A QUICK TRIP TO WILLOW--September 24- October 12th, 2010
It was exciting to be heading back to Willow a month earlier than usual. Driving to Willow was such a different experience. In all of my times in Willow, it has always been snow covered and with the rivers and lakes frozen over. This time, the snow was missing, the rivers were flowing and the lakes were open water.
Ted and I got busy running teams at Shirley Towne. We would have to load up the 2 four wheelers on the trailer and then load up 16 dogs in the dog truck. We would drive to Shirley Towne and run the dogs on the dirt road. I think that we ran the dogs about 14 miles on our training runs. It was good training with the hills.I attended the Willow Dog Musher's Symposium, where I met Mary Shields, one of the first two women to run Iditarod in 19__. She was a remarkable women...so soft spoken and I was in awe of her experiences with her dogs. She had me wishing that I had begun my mushing carear much earlier. I found myself wanting to go back in time and to have the opportunity to live life as she did with her dogs. I would have been in my glory. I didn't begin mushing until in my 50's.
I traveled to Fairbanks to attend the Alaska Dog Mushers Association Symposium. It was a power packed information gathering time for me. I learned about feeding and training and vet care from the experts. Lance Mackey, Jeff King, Hans Gatt, Egil Ellis, Aliy Zirkle were so me of the top names there. I left realizing how much there is still to learn.
CHAD WAITING FOR SNOW....
Well, my two and a half weeks went by fast. It was time to head back home to prepare to return for the winter.
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