Pictures, that tell a story...
Greetings from the Yukon.Yesterday I finally unpacked my Iditarod return bags. That alone tells, how much time I had for anything, this spring. When we pack them up on the trail, all contents are nicely frozen. Under normal circumstances they are still so, when we open them back up. Well, in my case, where normal is a very rare occurrence, they were everything but frozen. Next time, well hopefully there is no next time in the near future, but that is besides the point, next time I better refrain from sending hot dogs and other food items back.
But more than anything, each food drop bag is telling a story. A section of cable gangline means I dropped a dog, or most likely another dog. I came upon a harness saying Diesel. That meant this food drop bag was from Nikolai. Sitting down and reflecting, memories started pouring out. I had rested on the trail, about 3 hrs past Rohn and than was headed to Nikolai, possibly past Nikolai. But soon on this run I had to load up Diesel, as he was cramping up in his back end. As such that was not a big deal, as the trail was hard packed and fast and Diesel did not really slow us down. But mentally, loading Diesel must have played a trick on me, also with him being the second dog I dropped down to 14 dogs. Arriving in Nikolai at 9.15 a.m. we only had been on the trail for a bit more than 6hrs. Stopping war not the smartest move. I should have gone till at least Noon, and resting through the heat of the day, there after. But instead I pulled over, same as everybody else and thus breaking a rule, I have set for myself: Never run through the heat of the day. I left at short after 1 p.m. right in the heat of the day and had a rather miserable run to Mc Grath. Obviously I can´t help but notice, that John Baker and Ramey Smith left much later at 15.20 and 16.27 respectively and wonder….. how much damage that run through the heat did, as all of “ us “ who left early ( Martin Buser, myself, Lance Mackey, Hugh Neff, Bob Buntzen ) later faded in the race, Hugh not so much. Coincidence? And here the vicious cycle of racing begins, looking at the ifs and what ifs…. And the thoughts circle around it again.
Looking at the return bags also makes me wonder about some of the stuff I find in there. From Foxtail pee protectors, to different ointments, to glowing light collars to stacks of fleece blankets for the dogs to sleep under. Stuff I wonder: “ What the heck ? “ Do we really all need that crap? Often we do not. Sometimes we do, and for those sometimes times, the food drop is packed. Packing the food drop, is what had set me up for the mistake I made, of stopping in Nikolai. I had not anticipated to be there at 9 a.m.. Going through would have meant to not stop in Takotna and to go to Ophir instead. But….. I had only packed my food drop to 24hr in Takotna. So I was limited in that decision. Here it shows, that the “ devil “ is in the detail. And there is many details to be considered. I also found a lot of Sweets, snickers, mars, 5hr energy drinks. Not ideal. Like every spring I have been gaining weight like mad, and finding stacks of sweets is deadly.
Having forgotten my “ real camera “ in Juneau, I had to use a small pocket one to do these food drop shots. Once downloading them, the camera told another story. I had not used it in a long time, as the last pictures on the chip were from the 2010 Iditarod, on the Yukon River. Its been an interesting spring to say the least. After my rather traumatic experiences with the dog handlers, I rather did everything myself this spring.... that is why it took so long.
I also have been retiring more dogs. Gas and Diesel are spoken for and Austin and Moose have just left to Montana to their new home. Boy Austin was tough, being one of my very original dogs. I am going to miss that garbage eating, squirrel hunting mischievous blue eyed mongrel.
I have just listed both of my places, Whitehorse and Paxson, for rent next winter, as they will serve someone well, who wants to train for long distance races. Both are set up nicely for that and for the right person ( a person who takes care of things ) I also have A LOT of equipment, from trucks, to ATV´s to sleds to countless coats and blanket. Heck looking at those food drop return bags, I can run another race right from that, without having to buy stuff. Bad, bad boy, get those thoughts out of your head.
The plan is to spend some of the fall, after the Juneau glacier season ends, here in Whitehorse. I have several friends coming over from Europe to visit and hopefully will get to go an a canoe trip, something I had wanted to do for years. September there should be no more mosquitos and the temperatures should be more in my range of camping temperatures. I usually do not go camping without snow on the ground and sleep besides a sled. Sleeping in a tent, strange concept. For mid October I than plan to travel back to Germany or better said Europe and do a few talks about the Quest and Iditarod and visit some friends. This will be the first fall in 14 years, where I will not be sitting on an ATV day and night. That’s gonna be different. Speaking about which. Normally it is quite the ordeal to get the quads going in the spring, after them sitting all winter, of course me not taking the batteries out and so on. But lo and behold, each one of them fired right up yesterday.
Well tomorrow I pack up the last dogs to bring them to the glacier. Inuk´s , Saffron´s and Skunk´s time on the couch is over, time to go back to work. I gave my gang as much time off as I could, they sure deserved it. The dogs have been real noisy at night lately. Our local elk herd has taken to graze in the fresh upcoming grass right in the dogyard. While my guys are rather indifferent and used to that, I have 15 dogs from Jessie Royer here and they get very exited seeing them Elk up close.
Have a great summer everybody, take care Sebastian
Sab
