondy for raffle to get day money (so if you do the best time for the day but don’t win the race you may still get extra money>>>). We got there just in time to see Debbie before she went to a funeral and for lunch – we met the 2 dog handlers they have living with them this year from the Chezk (spelling?) republic named Kat and Tom – they are very nice young couple and will stay in Canada until late spring – they actually wrote to Terry and asked about the position because they have seen how successful Streepers have been and wanted to learn about training sled dogs from them. Last year they were in Norway handling. Very interesting.
Well it was 1 o’clock and time to make a decision about whether to start into the Rocky mountains or to stay overnite and start tomorrow – we looked at the weather and it said no snow for the next several days but we had had that terrible snow storm and didn’t know what the roads would be like –thinking they probably wouldn’t get better any time soon, we took off. The worst part is going up to Sheep mountain and then down the other side – the roads were snowy but mostly covered over with sand and not too bad………..going up. Coming down was like the scariest carnival ride I have ever been on – one was especially bad – didn’t have hardly any sand or gravel on it and sharp drop off…….down to a curve with a 2 foot guard rail that if you didn’t make it, you would drop off a cliff! Things got a little better as the day started getting darker (it’s only light from about 8:30 until 4:30) and we were stressed enough and stopped on the roadside for the nite. The temperature dropped and we saw that it was -5 this morning. Rather than wonder about whether the truck would start in the morning we kept it and the generator running all nite. Up in the morning at 8 breakfast for the dogs and on the road. O yeah, as we were leaving we saw there were wolf tracks 25 feet from the trailer – this morning the dogs had howled in synch twice and I thought I heard howling from outside the trailer!!!! Beautiful sunny day after all cloudy yesterday – the mountains are breathtaking with the snow on them and all of the trees – got some great pictures of them this year (last year my camera froze and we didn’t get any!) Moving right along the road, not as good as yesterday’s surfaces, but less mountainous ups and downs (still scary occasionally!!) Passing thru the Muncho Lake area where the road runs up next to the lake on the left and shear rock face on the right and lots of bad you-cant’-see-what’s-coming curves, a semi truck comes at us from around one of the curves and Randy moves over to the right to give him more room and the front right tire catches in the soft bank and sucks us in! Now for those of you that are counting, like me……….this makes 3 so far………. We are really stuck good with snow packed into the trailer up to the man door bottom and I sitting in the cab at a 45 degree angle – the thing that makes getting off the edge of the road bad on the Alaska highway is that they have a sharp drop off on both sides that is not visible unless they have plowed it back all the way – and in this area that isn’t possible. So Randy gets out to survey the damage, a trucker stops and volunteers advice but doesn’t have any way to help. Mind you we’re still 300 km from the next town and this is a Saturday……. Finally after ½ hour the equivalent of a county truck/snowplow stops and Randy talks him into trying to pull us out. It is working for a nanosecond and then the heavy duty pull strap he just bought snaps in 2!!!!!! (At this point we are wondering if AAA would cover Miday Towing coming to save us—what do you think, Mike and Sue????) The county truck guy says he will be back after he checks to see what else somebody might have to pull us out with – he comes back in an hour and has mega-chains, hooks on to us and voila……we are back on the road and $100 less rich but a bazillion happier!
Down the road a little farther we see 2 more moose and right on the side of the road, 2 caribou!! By Liard River we see the same buffalo herd on the side of the road that we saw last year, but no wolves watching them this time. I will see how good my photo skills are when I download them! We are getting out of the mountains but the roads are even worse! When it snows the truckers still keep driving and pack it down so that we are driving in icy ruts and being jerked all over the road – I will be so grateful for some clear, flat road………………
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Off to Dawson Creek!!
Up at Mark’s on Wednesday morning, fed dogs, said goodbye to the delightful Tallulah and took off about mid morning. Had the chains on the truck thinking that with the light rain and warm temperatures we could have a problem leaving his driveway and his road out to the highway. Got out to the highway and stopped to take the chains of and ………….one chain was gone. Turn around back to Mark’s drive 3 miles and I walked up the drive while Randy turned the truck around and found it in the drive half way to the house!! Back to the highway and down the road- got through Edmonton fine, roads wet but not slippery. Stopped for fuel at the same place we stayed 3 days last year getting the trailer axle replaced – memories……not necessarily good ones! Good traveling and we had planned to stop and maybe train at Don Cousin’s in Valley View – but got through Valley View and had not seen the sign for his drive –stopped at an Indian reservation convenience store to ask if they knew where he lived and a nice Indian (1st nations person as they are referred to in Canada) told us he was 10 more minutes up the highway – proceeded to pull out of the gas station bay and promptly got stuck in the foot deep melting snow – another nice Indian hooked on to us and jerked but couldn’t pull us out – then another nice Indian hooked us on to his 8000 gallon water truck and out, slick as a whistle! By this time it is getting dark and we never saw the sign to Don’s and thought we could easily get stuck in his drive, so we continued to Grand Prairie. We were both looking at the signs, but somehow missed a turn and ended up driving through a subdivision with the same deep, melting snow. This time, luckily, we did not get stuck – probably only because we held our breath the whole way through!! Got back on track and drove all the way to Beaver Lodge for the nite. The picture of the beaver statue I will post when I download it shows right where we stayed in a truck lot. It was so warm we never even turned the heat on all night!!! Amazingly everything seems to be working and I was even able to make a pot of coffee morning! The only dog issue we are having is the there is a virus going thru the truck and 2 by 2 they are having liquid stools. Hopefully we will be over it by the time we reach Alaska and the Exxon Open race!!
Oh I forgot, yesterday driving I saw a moose on the side of the road, probably 50 ft away! And a few times we have seen this long tailed black and white bird- prize to the first person to correctly identify the species!!!
We made it to Dawson Creek at mid-day after dropping the dogs - in for a McDonald's treat!!!
Oh I forgot, yesterday driving I saw a moose on the side of the road, probably 50 ft away! And a few times we have seen this long tailed black and white bird- prize to the first person to correctly identify the species!!!
We made it to Dawson Creek at mid-day after dropping the dogs - in for a McDonald's treat!!!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
On the road again
Trained the second half of the team yesterday, RAndy found his electrical problem in the actual outlet plugging into the trailer, and he put a new belt on the trailer generator and we had dinner with Brooke and the kids and said goodbye till we see them in Alaska - slept in the trailer and the only issue was Ron the dog who wanted out and was whining and knawing at his box when we were trying to sleep. We awakened to rain.......yes you read right,,,,,,rain!!! from -40 to above freezing!!! we are about to leave and may stop at Don Cousins at Valley View for the nite but we don't know till we see how the roads are. Hope all of you are safe and well!!!!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Across the border
Stopped for the nite at the same truck stop we broke down with the air bags last year in Minot, ND. Had dinner and when it was to for be we knew that the only way to keep us and the engine warm was to run the small generator - in the past it has run for 5-8 hours on a full tank - well this time it only ran4 hours - Randy gets up in 0 degree temp and fills it up and back to bed until 1 1/2 more hours and then it stops again. Randy fills it up again and then at 6 am it stops again.............so 3 times and we decide to wait until it's light out to drop the dogs. Up and feed us and the dogs and Randy notices that one of the new-last-year trailer tires is balding and could blow any time - so we go to a tire place and they put a new one on for $134 - we are leaving their lot and Randy notices in his rear view mirror that he tire is flattening!!! we go back in the garage for another hour and finally leave with a new round tire!!
Got across the border at Portal with no problem - that is always a relief cause you never know when you are going to be pulled over for a full inspection or not let over at all!!!
Made it to Moose Jaw and stopped at another truck stop for the nite - ended up using the small generator again, because even though the trailer generator had finally started when it got warmed up in the tire garage, now it wouldn't work again. Once again, up several times in the nite to re-fill the gas and another pretty sleepless nite.
Next day (Sunday) made it all the way to Mark Hartum's (the east side of Edmonton) and had a lovely evening getting to know Mark better and his wife, Brooke and kids Mya, Elle and Noah and their handler, Tallulah! Didn't want to do the up-several-times-to-re-fill the generator ordeal again and the electric cords appeared not to be working, so slept in the truck with the engine running all nite - good nite's sleep in a while!!
Next day after Mark worked the morning and the kids had a half day of school, we trained a 15 mile trail on some groomed cross country ski trails less than 1/2 mile from the Hartum house. Much hillier than our dogs are used to but great to have them be able to train! Only ran 12 of them and the rest will be today. Randy also took my team out with Mark and a 6 dog team and Mya with 3 and Elle with 2 all together!!!! Only a couple of wipe outs on the difficult 90 degree turns and one of them was the 39 years of experience musher!!! He was trying to avoid Mya and did a face plant!!! wish I had the video for you!!!
Brooke prepared an absolutely wonderful total thanksgiving dinner with dressing and cheesecake and all!!!!! Got to share more dog stories and get to know everyone better!
Well I will see if this posts.........we are still needing parts for the trailer generator and now have another short in the trailer electrical system because we couldn't plug in to the house again last nite and slept in the truck again. Randy keeps explaining to me what the problems are and it's getting to the point I can't keep them strait Soooooooooo....... Keep those prayers coming!!!!
Got across the border at Portal with no problem - that is always a relief cause you never know when you are going to be pulled over for a full inspection or not let over at all!!!
Made it to Moose Jaw and stopped at another truck stop for the nite - ended up using the small generator again, because even though the trailer generator had finally started when it got warmed up in the tire garage, now it wouldn't work again. Once again, up several times in the nite to re-fill the gas and another pretty sleepless nite.
Next day (Sunday) made it all the way to Mark Hartum's (the east side of Edmonton) and had a lovely evening getting to know Mark better and his wife, Brooke and kids Mya, Elle and Noah and their handler, Tallulah! Didn't want to do the up-several-times-to-re-fill the generator ordeal again and the electric cords appeared not to be working, so slept in the truck with the engine running all nite - good nite's sleep in a while!!
Next day after Mark worked the morning and the kids had a half day of school, we trained a 15 mile trail on some groomed cross country ski trails less than 1/2 mile from the Hartum house. Much hillier than our dogs are used to but great to have them be able to train! Only ran 12 of them and the rest will be today. Randy also took my team out with Mark and a 6 dog team and Mya with 3 and Elle with 2 all together!!!! Only a couple of wipe outs on the difficult 90 degree turns and one of them was the 39 years of experience musher!!! He was trying to avoid Mya and did a face plant!!! wish I had the video for you!!!
Brooke prepared an absolutely wonderful total thanksgiving dinner with dressing and cheesecake and all!!!!! Got to share more dog stories and get to know everyone better!
Well I will see if this posts.........we are still needing parts for the trailer generator and now have another short in the trailer electrical system because we couldn't plug in to the house again last nite and slept in the truck again. Randy keeps explaining to me what the problems are and it's getting to the point I can't keep them strait Soooooooooo....... Keep those prayers coming!!!!
leaving Ed's
We went out to the trailer at Streeper's and found out the trailer generator would not start - too cold. Randy figured out how to plug us in to his dog shed so we were good for the nite. In the morning we couldn't start the truck so Randy hooked the engine up to the small generator while we had breakfast - it had been -40 degrees over nite - the dogs didn't want to come out of their boxes very much as they were snug as bugs in a rug in the trailer. The horses in the corral next to us had frosted eyelashes and the snow was so deep the fence was only up to their knees!!! After breakfast the truck did start and we took off after thanking Amy and Ed for their warm hospitality! The diesel fuel was apparently "gelled" and for the first 5 miles Randy couldn't shift out of 1st gear -took us almost an hour! Finally stopped at a gas station and put more conditioner in the tank and found out that if you buy the most expensive diesel it already has conditioner! This trip is turing out to be very educational!!
In case you're wondering.....I am having a hard time posting from Mark Hartum's computer in Edmonton Canada - will keep trying!
I seems every time I try to copy/past something I have written it won't post it! that's a bit of typing I would rather not have to re-create! see if this one works
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Boy is it ever cold in Minnesota!!!
Well this is how the generator consultation ended up - the guy at Bridgeway said he could get a part shipped overnite - while he was with Randy I found another generator dealer named Woverine in Gaylord and found a map to get there on the computer. The guy came out and worked on it for awhile and replaced a solenoid and thought some work needed to be done to the belt to the alternator - this was something we had had our friends in White Cloud work on before so Randy decided we would go back home and have them fix it. So after we drove home in pretty much a blizzard, we had to put the chains on the tires to get in the driveway! There was way too much snow to slug the dogs back into their circles so they stayed the nite in the trailer - while we went in and turned the water, hot water heater on and started a fire. It seemed funny to be home again even for one nite when we thought we wouldn't be back till April!! While he was recuperating on the couch, Randy happened to think about how he could access the alternator belt without taking it to Midway and have them take the whole generator out - he cut a hole in the wall from the inside!!!! So he fixed the belt and decided that he still wanted to go back to the 2nd generator consutant and get a circuit board because things were still not working perfect. So back on the road again on Tues morn up to Gaylord, replaced the circuit board ($200) and still not working - until the magical repairman twisted one little part of the board with his pocket knife!!! Yea! Back on the road and this time made it up to the other side of Manistique. After we fed/dropped dogs and were on the road again Randy noticed some of the lights not working, checked the tail-lights on the trailer and they were out again (after he had just worked on them the day before and thought they were fixed). So we went to 2 different places in Escanaba to have someone trouble shoot the tail-lights - 3 hours and another $200 and they found the problem - a wire had rubbed under the trailer and have become bare and was shorting out - On the road again and made it to the other side of Duluth. The only issue starting out was the door handle to the "people compartment" that we have noticed is starting to wear out, fell off when I shut the door to leave. So that was a 15 minute delay taking it apart and then screwing it back on the door! Starting to feel a little colder and listening to the news on the radio heard that we were in for -20 or more - and that's the real temp not with windchill!!!!
Made it to Eddy Streeper's mid afternoon and saw them when they got back to the house from training. Over lunch they invited us to stay for supper and not be traveling while it is so cold (the coldest day of the winter in Minnesota!!!) So here I am in their kitchen on their computer while they are in town for a basketball game for Chloe. It has probably been 5 years since we have seen them and it was great catching up with them on family and dogsledding stuff. Tomorrow we should be off again and across the border at Portal - hoping that the farther west we go the warmer it might get!!! Will report again soon as I have wifi!!!! We are healthy and happy - my knee is even doing better!!!
Oh I forgot to report what a savings the $800 investment in the "cow-cathcher" Randy had made for the front of the truck was.............on the way back from the UP on Monday while I was still sleeping in the cab, a deer ran out in front of the truck and it only slightly bent the fog light!!!!
Made it to Eddy Streeper's mid afternoon and saw them when they got back to the house from training. Over lunch they invited us to stay for supper and not be traveling while it is so cold (the coldest day of the winter in Minnesota!!!) So here I am in their kitchen on their computer while they are in town for a basketball game for Chloe. It has probably been 5 years since we have seen them and it was great catching up with them on family and dogsledding stuff. Tomorrow we should be off again and across the border at Portal - hoping that the farther west we go the warmer it might get!!! Will report again soon as I have wifi!!!! We are healthy and happy - my knee is even doing better!!!
Oh I forgot to report what a savings the $800 investment in the "cow-cathcher" Randy had made for the front of the truck was.............on the way back from the UP on Monday while I was still sleeping in the cab, a deer ran out in front of the truck and it only slightly bent the fog light!!!!
Monday, January 17, 2011
The start of the 2011 Racing Season!
After diligently training all fall and early winter and getting over 400 miles on the dogs, finally a race! It was cold and blustery both days at Kalkaska but we had a ball with our family (at least part of them.....Jess, Cindy, Aeja, Ocean and Oak) and our new dogsledding "extended" family (Austin, Cooper, Mark and Jamie Kukal- their first time at a race and Austin's first race with 3 dogs that he got from us). The big winners were the kids with Jacob (our great nephew) first on Sat. in the 1-dog, Ocean 1st place for the 2 days in the 1-dog and Aeja 2nd place!!!! Oak didn't race but he all of a sudden wanted to be pulled around on the kids sled and was throwing his weight into the corners and even pumping and braking!! The rest of the DeKuiper racers didn't fare quite as well - Jess had some problems on Sat. running my 6 dog team (due to me spraining my knee- this being the first time dog racing for him in almost 20 years!!!!!!) and finished 17th - Grandpa's team is more prepared for a 25 mile race than a 14 mile one and so they came in 7th - not surprising with his 2 best leaders not feeling well this weekend. Austin did very well for his first race and said he had a "ball" - you know, it's more fun to see the kids have fun than it is for me doing myself!!!!
So after sad goodbyes at Kalkaska the plan was to travel thru the UP and stop for the night at Seney at the rest area - got there and Randy tried to start the generator in the trailer and it would not cooperate! Sooooooooooo, Plan B, sleep in the sleeper bed in the truck and leave the truck running all nite for heat!!!!
Randy was concerned about the generator issue and got up at 6am and decided our chances of finding a place to fix it were better going back south. Sooooooo.... back over the bridge and to Gaylord where we are now sitting at a place called Bridgeway Power that some guys in McDonald's directed us to! Randy and the guy have been out here 4 or 5 times to look at it so that seems promising!! Will update you with what the results of our "generator consultation" are soon as I know and have access to wi fi (don't have the air card this year so my entries will be a little fewer and farther between!)
So after sad goodbyes at Kalkaska the plan was to travel thru the UP and stop for the night at Seney at the rest area - got there and Randy tried to start the generator in the trailer and it would not cooperate! Sooooooooooo, Plan B, sleep in the sleeper bed in the truck and leave the truck running all nite for heat!!!!
Randy was concerned about the generator issue and got up at 6am and decided our chances of finding a place to fix it were better going back south. Sooooooo.... back over the bridge and to Gaylord where we are now sitting at a place called Bridgeway Power that some guys in McDonald's directed us to! Randy and the guy have been out here 4 or 5 times to look at it so that seems promising!! Will update you with what the results of our "generator consultation" are soon as I know and have access to wi fi (don't have the air card this year so my entries will be a little fewer and farther between!)
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