Still on that Trail...

I know it has been quiet here since the end of the Iditarod and the racing season. However, I've been busy behind the scenes and planning ahead on this seemingly endless project of mine. I joined a Facebook Group called Idita-support and got myself in some hot water because the mushers there were not at all enchanted with my complaint about carrying healthy dogs and wish to see it banned. Oh no, mushers are a very independent lot and do not want any possible option taken away from their repertoire. While I do understand and appreciate their stance,I still feel it was misused in the 2016 race.I have backed off from further push on that for now but will keep it on the back burner..

However one totally cool thing happened because of my joining this group. It is managed and moderated by a lovely lady named Helen Hegener. She is an active writer of Alaskan non-fiction works, a stickler for historical accuracy and just a neat person. To add to the serendipity she lived in Arizona as a teenage military dependent and went to Tombstone High in the mid 1960s!. She also loves horses as well as dogs and we've had some wonderful email chats. I hope to meet her in the near future. She loves my idea and is enthusiastic about it., which I deeply appreciate. I just preordered her new book about the history of the sled dogs whcih will be released soon.

My plan to go to Alaska at the end of June, well about the 24th to be exact, is still on. I will attend the Iditarod Trail Committee annual meeting again though not to pitch anything to them.My main purpose will be to meet people and probably arrange with one or more kennels, likely in the Willow area, to spend some time in the fall. I am more than willing to scoop poop, fill dishes or any other chore for the privilege of hanging out and listening and asking a few hopefully not totally dumb questions. I've known all along that I must get some boots on the snow or dirt and live at least along the periphery of this  sport to learn and do justice to my subject. I think Helen can help me there. I do plan again to take advantage of the hospitality and aid of wonderful Alaska friends Bill Hutchison and Svetla Lerner who I met last year and am determined to get face-to-face with Deedee Jonrowe this trip. BTW, she just ran the Boston Marathon after finishing the Iditarod just over a month ago! Is that lady a total dynamo or what?! She just blows me away!

So do stay tuned. Part of the silence is because I've been busy elsewhere with some fiction writer business. My principal publisher closed the end of March and I was torn between leaving fiction writing completely and trying to find new homes for some of my work. I finally got bold enough to submit a few places and it looks like that is going to move forward. Guess I am just intended to have a number of irons in the fire--which may be necessary to either smooth out all the wrinkles or get my mark on all that livestock!! Any time I start to feel overwhelmed I look at this shot of four amazing mushers who I admire all to heck and gone. I know "quit" is not in their vocabulary and should  not be in mine, either. Thank you Allen, Deedee, Martin and Aliy for your inspiration!!