This Sure Isn't Kansas

It is hard to live in Fairbanks and not be aware of the dogs:  dog trucks with their beds filled in with a box capable of holding at least 12 dogs; dogs howling in the trucks parked in parking lots; dog yards of anywhere from 8 to 100 dogs; banks with dog biscuits; several stores dedicated to mushing equipment; and, of course, all the trails filled with mushers and their dogs.

Dog lover that I am, folks find it hard that we only have Fred, but that is just fine with me.  HOWEVER, I have become a handler!  That means that I now work with a musher in her dog yard doing everything from scooping poop to feeding to running dogs.  Peg Harpsham is “my musher” and she is going to run the Yukon Quest in February. 

I was lucky enough to meet her last year while David and I were walking on a trail near her house when we lived on Buffalo Lane.  Shy, retiring me immediately asked if I could help in her yard, and when I did not hear from her right away gave her a call.  I cannot even imagine what she thought of me appearing in her dog yard with not the slightest idea of what to do.  She put me on a sled right away, which was a disaster!  On the sled...in the snow!  Back on the sled (having run after it while Peg jumped off her own sled and caught my 4 dogs)...in the snow!  As you can see from this photo, I was far from relaxed.

 The Quest is the 1000 miles race from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada to Fairbanks. (That’s this year.  Next year it starts in Fairbanks, as it did last year).  Peg started conditioning her dogs in September, as soon as it got to be in the 40’s since the dogs do really well in cold weather, but suffer a bit in the heat. 

She started conditioning me as well!  I learned to hook up first 4 and now up to 8 dogs to a 4 wheeler and take them out on the miles and miles of trails behind her house.  We started at 3 miles each time and are now up to 30 miles.  When we started we ran the whole way in sunlight and now, when I go on Thursday’s after work, the whole process is in the dark! I spend about 4 hours on Thursday and all day Sunday at her yard and am just in awe at what dedication it takes.  She has 45 dogs…that means it cost over $40.00 per day just to feed them, not taking into account the equipment, etc, etc.  All the feed stores here keep a full pharmacy of medications since all but the most difficult cases are treated at home.

What am I doing?  The noise, the power, the sheer energy of the dogs is overwhelming.  But last week I knew that I had made progress when I was kneeling in -15 degree weather with bare hands, untangling a line that hooks the dog’s collar to the main or gangline totally unfazed by the 7 dogs leapt about, screaming and howling and ready to go!  Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?  However, to all those who say it is just a matter of time before I have my own yard and sled, etc, etc,. I say “NO WAY!”

So far we are running the dogs on 4 wheelers because the trails are not quite ready for sleds.  That’s fine with me since the tales of falling of a sled are horrifying.  Apparently one must “hang on at all cost” which means somehow hooking one arm under the sled handle while being pulled along face first in the snow while trying to jam a snow hook in the snow with the other hand.  How will I ever manage?  The power of the dogs is fantastic. 

The dogs are so powerful that one day Peg, "my musher" was hooking up dogs to her 4 wheeler and I was hooking up to mine and she went past me and shouted back, "Where is my 4 wheeler?".  Well, she had 8 dogs hooked up, her ice hook attached to the lead dog and dug into the ground and the 4 wheeler in gear with the brake on and the dogs simply took off and were running down the trail pulling her monster 4 wheeler.  They are amazing!!!!  They eventually stopped when the 4 wheeler hit a rut and they could not dislodge it.

The whole 4 wheeler thing is so typically Fairbanks...Peg, "my musher" only had one 4 wheeler and it was too expensive to rent one for months and months so I started asking around if anyone had one to rent privately.  One day at work a guy called who I had never heard of and offered to lend me his.  It turns out that he is the next door neighbor to a woman I sing in a choir with and I had asked her if she knew anyone with a 4 wheeler.  I didn't even know this amazing man and he lent me the 4 wheeler and a trailer!  Wow!

I took David with me a few weeks ago for a ride and all he could say was “You’re nuts”.

In order to run the Quest Peg must qualify by finishing two 300 mile races.  She will run the GinGin on December 26 and the Copper Basin on January 7.  This will be my first race experience and I can’t wait, despite the cold.