Of Dogs, Governors, Volcanoes and Moose

What do these all have in common? These things have been our experiences in the last 3 weeks.

First of all the Iditarod was one for the record books. This year had some of the worse storms in a number of years. The 3 mushers in the front managed to get past the worst of it, but the other 64 teams got clobbered. The teams that were running in places 4-15 got caught on the coast of the Bering Sea heading north. The temps were -30 F with a 30 mph wind in their face. Jeff King, a 4 time winner of this race turned around and headed back for shelter. After a musher turns a team around it is difficult for him or her to get the dogs to do that portion of trail again. The mushers on the Yukon river were also traveling north under the same conditions. The mushers further back in the pack had horrible experiences also. The blowing snow covered the trail markers making it impossible to find the trail. We had dinner with Kim Darst, a musher from New Jersey, after she had scratched. She said the snow was about waste deep when she could find the packed trail. When she stepped off the packed part it would go to armpit deep. She had to lead the dogs to an area of safety. While trying to sit out the storm one of her dogs kept getting worse, even sharing Kim's sleeping bag. She then sent an emergency signal ending her race but saving her dogs. She was with another musher and they got help from the previous checkpoint. A local doctor who was near them was not as lucky. He lost two dogs and was concerned for his own life. This link will give you an idea of what must have been going on out there. http://www.adn.com/iditarod/2009/story/726933.html

The story begins: UNALAKLEET -- With the temperature near 45 degrees below and two dogs already dead from the cold, 55-year-old Lou Packer huddled all alone beside a meager fire in one of the most remote areas left in North America and wondered if he would be next.

Last night was the Iditarod's volunteer pot luck dinner. It was fun to see everybody all together and one never goes hungry at a pot luck. Jude had to bring a bit of New Orleans with us to the dinner. Clams Etoufee. The clams from Alaska, the Etoufee from Grand Isle. There was a bit of surprise as Sarah Palin showed up. She was there to sign into law a bill that will allow any musher who has finished the Iditarod a special license plate for their vehicle. There will not be a lot of them produced. There have only been around 800 people to finish the Iditarod. More people have climbed Mt Everest than finished the Iditarod. The race is 1150 miles long. That is about the distance from Detroit to Tampa.

Which way to Nome?

Or is this a new breed, a two headed dog? This is the start line on Sunday. I did not get to work in the start chute this year but I was right there anyway.

Well there is always something new to experience here in The Last Frontier. Last week and again this morning Mt Redoubt decided to erupt. Last week the ash cloud went north of us. We were up to the new house and we could plainly see the cloud. It was dropping ash about 20 miles north of the house. Today the cloud is headed in the other direction. The bad hit areas have received about 1/8 inch of dust. We just stay inside and cover up electronics with plastic bags so that the ash does not get into the system. Alaska Airlines cancelled all flights this afternoon. The last time this happened a KLM 747 flew into the ash cloud and lost power. Fortunately the pilots were able to restart the engines just before a crash. The dust got into the engines and formed a glass like surface on the engine.

Lastly, one cannot live in Alaska without the ever present moose showing up. You just never know where! Jude and I were sitting a the table having breakfast when this guy walked through the parking lot in front of Amanda's. It is kind of like seeing deer in Michigan. You will see them all the time, your just never sure where. I still will never get over seeing them.

Here is a picture of Lance Mackey, three time champion, having a bit of a go round with one of the moose here in Anchorage. On Saturday of the race there is a fund raise where people bid on riding in a musher's sled. A champion like Lance will draw a maximum bid of $7500. Other mushers will not get as much. Eric Rogers, a friend of ours, had Dorothy Hamill , the gold medal figure skater, in his sled this year.

The best moose sighting I have seen was last year. While picking up our rental car, I was driving by the arrival area at the airport. Yes, just like most major airports, departures are on the second level and arrivals are down underneath on ground level. And like most airports there was a cop there directing traffic. But unlike most airports, this cop was not only directing cars, but a moose who was just wandering through. I never did see the conclusion.

Rob

We're Home

Sorry for the long time since a posting, but like many of you, we have been busy. Lets see, after the new year we kind of went into a relaxation mode. Bob and Judie Scranton, part of the Big House Gang (football friends) came down to Grand Isle for a month. As we sat around the campfire we kept calling Dick Shanewald and Crista Dorsey and told them what they were missing. Well, they came down for a week. We all had a great time.

Before we knew what was happening we were in mid February and only two weeks left until we were to fly back up to Anchorage. Our neighbor had a great expression for it, "You are getting to the small part of the funnel." Yep, things were going pretty fast. We had our friends Vern and Mary Voss help us move Danny's Fault on the 9 hour trip up the bayou. We spent the next day getting the boat ready for storage for the summer. She is now sitting down on the bayou, in 4 feet of water. She draws 4' 2". She will be happy settled in the mud for the summer. We then had a couple of days left to get the 5th wheel prepared for the summer. The truck and trailer and sitting in Andy and Sue's driveway. What great friends and hosts while we were in Grand Isle. We have a deal with them, when a hurricane comes, they take our truck and trailer north and live in it until they can get back home.

MARDI GRAS

What a blast! I won't tell you how Jude got the beads. Actually she claims that she threatened to flash them if she didn't get the beads. That is Rachel Galliano with her, Andy and Sue's daughter.

Actually Mardi Gras is not the complete drunken orgy that the press shows. Yes, that happens on Bourbon St, but there are many family parades in New Orleans and in all of the small communities.

Jude was part of the Hibiscus Girls and was in the Grand Isle parade. She is there on the left. I was in the truck and also got to throw beads. On Fat Tuesday we went up to Houma and to another parade. We all collected beads again. We came home with about 70 lbs of beads to throw next year.

The best part was being invited to people's homes in both New Orleans and Houma. That meant more great Cajun food.

ALASKA

We flew up to Anchorage last Monday night. The flight was rather uneventful, except for the drunk that was arrested on our flight in Seattle. In Seattle we did not have time to see Carrie and the kids. Oh, by the way, Carrie is pregnant again! This will make number five. Better her than me! We are very happy for her and Eric.

Today was the start of the Iditarod, the reason we came back home while there is still snow on the ground. Amanda, Julius, Jude and myself were down on 4th Ave by 6:30 in the morning. We help work crowd control and keep mushers and their handlers inside the snow fences and the general public outside the fences. I think there were more people inside the fences than outside. The race is 1150 miles long. The leading mushers travel about 100 miles per day at about 7-10 miles per hour. We would do about 50 per day at 6-7 miles per hour when we were on the boat headed south. That is one long distance!! There are 67 mushers this year with 16 dogs each. The dogs are not what you might think. The are only 50-60 lbs and are called Alaskan Sled Dogs. They are a mixture that have been bread by the kennels, mainly up here.

And last of the news, we have found our new home. On Friday we came up with a purchase agreement on a new house. It is a 3 bedroom ranch with a kitchen that opens up into the living room. All of about 1300 sq ft it sits on a 1.35 acre lot. Again I will live in a house without a garage, but there is a nice shed that is about 16x20. This will give us a wonderful kitchen, laundry, master bedroom, guest room, office, and a back yard that will be our view of the wandering moose. We are excited.

We are now getting close to the final part of the entire moving plan. On April 7 we will fly back to Detroit. While there we will buy a small camper trailer. After visiting with family and friends we will head back up to Bruce Mines, ONT. Once there we will pack up the remainder of our belongings and pack them into the back of a 26 foot U-Haul truck. The U-Haul will be towing a flatbed trailer with Jude's red car on it. My 2003 Silverado will be towing our camper. And we will begin to drive. However there is one last piece to all of this and that is our good friend Dan Webster. Dan is a sailing friend from Michigan who is the only person I know who has a more convoluted life than ours. He and Mary Spencer lived on their boat in Michigan for about 10 years (yes in the winter too). They sailed to the Gulf and then across the Atlantic in 2001. Their boat is currently in Turkey, they have a home in New Zealand, and are now living in a basement apartment in Lansing, Michigan where Mary had to go back to work to finish up her Michigan Teachers Retirement. Now, you think Jude and I are a little off.

Love Ya All

Rob