March 13, 2000

Hello:

I now know the two other dropped dogs, they were Camilla and Gus. Both are now home and doing fine, these two came into Anchorage late last night then spent most of day in prison getting spoiled.

I talked to Karen this morning, she is doing great and was just finishing her mandatory 8 hour layover on the Yukon river at Ruby. This years race looks like its going to be a record breaker, they're predicting that Swingley will finish before noon tomorrow.

That's all for now. Stay tuned.

Mark

(See additional images of Karen & her dogs as well as the Iditarod Start banner taken by a friend - still more to come!)

March 12, 2000

Hello:

Haven't heard from Karen, all I know is that she is on her way to Ruby and that she dropped 2 dogs in Cripple. I don't know which 2, so don't ask me. One thing that I've learned from years and years of handling and waiting for Karen is that no news is good news.

Well that's enough about Karen. Today I entered Sunny, Breezy, Draco & Hawk, plus 2 borrowed dogs into a 6 dog 10 mile purebred race. It was fun, but another thing that I've learned from years and years of handling is that you can't spend 10 months training distance dogs then expect them to run a sprint race. We finished 7th or 8th out of 10 teams, I really wasn't paying attention, there was a potluck supper and I haven't eaten a home made meal in a while.

I leave for Nome on Thursday, Karen's Mom and brother are still trying to get their tickets, Nome gets pretty crowded this time of year.

Mr. Howl made the front page of the Anchorage Daily News. The story talks about some of the differences between Sibes and Alaskans.

That's all for now. Stay tuned.
Mark

(See images of Karen's dogs taken by a friend - more to come!)

March 11, 2000 -2

Hello all---

Just picked up Karen's "dropped" dogs this afternoon, Spud and Smiley. They are currently in the backyard bright-eyed and waggy, trying to make friends with the Sheltie.

Northern Air Cargo flew in about 50 dogs this afternoon from McGrath, considered a hub to which dogs are flown in smaller planes, reloaded and flown to Anchorage. The dogs are picked up at the airport, or at the prison in Eagle River by a person designated in a contract signed months ago by their owners.
I saw a lot of energetic dogs there. Both these guys didn't go further in the race because they had sore shoulders. You couldn't tell it this afternoon as they tried to pull me across the parking lot. They look GREAT!

I also got to see Blake Freking's returned sled, the one that hit a stump on the trail and exploded releasing the 14 dog team he was driving. If you haven't checked out the website lately, give it a "look and see" www.ssanadyr.com. The journal is being updated whenever we hear from Blake.

Blake also dropped 2 dogs. I saw them both at Howling Dog Farm yesterday. Poorga is a little stiff. Freckles was hard to pick out from the other dogs that wanted to go for an afternoon run.

Later, Jamie

March 11, 2000

Hello:

Let me start out by making a correction, a few postings ago I said that Smiley made the big team and then said that he was left behind. Well Smiley is on the big team, it was Sunny that was left behind.
Speaking of Smiley, Spud and him are on their way home. Karen dropped both of them because of sore shoulders. This is the first time that Spud has ever been dropped from a race. The dogs get quite the ride, they're flown to McGrath where they then catch the big plane to Anchorage, once there, if their pick up person isn't waiting for them, they are taking to a near by prison were inmates that have had special training are given the privilege of taking care of them. Jamie West-Banks our friend in Anchorage was waiting for Spud & Smiley when they got off the plane, and tomorrow she will deliver them to our home in Willow. (Read Jamie's post)

The reason why you have been waiting for this post is because I went out to Takotna to pay Karen a surprise visit. I got a ride on a very little plane that landed on the very big river at the Takotna check point. I took a big chance, because with the updates being so slow, I wasn't sure if she would be there our not. She was. We were able to spend about an hour together, she looked good and was very upbeat and happy. She said that all the dogs were strong, healthy, & happy. I had a cheese burger while Karen and several other mushers ate steak a crab legs. The only thing that I can remember right now is that she has had Grover in lead the entire way, and before he goes to sleep at any of the check points he has to have a belly rub. Any way I told her that she's making us all very proud and to keep up the good work.

Today I booked my ticket for Nome.

That's all for now. Stay tuned.

Mark

March 8, 2000

Hello: 

Good news, Karen made the front page of the Anchorage Daily News newspaper.
Bad news is it was because she broke her sled. 

Good news, she got her second sled this morning and is on her way to Rhon.
Bad news, she stayed in Rainy pass for over 26 hours. 

Good news, the dogs are all in great shape.
Bad news, They're feeling so good that Butchie bred Sissy. 

All and all it was a learning experience. The rules say that if you feel that you are going to use a second sled that it must be sent out on the trail before the start of the race. What we assumed is that when we needed the second sled, all we would have to do is ask for it and it would be delivered. We were wrong. We are 100% responsible for moving the sled. This means that we have to find a plane with skis, that can haul a sled and hasn't been booked already. At 9:30 last night I finally had confirmation that Karen's sled was slightly disassembled and sitting in the plane that Karen Adam (wife of musher Ross Adam) had chartered to follow the race, and would be leaving at first light. Now Karen could get a good nights sleep.
Anyway she is off her race plan for now, but in a few days when everyone else has taken there 24 hour layover, everything will be back to normal. 

We just had a little earthquake here, the house shook a bit. Is there anything else that we'll have to deal with? 

That's all for now. Stay tuned.
Mark

March 6, 2000

Let me start this diary with some official business, here is Karen's team that she left the starting line with on Sunday morning

Camilla & Grover
Spud & Icey
Jake & Orion
Chester & Howl
Butch & Buddy
Sissy & Gus
Smiley & Striker
Doc & Oreo

Draco, Smiley, Hawk & Breezy were left behind for various reasons. It was a very hard decision making the cut down to the final 16, but we are happy that we had so many strong dogs to choose from. I don't know who won our contest, I'll let Karen take care of that when she gets back from Nome.

All I can say about the start in Anchorage is "WOW". We got up at 4:30 Saturday morning, fed dogs then left for Anchorage. The 1 1/2 hour trip in was like a dogtruck parade, once we were in town we were directed around by the army of volunteers to our parking spot. We were barely out of the truck before more volunteers approached us to scan the microchips in the dogs to make sure that every dog there was an approved dog. Once that was done we set out to have breakfast before the excitement started. Too late.

By the time we got back to our truck, Fourth Ave. was packed. We let out a few of the dogs for some schmoosing, and for the next few hours I'm sure that several thousand pictures were taken of them doing everything from kissing little girls to peeing on the mudflaps. Then teams started coming through. Because we were team 61, we were close to the starting line and got to watch all the teams before us leave. These teams included Matin Buser, Dee Dee Jonrowe, Jeff King, & Rick Swenson. Once we left it was all a blur, running through town was hot and there were people lining the trail almost the whole way to Eagle River. People shouted words of encouragement & clapped. One guy even played "O Canada" on a trumpet, I had to take off my hat. The dogs finished strong in Eagle River, we took it slow and took lots of breaks.

Sunday was more like a normal race setting, except 10 times bigger. This time no spectators were allowed near the trucks, but there was a few thousand there. It was cooler & the trail was packed harder. Again there were spectators all the way to Knik. Once we were in Knik I unhooked the second sled and Karen was on her way. The first chance I had to check the race results was this morning and Karen was already in Skwentna. It looks like she's been traveling with Jamie Nelson, her friend, coach & mentor. I don't know how long this will last, but any time they stay together is bound to be good.
Well that's all I can think of for now, so many things have happened in the last few days that I'm sure that it will take a while to filter through the old grey matter. Keep track on the Iditarod home page, look at more than the race result, press releases and newspaper articles are also interesting.

Stay tuned
Mark

February 27-2, 2000

This is test, and only a test, if this was a real post Karen would be running down the Iditarod trail instead of sitting beside me on the couch.

For those of you who don't know me my name is Mark and I'm Karen's husband. My job around the kennel is the handler. The Handler is the person who does all the work and gets none of the glory. Actually the handler is the most important job in the kennel. You must be able to be a Vet, a Coach, a sports psychologist, a chef, a truck driver, a quad and snowmachine mechanic, a sled repairer, a carpenter, a trail builder, a pooper scooper, a dog groomer, a sponsor, and a kennel builder, and in my spare time I run the second team. My favorite thing about being a handler is getting to spend time with each of the dogs. Some nights I go outside and lay on the doghouses and watch the stars with each of the dogs. I guess now I can add journalist to the list of responsibilities.

While Karen is on the trail I'll be keeping you up to date with her progress, so keep an eye open.

Bye for now Mark