Results from today's race

The kids are all back in their boxes having had supper and we got the race results - Randy is 22nd out of 29 racers - even better than he expected since he knew that they would be racing "horses" in the 8 dog class and that this was just a training run for the extra unlimited dogs. I do have a picture from last weekend race to post - just so you can see Randy just before he left to do the unlimited class in Markstay-Warren Ontario. I know some of the pictures are not "photographer quality" and will try to do better.
The Boisenaults were here today and Jean (the father ) said he had seen me on tv and in the newspaper so I guess I will try to see if I can get a copy!

Five course meal for $75!!!!

Holy cow were we surprised when we got to the door of the opening ceremony of the International Sled Dog Race (Les Championnats Du Monde) and I thought it was $25 for the dinner and NOT.
It was delicious!! Wine tasting of some regional wines prior to and then linen tablecloths and 5 courses- soup (don't know what but it seemed like a creamed vegetable much like the carrot soup I had at the old hotel in Quebec City) then salad (like a picture out of a cooking magazine) with some slice of what looked like spam but with lots of other things imbedded) then a cheese plate (with reaaaaaaaaaaaaal blue cheese and many other cheeses I did not recognize) then the main dish, caribou in gravy over noodles (also a picture perfect plate you may be able to see in the picture below) then dessert made with ice cream and maple syrup!!! So even if it was not in the budget, it was worth it to me to network with the other countries and with the USA ( estats unis) team! We almost didn't make it because Randy had shown me and another US musher (Jennifer Probert from Alaska) the trail and then the Serge Pomerlou and his trainer guys and then ran out of gas on the trail and then had to change spark plugs on the trail so he was late getting back and felt really bad so it was pretty easy to convince him it was a good idea to go!!!
Then back to the lodge/race site for fireworks shot from across the river , very close and beautiful and then Indian dancing (and when they invited us to dance with them on the dance floor the recognized the Randy had Indian danced before by his "moves"- something he will have to teach Caitlin, Aeja and Ocean!!!)on a stage set up in a huge tent with heat with restaurant then a group of tap dancers doing like "Riverdance" type dancing and then Randy decided it was time to drop and go to bed so we missed the accordian players!!! We have made good friends from around the world - probably most notable is the Jamaicaan dog sledder Dameon!! (borrowing a team from here)

Today has been cold again (it got too cold for the regulator on the propane tank to work so we had no heat for 1/2 the nite and Randy just lit the coleman lantern for heat and then the stupid alarm on the clock went off at 6am for I don't know what reason= so needeless to say I took a nap before Randy raced at 2:15 (was supposed to start at 1:30, things move at a different pace here in Quebec). Randy had a clean run (this is really just training for the dogs he usually runs in his unlimited team) and was glad he had a neck gaiter to cover his face with parts of the trail. He was not really surprised to find out that even thought he went out 3rd, the trail was starting to break up already (not enough packing of the snow) and he felt bad for the next 31 teams!
Got to see our friends the Bellerives today and many more of our racing group!! Time to feed and re-charge!!

My experiences with the Quebec media!

Before I get to the "yesterday stuff", Cindy (our loving, wonderful daughter-in-law) reminded me that we didn't report what place Randy finished in the open class at Warren- it was 4th - and knowing what we know now about him not having a runner surface probably both days, he may have finished 1st, so he is very happy with his team. If ever you want to see the results of the races, you can go to sleddogcentral.com and look in race results, sprint, Canada (or wherever we happen to be racing). And we want to say a special hello to our grandkids, Aeja and Ocean!!

So, yesterday was very cold (as is today) the dogs don't really like getting out of their boxes- I think -3 or 4 in F. We got up and fed dogs breakfast at 8 and Max the owner of the Daaquam Lodge and the man behind the whole World Championship came over to Randy while we were out and asked him if he would please come to Quebec City with him to do some interviews being gone from 9am to 6p. Randy said no he wanted to train dogs that day so would Max like me to go and to ask me - well I knew Randy really didn't want me to go either because it is so much harder to train by himself but he wanted to help Max out with advertising for the race, so....I agreed to go, slapped some makeup and clean clothes and my Mushing USA team jacket and and after driving around the town for an hour trying to help the guy from the Czech Republic get his motor home fixed (he and his little "devil boy" - the 2 year old I babysat were actually supposed to come with us for the day which would have been a nightmare!!!) we (Max, his wife, Mary Claude and I) headed for Quebec City and the provincial tv station, late and going down the road over the speed limit on snow covered roads in Max's Suburban (starting late set the tone for the day in being late and in a hurry through the rest of the day) over very, very, very mountainous terrain!!! .......and yes, I got my seatbelt on!
At the tv station the guy who interviewed was supposedly the best sports newscaster in the province and he had more make-up on than I did! Real Turmel was there with his dog truck and 3 sled dogs and Max brought one of their Siberian huskies from their dogsled ride business. They had invited Real because he is an unlimited driver racing at this race and lives in Quebec City and of course speaks French. So they did a live interview of Max and Real outside in the bitter cold and I tried to keep warm (not having dressed for being outside) and watched. Then we went into the station to get warm and waited until it was time for a second interview, this one with a guy interviewing them from inside with Max and Real wired to hear his questions. This one I stayed inside and watched and much to my amazement, while they were talking, they showed clips from the same footage that we saw Sat nite on the levillagedemusher website, so Randy and I were on provincial tv too!!! (they showed the parts of me leading the team to the start line and Randy racing).
So next was lunch at old Quebec City- very touristy but very pretty and quaint with all of the old ornate buildings. We met 2 reporters (from the 2 biggest newspapers in Quebec) at an old hotel (built in 1640) and they took some pictures of Max, Real the dogs and me - though I don't know if they will use the ones with me in them) outside in the cold again! Mary Claude had ordered lunch for us of carrot soup (surprisingly delicious) and hamburg with french fries. I couldn't figure out the flavor of the hamburg and didn't want to ask, but did figure out half way through the burger that the other funny flavor was cream cheese!!!! Never heard of that one! The reporters did take my name but didn't really interview me much, mostly talked in French (try having lunch with 8 people and not understand anything that is being said- only guessing from bits and pieces of words and hand gestures!
After lunch off to the radio station and then to another radio station, and then to pick up a fixed computer at a friends and saw myself again on the 5:30 news, and then to pick up signs and then to pick up the kids school food from Mary Claude's mothers house, then drive fast back to the lodge at 7:30 when Randy thought I would be back by 6! A delightful, long day!! Mary Claude speaks good English so we talked a bit but her cell phone was constantly ringing - her trying to find a special brand of dog food she promised to provide for someone from another country and trying to find out where the other Czhek team was that should have arrived 24 hours ago but no one had heard from and she was going to report it to the police if they didn't show up by 5p (which they did!). Went in to the lodge for a bit after eating in our cozy motor home and met the Norwegian team- I will never be able to remember all these names, especially since they are so foreign to me!
Today no training, washed my hair in the bathroom sink in the lodge, borrowed a truck from a friend and went to the little town of St. Just- de- Bretennieres to the hardware and manged to communicate what Randy wanted from the guy who spoke absolutely no English!!

Lisa and Steve, our e-mail address is dekuiperkettlekorn@gmail.com
Amy, I am answering all my emails!
Mitz and Kathi- yes Randy is going to be checking runner surfaces from now on!!
Jess- as cold as it is here, 69 sounds great!!! Dad just bought plexiglass to put an extra layer over the windows and just tried to start the truck and it wouldn't and the hot water line outside of the lodge is frozen!!

PS- Please post a quick comment if you are reading the blog so I have more fun knowing who is out there reading!!!!!!

Stay warm, love,
Cris and Randy

Update from Daquaam!!! the international dog sled race (like the Olympics for dog sled racing!!)

Finally made it to Daquaam!!!!!!!!!!! Worst day of recent memory (note that probably tells you that there have been many on the road that have been bad!!)- did leave Warren, Ontario and had a pleasant surprise to have our friends from NH (Keith Bryar and his wife Claudie) pull us over on their way back from dog racing in British Columbia to visit a few minutes on the roadside. Before we left Warren I did go out for a walk on the trail for about 1/4 mile to see if I could find the "illusive" sled runner, to no avail. We did get a bonus from the race sponser that had the concession stand, 10 gallons of french fry oil!!! The dogs' coats were looking dry and I thought oil might help!

The roads were good, made it through Montreal (after a really bad rush hour in Ottawa) and stayed in the same town we did last year overlooking a night-lighted ski area on a mountain 2 hours east of Montreal (Randy made a good choice to feed 2 hours before we wanted to stop for the nite and then we were for bed) Then the bad started.......I thought the last time we came to Daquaam we went through too much hilly/mountainous country going north and east of Quebec City........well the way I chose was much worse and to further stress my husband, we went through the city of Sherbrook because we missed my intended turn-off, and ended up getting lost twice in the city and having to stop and find someone who could speak English and tell me how to find our way north!!!! the worst of it was coming up on a really steep hill with Randy trying to hold the dog truck and the trailer at the crest of the hill trying to wait for the light to turn green- one of those experiences he hopes never to repeat!!! and in spite of it all.......no bad words, no blaming (though there were certainly some close moments!)

Made it to Daquaam just at "sunset" and Max was very happy to see us but as usual, very busy getting things ready which this year includes, an International Dogsled Race and trying to finish the remodeling of the lodge that got flooded last spring! Several dog people alreay here and I know it's going to get crazy!! already Max had forgotten that all the dog drivers need hot water for feeding so he told the plumber working on the lodge that he needed hot water from the women's bathroom plumbed outside by tomorrow ( that's Randy's interpretation of what he said in French!)
Aeja, Caitlin and Zen - there are horses here this year!!! So Grandma will be able to go over and pet them- may be even ride them while we are here 2.5 weeks!!

We have excellant computer coverage here so you will hear lots over the next 2-3 weeks!!!

End of the first race

I will be trying to get some writing done before we leave the building here (they gave us free internet access for the weekend) and I know i willmake many mistakes cause Iam in a hurry and extremely tired!!!!
My 4 dog team did very good today = no stopping to pee and had no problem until I caught the team ahead of me and had to pass , then the 1 year old was nervous and jumped over the other dog and ended up with her leg in the other dog's harness!

Randy had no problems with all 3 of his races and found out amazingly that the runner ( the plastic piece that allows you to slide smoothly on the trail on the bottom of the ski/runner) was gone from his sled when he finished today - so the runner that I saw this morning was his and he ran the unlimited team yesterday and today without plastic on one runner which not only slowed him down alot by probably cost him at least $200 in prize winnings!!!

WE are exhausted and will be leaving tomorrow I thing for Daaquam for the next race in Quebec!

I mentioned the people from Czech republic - I baby sat for him again this morning (always ready to promote good international relations!!) while his mom and dad skijoured raced and he was much better this morning - didn't throw anything at me today!!!

Time to go feed the employees!!!!
Love, Cris and Randy