Drop Bags for Iditarod Sent! First 70 mile run Flawless!!
Drop bags piled, shrink-wrapped and ready for shipping to Alaska!
In to Helena yesterday to get drop bags to reefer truck to Seattle for barge to Anchorage and beyond. 1,100 lbs. of dog food as well as several hundred lbs. of related human food and gear to 22 checkpoints along the trail. Completed 2 really tough runs last week; 60 and 70 milers with over 5,000 ft. of climbing in each as well as a significant amount of trailbreaking in fresh snow. Even with those conditions we averaged over 9 mph. and on better trails we were over 10 mph., which is a perfect Iditarod pace. Plan on running a 100 miler camping trip this coming week to see how our rookies will handle sleeping on the trail and running two 50s’ with a 5hr. rest in between. after that we’ll try a 130 miler with 6hr. rest in between and see how they fare. Then, we’ll take 2 teams on the Race to The Sky trail (300 miles), and see how the rookies and vets do on multiple back to back runs with a 6hr. run-6hr. rest schedule. These next 3 trips will hopefully help sort out the final Iditarod team as well as the 4 alternates that we’ll take to Alaska.
We’ve had to have several unexpected truck/trailer repairs that have eaten in to our planned budget, so we would welcome any additional sponsorship contributions. Our dog truck is 11 yrs. old and headed for its’ 7th and last trip; we just need it to get us up to AK and back one last time before retirement.
Earlier last week Shell decided to retire, so we’d love to place her with any aspiring dog parents. Has the heart but can’t keep up with the faster teams any more. Please contact us if interested. Shell’s been a great part of the team these last 4 years and is ready to be on a couch.
Ollie gets so excited sometimes he just has to howl!
Here's a view of the dog yard with our cabin in the background.