January 28, 2014

Yesterday we got on the road about noon and headed north on hiway 9 – new territory for us – never been on that road before – and probably never will again……now that we know what the road is like!  You may never have been on the Alcan going around Destruction Bay in the Yukon, but this road rivals that!!  Talk about frost heaves!!!!!  We only had one casualty……the microwave……may it rest in peace – it bounced its way right off the counter onto the floor and spilled its guts – now it will work with the door open – and no, we are not using it!

The good part about the trip is that we saw a pheasant and 3 moose!!! Quite clost to the road!  But not pictures – not quick enough on the “draw”.

We stopped at the gas station to ask directions and found the place where the race is to be held this Saturday but nobody was there and it was getting dark and thought we would try to find Cooks so we stopped at a restaurant named aptly “Chris’s Place” and not only did we find out where they lived but Kevin was there having a meeting with all the people putting the race on – it seems they got a bit much snow and have a 10 foot snow drift blocking the trailer and needed to talk about how to get rid of it – they decided to get a bigger trail groomer from another town – and I guess more money too…

We drove to Kevin’s “yard” which is essentially a semi truck and trailer yard with a big semi truck wash – he exclusively hauls pigs for a farm and can haul nothing else – the trucks need to be sanitized between hauls, thus the truck wash.

Slept well and got up late – fed dogs and it seemed a lot warmer outside.  The sun is out and that helps!  Followed Kevin and Rhonda up 30 miles to where his mom and dad have a trapping cabin and where they train their dogs from.  There is no electricity or water but they love it up there and spend most of the winter trapping and staying in the wilderness!

Helped Kevin’s friend, Jerry and his dad, Ray get hooked up and train and then went back to our truck on the snowmobile with Rhonda- we had to park about a mile away from the cabin because our truck/trailer are too big to turn around at the cabin.  Once Randy backed out of the road about 1/8 mile we parked on the side of the road where the training trail crossed the hiway.  Randy is out now with a 9 dog team going 17 miles I think – first time on the sled this year!!!!

On the road again!!!

After an uneventful night and having watched two movies on the computer and having cheese and crackers and pepperoni for dinner, got up this morning to still very cold, but at least not so windy weather with the sun shining - so after we fed breakfast Randy says "lets pack up and go" - so this is going to be goodbye for a little while until I find another place to "blog" - we will be heading up almost directly north to Preeceville, Saskatchewan to Cook's race - they emailed us back to say that the blizzard Sunday had blown his race trail in and most likely would again today but that we would be able to train dogs on it by Tuesday - so over the border today - say prayers that we have no hassles!!!!

funny sidenote...

when I was in Target I bought a jug of water with a spout (2.5 gallons) to have as a convenient way to dispense - guess where it's from ?????????  Evart, MI where we go to church!!!!

minute to minute news update...............

We are sitting in the trailer at the back side of the Target store (which I found out shopping is attached to a huge mall with ~ 50 stores and a food court when I went shopping for a few items I forgot..) having cheese and crackers for an afternoon treat.  When I went shopping and turned the corner I almost got blown over ----physically blown over, the wind is so strong - Randy made the wise decision to stay here today and wait and see what tomorrow brings in the way of weather - I can only imagine how the visibility would be on the open prairies of ND with this wind if it's this bad sitting protected by Target!!!  At this point we are thinking going to the race in Preeceville north of here is a good idea - then we can decide what to do after that - more news later!!

What a difference 10 hours can make!

Got up this morning and our "Miami-like" weather had turned back in to "Alberta Clipper" - it was only 11 degrees in the dog part of the trailer and sooooo windy outside.  To feed breakfast we had to set the dishes down on the ground and feed immediately or the dish would blow away!!!  We are parked next to the Target store (which on the one hand is nice because I have wifi to be able to look up all the weather and condition reports) next to an access road with stores all around us and it is still extremely windy - we haven't heard a Minot recent weather report this morning but I don't think this was expected!  It is probably now what they were predicting for over by Grand Forks - and it's raining up in Edmondton!!!

So now we are in a conundrum-  they have no snow in Anchorage with only ice on trails, there is training in Fairbanks, there is rain in Edmonton, and there is a race in Preeceville, Saskatchewan this coming weekend with the temp of 4 on Sat and -4 on Sunday....right now it is looking like we are headed to the race and will have to change plans if it looks like they might get snow in Anchorage - Randy's favorite race is the Rondy and right now they don't have the snow or the prediction of snow to look like it will be a "go" - decisions, decisions....this is the same thing that happened to us last year - and this year if we hadn't had trouble with the old trailer not fitting the new truck we would already be up in Fairbanks without having to make the "big decision" of "to go to Alaska or not to go".  Will keep you up to date with minute to minute (well not really....) coverage!