Trail Notes
(Notes
are in reverse chronological order)
March
6, 2008
Friends revisited..
It was a whirlwind trip. Margaret and I flew up to Anchorage
February 28 to watch Laura Daugereau make her rookie start in the 2008
Iditarod. Other friends including Laura’s parents Bill and Carol
had done the same. Bill was Margaret’s snowmachiner in the Serum
Run and as we made our way to different venues, it became a Serum Run
reunion tour. In four days we crossed paths with about _ of the 2007
Serum Runners. Our shared enthusiasm of the journey was
infectious and the needed twist to Margaret’s reluctant arm. By the
time we flew home on March 3rd, her vocabulary included “when we do the
Serum Run again”. As harsh as it was, 2007 seemed the
perfect run for our dogs and when we finished I couldn’t fathom
returning. Back in October as the 2008 application deadline approached,
I felt the stirrings in my heart, the need to go back, to do it again.
Now after Iditarod start, I know we must.
February 17, 2008
Serum Run, one year later…
It is hard to believe tomorrow will be the anniversary of our
departure. Since returning, a day has not passed that I have not
thought about the Serum Run. Back in October, as the 2008
application deadline approached, I felt the stirrings in my
heartstrings. It is the same call the wild must feel when its
time to migrate, a drawing, an irresistible urge to return. I am
having a real struggle with the desire, the need, to go back, or to
leave it alone. I can’t help but feel that as cold as it was,
2007 offered ideal conditions for both Margaret’s and my dogs.
They were in their element. I fear going back and encountering
challenges the dogs, or we, are not so well equipped to cope
with. Overflow, getting wet, breaking trail through deep
wet snow, are bullets we dodged in 2007 and mentally still lurk in
ambush.
Unfortunately for those who were planning to participate, the 2008
Serum Run was canceled. For me it offers a reprieve, a break from
the caged anxiety that will be brought by knowing teams were mustered
at Nenana, awaiting the arrival of ceremonial serum, and the start of
their trip to Nome.
June
4, 2007 - Reminiscing...
Traveling dogs:
From the steep incline off the Yukon River it was easy to miss the
trail maker that guided Serum Run Teams to the Tanana Senior
Center. In the darkness and searching for some indication
of where to proceed, the cacophony of Tanana Musher Stan Zuray’s
dog yard was the beacon that drew Margaret and I to his house.
Rousted by the noise, Stan helped turn our teams and gave us
directions. The following morning wanting to see the Samoyed
team, he visited the Serum Run dog lot. Impressed with their
ability to cope in the -35 F morning temperature without any protective
garment he mentioned to me that he should get dogs like that
again. It was a nice complement and validation.
I had read about Stan years earlier in Joe Runyan’s book Winning
Strategies for Distance Mushers. Amongst the content, Joe
describes attributes of trapline dogs, which is very comparable to the
description of the “Traveling Dog” listed on the Tanana
Dog Mushing Association web site.
April
5, 2007
It has been a week since coming home and tomorrow is the
final day of my leave of absence from work. The last 7 days have
been consumed with chores. Unloading the truck and trailer,
switching studded snow tires, drying the Arctic Oven Tent, cleaning the
house after our hurried departure. I am amazed at how much mold
can grow in a forgotten coffee filter basket in 3 months.
On a joyous note, I reunited with the dogs that had to stay
behind. I missed them tremendously, but took solace in knowing
they were receiving their share of tender loving care. All are
well and look wonderful… I am forever indebted to Judy Carrick,
George Johnson and Louise Goodman, Kathy Buckner and Stephanie Bagley
for opening their homes and hearts to Elim, Koyuk, Ruby and
Toolik. I also want to thank Margaret for letting Rohn, Rainy and
Sheena stay with her dogs in Pullman while we were in Alaska.
Margaret had a Vet student from WSU stay at her house and doggie sit.
Today I took the Serum Run Dogs out for an ATV run. The last time
I put them in harness was at Safety Road House for our 22 mile run into
Nome. With at least a 70F temperature gain from their last run,
we didn’t go far or fast. Wearing jeans, sweatshirt and hiking
boots, it is much easier hooking up, not to mention putting on
harnesses with bare hands. After all that we have been through it
was hard to believe we are back running the power line trail at Tarboo
Lake. The slight numbness in my toes has become a welcomed
reminder that we really were in Alaska.
March 28th 2007,
84 days and 7,804 miles after leaving, we are home.
Spring
has descended upon Indianola and my color deprived senses are
overwhelmed. In one minute of Seattle rush hour, we pass more
vehicles then 4 days on the Alcan Highway. The radio screams,
“Buy, Buy, Buy”, and I long for the stillness of Trapper Cabin on the
Yukon River.
Out of the trailer and into the dog yard, the dogs lope through
the
foot tall grass, smashing chests and pulling tails. It makes me
happy to see them play; they have been tethered too long.
March 22, 2007,
We got to Pullman Tuesday at midnight following a 14+
hour drive from Prince George, BC. Margaret had to teach
Wednesday, then today catch a 6 am flight to speak at a seminar in
Iowa. A cold I caught in Unalakleet has stubbornly kept me in its
grasp, so I am spending a couple days doing very little. Tomorrow
I will get film developed and start working on bringing trail notes up
to date.
Once again I am humbled by the support from everyone and apologize for
not being able to keep trail notes current. All the dogs are
doing fine. They are happy to be off the road and able to spend
the day outside.
March 19, 2007
We are in Fort Nelson, BC, day three of our long drive
home. I am not having much luck convincing myself this was
not a dream. The tangibles are there… Numb toes, flaking
skin from fingertips, reminders of the cold, but it is not
enough. I am not sure when the reality will hit. Hopefully
when we get home and get some time to ponder without the pressure of
living out of the truck, along with the assistance of a dozen
undeveloped rolls of film, 60 minutes of trail talk on my microcasette
recorder, and a map of Alaska, I can put it into perspective.
March 13, 2007 - 4:30
PM
(Transcription of phone message - from one still tired musher!)
They've made it!!
Hey Cheri, it’s Don.
It’s almost 4 o’clock Nome-time and I thought I’d give you a call and
check in … ahhh, after recovering! (chuckle)
We made it!
Those Samoyeds made it!
They are incredible dogs.
I am so proud of them!
The run from White
Mountain to Safety, we ran into some more winds - sidewinds in Topkok
mountains. It was a little tough going there, and then dropping
down onto the sea ice, onto the beach on the Nome side, we had some
more side winds for probably about 10 - 12 miles after...
Boy, it’s all going into
one continuous run. I can’t… I’m having a hard time keeping them all
straight!
So in route to Safety we
had some more sidewinds. We got there. Spent the night at the Safety
roadhouse, came on into Nome yesterday. Had a good run coming
into Nome from Safety. No winds. Everything went fine.
Margaret and I have got
flight out of here Wednesday morning to go back down to Willow.
We can try to get onto a computer down there.
Lance Mackey is
due. This is a two-fold magical day here, other than, well
yesterday we got into Nome and we recovered, and Lance should be due in
here anytime. So we get to see the winner of the Iditarod come in, and
that’ll be super cool!
Everything’s fine. We’re
still trying to get a hold of Jamie to see how the dogs are
doing. They got shipped out of here yesterday shortly after our
arrival. Margaret did call down to assure they were there, but didn’t
get too much information since Jamie was out tending dogs.
Anyway, I will try to get
in touch with you again probably tomorrow. At least I’ll be able to get
back on the computer and send you an e-mail.
We made it – there’s no
place like Nome!! (Big chuckle) Yeah, it sort of hasn’t quite sunk in
yet…
Margaret’s waving “HI”
with a big grins. It still hasn’t quite sunk in what’s all been done,
as far as getting to Nome, but that will come.
Take care and I’ll stay
be in touch.
Don
March
10, 2007 ~ 10:27 PM (Transcription of phone message)
Hey
Cheri, this is Don.
It’s late and we’re still up in White Mountain. Things are going fine
here. We’re going to try to get out tomorrow morning – Sunday
morning -- and head over to Safety, and then we’ll spend Sunday night
at Safety, and then run on into Nome on Monday morning. The weather
seems to be improving each day, so hopefully tomorrow we’ll get kind of
minimal winds to get over these Topkok mountains and get past the
blowholes.
All the Samoyeds are just doing great. Margaret’s dogs are doing fine
too.
Our run from Elim to White Mountain was a real challenge. We were
running into sustained 40 mile an hour headwinds and it was just
incredible.
The dogs, they just hunkered down and kept heading right into it. They
were going really, really slow; but they kept going. It was amazing!
Their whole faces would be shrouded in ice. Their noses were
covered with ice with just these two little holes where their nostrils
were exposed. I would have to go up and clean that ice out. Big
chunks of ice hanging from their gums, and their eyes had ice across
their eyelashes… I’m just so proud of those dogs because they hunkered
down and kept going.
That day was not fun. It got to be a matter of going from trail
marker to trail marker and proceeding along. The ice was pretty slick.
When we weren’t being hit by headwinds, we were getting by side winds
that were blowing the sled off to the side. A couple of times,
Ophir and Obraz, who were leading, got off the trail and I had to chop
the snow hook into the ice and go up and get them direct back on. The
visibility was real poor also. The dreaded winds continued and got
worse. We heard reports that if we would have tried to continue on like
yesterday, being Friday - we would have run into 100 mile an hour winds
over in the blowhole.
It was good that we hunkered down here in White Mountain. The
dogs have all recovered really well. Even if the weather would
have been good to continue on the day after our arrival, it would have
challenged the spirits of the dogs, ‘cuz they had it pretty tough. We
had two really hard parts of that trail. There is this little McKinley
that you climb first, which is about 1000 foot elevation gain mountain
that almost straight up and we were running into headwinds there.
That in and of itself was tough, and then we had to go out on the sea
ice and buck into those headwinds on top of that. It was a brutal run
from Elim to White Mountain. They did it. Everybody’s healthy, the dogs
are healthy.
Samoyeds with heavy coats has just been remarkable. All the other
dogs are jacketed up. Probably about 8 of the Alaskan huskies
ended up with some form of frostbite. A number of the males had
their penises frostbitten. The Samoyeds are just fine in their fur
coats. That’s been a real … Most... well everybody’s real
impressed with how durable they are in being able to sustain themselves
in this kind of weather, –40’s –50’s in the winds.
Well, anyway, we should be in Nome in a couple of days!
Sorry for the infrequency of the updates. It’s just been, you know,
with kind of running slower than the rest of the pack, and doing dog
chores trying to find a computer to make updates -- it’s been kind of
difficult to do all that, but you know that. We’re plugging along!
The weather has been so bad, like the last three legs, I haven’t been
able to make verbal notes with my tape recorder while underway. Once
you’re buttoned up in all your weather gear you don’t want to open
anything up!
That’s the report at this moment. Thank you for
all the support!
Don
March
7, 2007 ~ 12:22 AM
Just heading off to bed. Made
it to Elim fine. Centarus has a limp, left tricep and should be able to
massage it out. All others doing
fine. Cant believe we are
almost done. It doesn't feel like 2+ weeks, the time has gone by fast!!
This is a great group of people to
travel with. Everyone gets
along well and helps each other, gonna to be hard to return to the real world.
March 6, 2007
Things are going great. We are in Koyuk, next stop
Elim. Again I need to
be brief as we are going to try and get out a bit earlier today.
The dogs!!!
I am so proud of them. Yesterday and the day before we hit the
dreaded winds.
the 12 or so mles along the spit into Shaktoolik we had a cross wind
that
wanted to push my sled sideways. I culdn't see as moisture in my
goggles
had frozen over and was impossible to thaw. Obraz and Opor were
in lead
and they stuck to the trail, at least until the came upon a dog yard in
abanonded
Shaktoolik and went to vist. Yesterday we ran into winds for 43
miles, it
was mentally difficult for al the dogs, but they hunkered down and
pulled
through it.
6 days on the Yukon River can
drive one crazy. It gets so
montonous, again the dgos hunkered down and made their way.The trai
from
Kaltag to Od Woman Cabin was stunning with its beauty and welcomed
senic
change from the drab Yukon. Old woman cabin sits in the shadow of
Old Woman
mountain and could be the postcard cabin for bush Alaskan.
I sent Holly home from Shaktoolik
with a sore shoulder, I was afraid I wold
have to do Obraz too, but I was able to massage him through it.
The cold
is interesting. All the other dogs have jackets on, not the
Samoyeds.
they thrive in it. On our way out of Shaktoolik at +2 F I noticed
some of
the Samoyeds panting. Each morning the are up barking and waggin,
while
the other dogs are rolled tight in donuts noses burried in tails.
I am doing fine, Sammy scarves are
my face protector along with goggles in
the wind. We have all gotten a bit of frost nip, but usually
catch in time
before it gets worse. Every one is impressed with the Samoyeds,
especilly
their cold weather abilities.
Well, better get going, got dogs to
feed.
Take care and will try and get
things caught up at the next computer.
Don
ps spell check isn't
working......SOS...
February 23, 2007
Follow this link for an audio report from "Kent", including a
call out for the "Samoan" team!
February 22, 2007
All is well! We stayed an
extra day to wait for weather. Uncertain
of what to expect we opted out of running and with forecast at extreme
cold
were ready to hunker down for a few days. The pattern appears to
be very
cold at night and warming to -20 in the daytime, so will run
tomorrow. Because
of the cold everyone has been feeding extra and with the possible need
to
stay put, the group of us chartered a plane to fly in dogfood and straw. Scotty got to
fly out due to an inflamed bicep tendon on his right front leg.
It was caused in the deep sugar snow
we ran the second day. Jerry says it is something that wont repair on the run, so Scotty got the outbound flight all to himself.
He will stay wit Jamie and Harry
in Willow.
The dogs are doing great and thrive
in the sub zero temps. All
the dogs in the lot are wearing jackets to stay warm, except the Samoyeds. I am handling the cold
better then I anticipated. Numb nose and fingertips sometimes,
but I cover up or use handwarmers
and it's ok. I do fear the
wind. We had about 10 mph
winds and -15ish temps the first day and it had an edge to it!
Time for bed. I will try and
get a better update after we get into a routine.
Take care and stay warm,
Don
February 17, 2007
We are in a rush this morning to leave for Nenana so will be
brief. I want to thank everyone for their support and kind
thoughts. I am humbled and wish I had more time to share all that
has been going on. We will be out of touch for a while but I hope
to mail cassette tapes to Cheri for with verbal updates.
Thank you all again,
Don
February 14, 2007
One thing that has been troubling me is how we are to
picket the dogs while staying in schools and community centers. I
am uncomfortable with the distance between my drop lines.
While staying in villages, the dogs will be left unattended. The
cable picket lines I made are fine if you are camping and within
intervention range of a quarrelling pair, or can respond to a yelp over
a tangled leg. But with no one to supervise, they are an injury
waiting to happen. Each picket line is 25 feet long and can
accommodate 7 dogs. At an attachment point every 3 feet, a short drop
cable with brass clips on each is snapped in. Today I cut all the
drop cables and shortened them to 12 inches, this should prevent leg
tangles. I am also going to make up another 25 foot picket line,
so using 3 sections; dogs can be spaced 6 feet apart.
February 13, 2007
Morning
temp, -8 F. Hooked up 12 dogs and did a 30 mile run, temps were
above 0 by the time we got going. The trails are hard, twisty,
relatively flat and very fast. White knuckle ride would be an
understatement. Our first 4 miles, fleeting glances at my GPS
indicated speeds ranging between 12 and 17 miles per hour.
I can’t believe the time we made, 3 hours and 28 minutes. Back
home, with the soft wet snow and elevation gains, 30 mile runs average
about 5 hours.
February 12, 2007
We spent today sorting through all our many plastic totes searching for
and organizing misplaced gear. Once done, we began loading action
packer totes that will be hauled on sleds by our snowmobilers.
February 11, 2007
We left Willow and made the 300 mile trip back to Currier’s in Two
Rivers. During the drive we reflected upon all it took to get
ready
and feel we have lost focus of the reason for being here. So much
time
and energy has been spent on making lists, rewriting lists, starting
more lists, living out of suitcases, driving, dropping dogs, worrying
about unknowns…. We are a week away from the start and need it to
happen. There is a release when you finally get on the
trail.
Everything shifts, you work with what you have, and the agenda is to
get to a spot on the map. No more lists, shopping trips, guesses
on
how many packs of string cheese three people will want to have over 18
days…. It will be good to get underway.
February 10, 2007
Ran two 6 dog teams again, 13 miles each. Was nice going.
Yesterday
we had a bit of fresh snow, and it caused some ice chunks to form in
between dog’s pads. Today it was gone and trails were fast.
Spent the
evening chatting with Karen who was a wealth of knowledge. A big
concern we had was the amount of food we had sent in our dog drops
compared to the other teams. We felt we had not sent
enough. Karen
pointed out the purebreds will take about 30% less food then
Alaskans.
That was a relief, as we were afraid we had not sent enough..
February 9, 2007
We wanted to do tourist stuff, but had to run dogs. Did the two 6
dog teams 12 miles each. While running, Karen had arrived, so
helped unstick her truck from the snowy driveway, then we went to
Iditarod Headquarters to be tourists. Very tired today.
February 8, 2007
We are exhausted from all the stress of drop bags and are dying for a
day off. The dogs have not been run in 4 days and need it
badly. We
set out with 6 dogs teams and did short 9 mile runs.
February 7, 2007
Drop bag day. What a relief to get rid of them. The Serum
Run Mushers
met at the airfreight warehouse at 10 am. We all pitched in to
weigh,
label, stack on pallets and shrink-wrap both drop bags and straw to be
sent ahead. It is over, we feel the hung over from the
stress! While
in Anchorage we arranged and picked up the sled Bill will tow for
Margaret during the Serum Run.
February 6, 2007
We made the 6+ hours drive to Jamie West’s in Willow, the back of the
truck loaded with drop bags. Uneventful and long, we did stop at
Cold
Spot Feed in Fairbanks to pick up stuff for Karen Ramstead who will
arrive at Jamie’s on Friday and stay until starting Iditarod. We
also
delivered 3 dogs left by Russ Bybee when he was Currier’s for the Yukon
Quest Vet check. He left this morning for Whitehorse, we took the
dogs
to his home in Willow.
February 5, 2007
Morning temp -2.2 F. Our drop
bags sit behind the truck covered with a frosty glaze, we set to work
with numb fingers, counting sorting, estimating. Just when it feels
like the last item has been added, something else, like the 150
coloring books for village children is found hiding in a box, how many
to sort and where to send them… It’s endless…
February 4, 2007
We finished dog food drops and
started working on people food drops. It seems endless the things
that
need to be done. Temp this morning was 3 F making simple tasks
such as
tying drop bags closed excruciatingly slow. By dark we were just
about
finished, but not quite… Tomorrow it will be over.
February 3, 2007
Drop Bags…
At 2 am I woke in a sweat…..
Drop
bags are due Tuesday! Opting out of running dogs, we decided to
focus
on assembly. Laying out a large tarp behind the trailer we piled sacks
of kibble (over 1200 lbs), trail snacks, including 21 salmon cut into
cross slices, frozen poultry skins, lamb sausage, booties and other
consumables to be sorted and packaged into large orange bags.
These
will be labeled and flown to 7 Villages along the trail. Each
shipment
will contain three days supplies.
January 27, 2007
Tuesday January 23rd we drove 310
miles from Willow to Two Rivers. Staying at the home of Judy and
Devon Currier, we are in a neighborhood of the elite. Running trails
off Curriers' property we pass the dog lots of mushing giants; Rick
Swenson, Aliey Zirkle, and Sonny Linder. It is a little unnerving to
not know whom we will encounter and how well our dogs will behave in a
passing situation. Until we get a good sense of the trail network
and the dogs better accustomed to passing on such narrow trails, we are
splitting into 6 dog teams.
We are seeing quite a swing in
temperature ranges. Thursday morning we woke to -19 F followed on
Friday by +18F. We opted out of training on Thursday to go do
more shopping for Serum Run consumables. Judy and Devon will be
going to the Tustumena 200 this weekend. Taking advantage of the
empty house we will spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing 16
days worth of meals to be sent out in drop bags to Villages along the
Serum Run Trail.
January 8th to January
23rd.
Willow Alaska.
It is the spirit of the Alaskan and
most likely has it roots in the
pioneer days, when travelers sought refuge in the warmth of a strangers
cabin. A few years ago Margaret briefly met Jamie West during a
spontaneous “let’s go to Alaska” trip with her friend Gayle. When
we
were selected to participate in the 2007 Serum Run Margaret sent an
Email to Jaime who had done the 2006 Serum Run asking for advice.
Included in Jamie’s invaluable guidance was an invitation to stay with
her when we came up to do the shake down run. Jamie and her
husband
Harry live in a beautiful log home on 20 acres, with access to the
extensive trail network maintained my the Willow Mushing
Community. To
our advantage, Jamie’s next door neighbor is Erin McLarnon, the 2007
Serum Run Musher Coordinator and between them the task of preparing for
the shake down run was less daunting.
Next entry; 115 mile shake down
run, 3 days and two nights camping with one at -10F…. Brrrrrrr….
Journal Synopsis -
January 4, 2007 ~ January 8, 2007
I have felt very remiss in not
being able to keep journal entries in a timely manner. Spare time
is at a premium and it is only now we feel there are spare moments to
be able to reflect and try to capture some of the goings on.
10 hours a day in the passenger
seat allowed Margaret time to make a good account of our trip from
Seattle and should be posted as part of this journal. I will
offer a brief synopsis from my dog log as follows:
After 6 days on the road we made it
to Willow Alaska and -25 F temps. We left Indianola 1/3/07 on the
11:30 AM ferry, met Judy at the Camino Island exit to drop off Elim,
then made our way north. 12 Samoyeds, 12 Siberians, a truck load
of gear and a lot of uncertainty about our sanity. The trip was
long and uneventful. Conditions were good for about 90% of the
drive. It does seem we were a bit out of sync, with the more
treacherous twisty snowy roads being traveled at night and the straight
70 MPH ice free stretches in daylight. Most of the trip we were
able to average 50 MPH. The farther north we traveled the lower
the truck’s outside temp display would drop, with the lowest
reading -27 F as we passed Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory.
The scenery was breathtaking and in
many spots the sense of isolation, total. This is a land
unforgiving to stranded motorists, empty gas tanks, or flat
tires. A short distance beyond Destruction Bay when it had warmed
to -25F, we made a quick dog drop. Stepping out of the truck, the
cold is immediate and penetrating. Clothes stiffen and resist movement
as embedded moisture freezes; dog’s bowls glaze as a skim of ice forms
over freshly poured water. There is urgency to hasten the drop
and return to the snug security of dog boxes and truck cab.
Continuing towards our destination
the temps would hover between -25F and -27F. Our last
overnight stop was in Tok, Alaska. Too rummy from driving, I
neglected to plug in the truck’s engine block heater. Our morning
departure was delayed two hours, while a local entrepreneur armed with
a portable blast furnace and special ductwork blew hot air under the
truck’s engine compartment. At 25 below, diesel engines don’t
wake up easily...
The -25 F temp grabbed hold and
followed us down to Willow. Locals moved a bit slower, placed
baskets of chemical hand warmers near house exits, and reassured us it
was not normal. It was good for us to get a taste of the
potential temps we will encounter on the Serum Run, but
were not quite ready to deal with for an extended period. Relief
came a few days later with a heat wave, shooting the thermometer up to
0 F.
Jan 3, 2007
Day one…..
The last two weeks have been madness in getting ready. So many
things to get, so much to organize. Two 12 dog teams spending 5
days traveling 2500 miles one way, crossing through Canada, spending
nearly 3 months away from home and doing a 780 mile trek, takes a lot
of planning and a lot of stuff. Long before our departure I
called Canadian and US Border officials to find out what we had to do
to drive to Alaska. The Canadian response was to make a list of
all goods we were taking, have rabies certificates for the dogs, and no
raw meat. We packed everything into 30 roughneck and action
packer totes with itemized lists of their contents and a map of where
they were located in the truck and trailer. I expected it to take
about an hour to make the border crossing. I may be
exaggerating by claiming 3 minutes in the presence of Canadian Agents;
it was more likely 2 min, 20 seconds. A quick peak at our
passports, negative reply to whether we were carrying guns and ammo,
affirmative to the dogs having had rabies shots, then the nod to pass
through. Not even a glance at 3 itemized pages of 30 totes, nor
the neat binder of vet records. So much for all the fear of
having to pull studs out of brand new tires because a colleague of
Margaret’s said they were illegal in Canada. Oh Well! One
crossing down, one to go..
Our first snow run of the season was December 2nd 2006. It always
seems to take forever switching from the ATV to sled. This year
the transition occurred at the Stampede Pass snow park. Setting
up a new gangline, sorting booties, searching for drag track clips and
a dozen other misplaced items, chipped away at our afternoon
departure. By the time we hooked up, it was 7:30 PM and a full
moon had risen to illuminate our trail.
Being early December, trail grooming had not yet begun. It was a bit
punchy and snowmobile traffic had churned the surface to a sand like,
glide arresting texture. As we made our way along Lost Lake the
ascent went from gradual to steep, gaining 1800 feet over 7
miles. Our slow pace allowed more time to bask in the view.
As the bright moonlight shone down from behind my shoulder, ice
crystals in the virgin snow flickered in random patterns of flashbulbs
at a Super bowl halftime show. It looked as though we were on a
trail of diamonds. Snow laden trees took on menacing forms of
large extraterrestrial beings, and the dogs puffed steam in the calm
16F air. Washing out all sense of color, the moon’s ample light
allowed safe navigation leaving the headlamp to an occasional glance
for an errant neck or tug line.
This is the spiritual side of running dogs. Night runs…
Moments of absolute perfection. It is the drug of the addiction, and
makes all the havoc of this lifestyle tolerable. I fear the grip
of a night run accompanied to an auroral dance. I will then
understand Ulysses and the tremendous power seduction.
Don Duncan
December 12, 2006
Welcome and thank you for visiting my website. For those of you
who love the wonderful breed with which I've chosen to share my life,
or those of you who have succumbed to the "fine madness" of running
sled dogs, I invite you to share my adventure as I prepare to embark on
the journey of my life. I can't believe how quickly
the pages are falling away from the
calendar and there is so much yet to be done!
During the Serum Run, we hope to have an interactive map and
fairly frequent updates on our journey's progress. We also hope
to add a guest book so you all can ask questions and send us your
thoughts. As you can see from the budget that has been developed
for this journey, we are also asking for your support. Those who
know me know how uncharacteristic (and darn right hard) it is for me to
ask for help with this event, but I hope that those willing to sponsor
a dog or provide "PAWS UP" support will feel a stronger connection with
our team and, subsequently, the vicarious thrill of this
experience.
Anticipated Expenses
for Serum Run
| Category/Item |
Number/Quantity
|
Estimated Cost |
Participation Fees
|
|
Application Fee
|
1
|
$50.00 |
|
Entry Fee
(Musher and Machiner)
|
2
|
$3000.00
|
Travel Expenses
|
|
Fuel
Round trip, Seattle to Fairbanks
Estimate 5000 miles at 13 mpg.
|
384
gallons @$3.25/gallon
(conservative estimate)
|
$1248.00 |
|
Airfare
Nome to Fairbanks
|
1
|
$300.00 |
Dog Equipment &
Supplies
|
|
Booties
|
1500 @ $0.85 |
$1275.00 |
|
Harnesses
|
12 @ $20.00 ea. |
$240.00 |
|
Dog Wind Jackets
|
12 @
$49.00 ea. |
$588.00 |
|
Dog Food
|
736
lb.. |
$613.00 |
|
Musher’s Secret
|
10
lb. @ $19.95 lb
|
$199.50 |
|
Algyval
(massage balm for working
dogs)
|
5
bottles @ 32.00/ea
|
$160.00 |
Musher
Supplies
|
|
Arctic Oven Tent
|
1
|
$1750.00 |
|
Extreme Temperature
Clothing
|
|
$1000.00 |
| Miscellaneous |
|
Snow machine
Rental
|
$175.00/
day x 20 days
|
$3500.00 |
|
Fuel for Snow machine, stove
fuel,
misc. trail supplies
|
|
$2500.00
|
|
Conservative
estimate of anticipated expenses
|
$16423.50 |