The Big Ones are getting close!

It's not even two weeks now until the Yukon Quest starts, this year in White Horse, Yukon Territory, Canada. I was just reading on the SP Kennel blog about the preparation of their drop bags which were just delivered to the Fairbanks HQ of the quest. I know Allen Moore will be running the Black Team this year. I am not sure if Aliy will have her dogs in the YQ 300 or not, the shorter version of the race. Then in just four weeks more, the Iditarod will begin. They start this year on Feb 7 for the YQ and March 7 for the Iditarod.

There are no flowers around the YQ Headquarters today. On their web site and Facebook pages you get a snowy current view but this was how I saw in in August. It was about -30 in Fairbanks today but I still wish I was there to be getting ready and helping in some way. I am praying and hoping and working to make that happen next year! Meanwhile you can bet I will be keeping very close tabs on each race as it progresses and sending lots of good vibes and energies out to my favorite teams and their drivers!

I recently read the to-date life story (he's too young for a biography!) of Dallas Seavey, the young man who has beaten Aliy in the Iditarod twice in the last three years. I figured it was important to know as much about him as I can for my future book, a bit of how and why he is a champion. Of course it does run in the family. His grandpa Dan was in the first Iditarod and his father Mitch has competed a number of times and beat Aliy in between Dallas' two wins.

But what really piqued my interest was how Dallas met his main sponsor, a couple from Michigan vacationing in Alaska. J.J. Keller is mainly in the transportation business but was impressed with Dallas who was a champion wrestler before he got back to driving dogs competitively after some injuries in his other event.  Keller saw something in the young man that won his respect and he has supported him for the years it took to make that first win.

Well, on a long shot I thought hey, maybe they would be willing to invest a bit of support in an old dog with a new trick and help my project so I have written them a letter. No reply so far but eventually I have to hit the right spot and find someone for whom my story will resonate. I keep trying but meanwhile keep slogging along on my own as best I can. You do not mush a thousand miles in a day or two.

I'll be posting more as the races take place, I am sure, probably duplicating what others are saying but sharing it all from my own perhaps peculiar perspective! Ready, hike!

2015 Sled Dog Racing Season is in progress!

Although there are some other odds and ends of races, the Copper Basin 300 is pretty much the official kick off of the annual racing season in Alaska. This year's race took place this past weekend starting and ending at the community of Glennallen in southeastern Alaska. (SE although not down on the long southern arm. It is north and east of Wasilla/Palmer in a rather mountainous historical mining area.) The race has been in existence for several years and is one of the qualifiers for the Iditarod. Yes, it is 300 miles long and takes about three days to run, not quite a third the length of the big ones. It is reputed to be a challenging race although not quite on a par with the big two.

About fifty teams entered this year. A few scratched out but about forty-four finished. The first team across the finish line was the SP Kennel Black Team driven by Allen Moore. He was defending his championship as last year's winner and will be competing in the Yukon Quest next month as well. Aliy Zirkle (Mrs Moore) was driving the SPK Red Team and came in sixth. Their protegee Spencer also ran the 2015 Copper Basin and I do not have his placement at the moment.

I may be out of order here but my observation has been that Aliy and Allen may both enter a race but they do not directly compete. One of them will have the special light and strong sled designed and built by Allen (pictured at right) and the most likely dogs in harness while the other will be giving experience to some younger dogs and training, testing and assessing dogs in various places in the lashup. Aliy won the Yukon Quest once several years ago but does not now compete in it--except for the shorter division--while Allen has won it several times to include 2014 and will be back to defend his title again this year. He also runs the Iditarod but usually well back in the pack with young and developing dogs.

The past few years Aliy has been very focused on the Iditarod and, as we all know, has come in a closer second place finish each of the last three runs. I am sure she'll be giving it her best again when the race heads out of Willow the first Saturday in March and I will be with her in spirit! I'm hoping this will be her year but there is a huge element of luck as well as many other factors at play. Sometimes the best team does not actually get there first...

But meanwhile I will follow some other three hundred milers and the YQ, which kicks off early in February. How I would love to be in Fairbanks when the first racers come in--maybe Allen Moore again or any one of some very notable mushers who are among the twenty six competitors running this year to include such well known names as Jeff King and Lance Mackey. I saw about six or eight women in the list of entrants posted on the YQ site. If you want to go take a look for yourself, the YQ site is at http://www.yukonquest.com/ and the mushers' portraits scroll in the upper left hand corner. You can click on them to read a bio and information.

Another Copper Basin racer whose placing I do not yet have is Paige Drobney who I met this past summer. That's her on the left with one of her dogs. Her kennel outside of Fairbanks is named Squid Acres as she's a marine biologist by trade and schooling, working summers to support her dogs and racing. I do not think her partner races although he supports her efforts with a lot of hard work! And I can vouch that keeping a kennel and training and racing dogs is one big job--if you are not supported by big sponsors and able to afford an extensive staff of many assistants, you are going to be one busy person--or two or three.

That is what makes the feats of rather independent and initially little known racers of earlier times so amazing. Libby Riddles did not have a big team of backers and got most of her training from Joe Redington and a one-time partner, Joe Garnie, who was also a racer in the early Iditarod days. Susan Butcher did not start big either. Of course things have changed a lot in the past twenty years or so. Still, there is a lot of brutal work and tedious hours involved. You have to really love this to put in the effort and dedication required even to complete races, much less win them. That is yet another reason for my deep admiration of these folks, especially the women.

Slogging along...with miles to go

Winter is iffy in Alaska this year too. It's been very cold around Fairbanks but not lots of snow and even warmer/dryer farther south. The Solstice 100 Race went off a little late up at Two Rivers. SP Kennels did good; their new handler and trainee dog-driver did the full 100 miles with a team of mostly green young dogs and they did great. Aliy did the fifty mile only, just getting some of the Red Team into the race mode for this year. In less than a month the Yukon Quest will be ready to happen. I'd love to be there but it does not look like it is in my cards for this time. I'll be there in spirit at least. Down around Willow they are still training with ATVs--no dad-gum snow!

Although the Go Fund Me page does not reflect it, I did get a couple of very generous and special off-line direct donations during the holiday season and the savings account took a pretty nice jump. It's not enough to get me there yet but its growing! Now that there is a new calendar year, I will work extra hard on some grants and similar sources for further help. Most of them go on a yearly cycle and the earlier your request gets there the better your chances. I know this is still a long shot but I am going to give it all I can.

Here is 'sunny' New Mexico it is mostly dry but the weather is bouncing all over-and driving us nuts. One day it is 60+ and we can sit out soaking up sun and then all at once it is gray and a high in the lower 40s with hard freezes at night and no sun to speak of. It seems like everyone in town is sick with one or a combination of 'bugs' that are going around. I'm no exception--cough, stuffed sinuses, aches and mild fever--just totally yucko and it wants to hang around. If iron, zinc, L-lysine, echinacea and vitamin C won't kick this thing, I guess I'll just have to wait for summer. Curses! It is slowing but not stopping me.

Whenever I get a little bit down about this project, I read some more in the books I am collecting. Right now I'm in the middle of Joe Redington's story--what a guy! He was born three years before my Mom (1917). He grew up in the lower 48 in a very rough life, maybe good background for the future. Without him the Iditarod would never have happened and would never have continued to become the incredible event it is today.

The often zany and astounding things he did and the tireless way he worked to get it started and keep it going forward when there were a zillion obstacles in the way are really an inspiration. You just never say never and absolutely refuse to take no for an answer. That was the way he operated and bless him for that! So I've got to take a cue from him and from Libby Riddles who mushed on through a fierce blizzard to win and many others whose stories may not get fully told if I don't hang in there and make it happen!

Hike, hike, hike! Team, we've got a long way to go but we can do it!! Hang in there with me.

At perhaps checkpoint two...

To the left, I am communing with Quito, Aliy's wonderful little lead dog. She has such a sweet face and wise eyes. Her full sister Chico is the mother of the Alaskan Ginger. BTW the story of this litter, born the first of August or about then is amazing. It is available on the SP Kennel's web site and will make you cry but also rejoice. Here is the link:
http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-08-19T07:30:00-08:00&max-results=10&start=50&by-date=false
Sorry it is so long; I need to learn how to do the mini-link versions! But this is a powerful story for us dog lovers.

In terms of my personal race, I'm maybe just past the second checkpoint or so. It is cold and dark and the long, hard trail stretches out into the distance, mostly unseen and only imagined for the hard and the smooth spots it holds. As Tolkien said, the road goes even on. My far distant place waits ahead...

I've almost finished Mary Shields' book and have a new order from Amazon coming in the next few days of a number of relevant tomes. I read Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry which a friend turned me on to. As a mystery it did not seem to be on a par with some of my favorite authors' work such as Hillerman and J.A. Jance or Margaret Coel but she got most of the race stuff right. I will give her an "E" for effort and perhaps an A- for research and making the atmosphere live. Mysteries are hard to write; so far I have not managed one!

Yesterday a friend and I had a book signing at a small local store which sells used books to help support the city library. We gave a donation from our sales although they were not colossal.  The highlight of my day was a lady who bought a book but then saw my poster about The Admirable Snowwomen which is kind of a working title for my book. She picked up my brochure about this project and read my poem aloud; we both teared up. I do not think she has ever been in Alaska as I hadn't this time last year but she wants to and is another desert rat Iditarod fan. That poem was a gift to me, channeled from the minds and spirits of many who've run that incredible race. I do feel a lot from it and most readers seem to as well. Thank you to the folk whose hearts and spirits shared the emotions and visions with me. I pray for your continued help as I go on with this effort that means so much to me.

If you missed it the first time, here it is again:

Iditarod

Iditarod: far, distant place.

A dream. A myth. A trail. A race.

Beneath aurora blazing bright,

Through cold and wind and long, dark night.

Cheering crowds at start and end

But in between, rare is the friend

Who braves the wild to aid or say,

They’re with you in spirit along that way.

Out on that trail, just you and your team

The elements battle to chase this dream.

Those dogs on which your life depends,

Now closer and dearer than kin or friends.

Together, such trust and faith you share

For only true teamwork will get you there.

There are no losers; all winners complete.

Your goal you’ve reached and it feels so sweet.

Despite the pain and the tears you spend,

Somehow you hate to see it end.

Iditarod: far, distant place.

A goal, a dream, a test, a race.

© GMW 25 Aug 14

"Homesick" for Alaska

Even if I have never lived there, I really miss the place!! My friend and heroine Mary Shields quoted from Robert Service in her book, Sled Dog Trails which I am reading: "And I want to go back -- and I will," Yes, oh very much yes!!

By the way, Sled Dog Trails is a delightful read, full of Mary's humor and unique outlook on everything. She's a treasure! The children's books Mary wrote are precious too and I've got a set for my great granddaughter over in Tucson for Christmas. They are about kids and dogs, of course!

It is ironic that the gray dull days here depress me--but then they are not 'normal' or expected. I think I could handle them better in Alaska where they are a rule rather than an exception. We seem to be having quite a few which make the fair and warm ones even more treasured.

I feed my Alaska longing by following some of my other heroines on their blogs and Facebook pages. It is a busy time for the mushers as they work and train their dogs, deal with injuries and the special care needed to get their teams up to peak performance for the race season which will be starting very soon. There is not a lot of snow down around Wasilla and Willow yet and not a huge amount near Fairbanks but they are all working. I read and absorb every word!

Right now it is looking iffy to get to Fairbanks for the ending of the Yukon Quest but I have not given up hope. I got a private donation of sorts that boosted my account from the rather discouraging level on my Go Fund Me page although surprises appear there periodically for which I am fiercely grateful. If it is to be, it will work out. Maybe the Iditarod in March will be possible.

It is still mostly fall here in south central New Mexico, "the promised land" as my equally desert rat brother calls it. I took photos of the golden cottonwood trees in the town's Alameda Park yesterday and then went to another site to get a picture of my Ginger, the future sled-dog Ginger's doggie God Mother pretending she, too, was going to be a sled dog. No, not snow although the white gypsum sand at the White Sands National Monument almost looks the same. But for the blue mountains in the background instead of white capped, it could be the north lands...  I want to go back--and I will!

Sled Dog Quilt is done

I put the binding on it today and did the tying through to secure the layers. I probably could quilt on my heavy duty Singer machine but I do not try to; I mess up too much as it is! Well, I'll just say I have learned from the Navajo women weavers who always put a small subtle error into their rugs because if they ever make a perfect one, it will be their last!

Usually I sell or give away my quilt projects but this one is going to stay with me "forever." Several special pieces of fabric in it were bought in Wasilla, Talkeetna and Fairbanks on my summer trip. I'm entertaining the idea of taking it with me on my next trip and getting the autographs of some of my favorite lady mushers in the lighter colored solid areas. Like all my quilts, this one is two-sided so there is no "front" or "back".



Anyway I will share some pictures of it. I also will share that I have enough fabric left that I can probably make a second one in the near future and that one just may be raffled off via my gofundme page or elsewhere to add some much needed funds to that slow-growing stash for the future trips. Yes, I continue to look for potential help--most of the grants for writers are really not well suited for this project but somewhere there is someone who will take a chance on an older lady and her big dream, on this very special project that I know needs to be done! Just as I know I am the one who needs to do it.

Be sure to follow Aliy's great blog at the SPDoglog (http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/) and her facebook page. Lisbet Norris also has both as does Paige Drobney and several of the other lady mushers. I'll share some URLs next time for those.

It's getting cold and snowy around Fairbanks now and of course down around Denali Park so the dogs are starting their training. The race season begins with some shorter runs after the first of the year. The Copper Basin 300 (miles) is one of the early ones and Aliy, her husband Allen Moore, and a new dog handler they have on the staff are all going to run in it. You can bet I will be following the action! Then Yukon Quest kicks off in February--the "other big race" which is often billed as the toughest race on earth for good reason so expect to hear a lot more about that one! Allen has won it a number of times and will start as the defending champ this time. Aliy won once several years ago, one of a very few if not the only woman to do so (need to research this some more) but she now concentrates on the Iditarod.

The Alaskan Ginger is growing so fast!

I was just over to visit the SP Kennel Dog Log page and found that all the dogs in Aliy and Allen's kennel have new photos being posted. There was a shot of the photographer, whose name is Jeanne, holding "my" special fave puppy Ginger. I could not believe how that little girl has grown since I was there on August 10! Here is a link to the page. http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/

The photo is not mine to share although I grabbed it for my personal file but you can scroll down just a little bit at SP's page and see it. It's also on Aliy's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/aliy.zirkle

There is also a good new portrait of Quito, my other fave of the SP dogs. I'm a 'fan' of both of them since I cannot be a sponsor for Ginger--too many ahead of me :-( but that is okay. That one still has a doggie God Mother in New Mexico named Ginger also!! They are both kind of red but my Ginger is definitely not a Husky of any kind.  She is still a special girl though and my 'baby' but it is neat to know she has a namesake in Alaska!!

On another note I have started the Alaska sled dog lap robe quilt for which I got some special pieces of fabric while on my trip. Like all my quilts, it will be fully two sided--no plain back with just one pattern or color of material--and the front is almost complete while the back is coming along. When I get it finished, there will definitely be pictures! It's going to be a special souvenir and inspiration for me.

Time to check in

I've been scrambling around looking for other sources of funding but that is a slow and complex process. Does anyone answer plain old letters anymore???Otherwise there is not a lot of "Alaska news" right now except on my daily walks with my two red dogs--including Ginger who has a doggie God-daughter in Alaska--I've seen that a ubiquitous Alaska plant also grows here. Yes, there is Fire Weed in New Mexico! I found it in my western weed book and it seems to grow all over. It's most commonly found as early growth in sites where there have been wild fires but it also grows many other places. The magenta flowers are quite distinctive. Of course we have lots of other fall flowers blooming now after the late rains.

It was a very wet late summer and early fall here in the desert southwest, at least from Tucson, Arizona to Alamogordo, NM. I paid a visit to my old home area--from Tucson south and east in Arizona--last weekend and did not see any Fire weed there but it does grow here. I thought that was kind of amazing! Here is a picture of it in the Wasilla area but it looks exactly the same here although not quite as thick and plentiful, mostly an isolated plant or two.

I have a customized weather.com page in my bookmarks and include Wasilla and Fairbanks in the towns I can check for current conditions. At midday Fairbanks was below freezing so I am sure that is making the mushers happy! Now if they just get some snow but at least they can be training some with their carts and ATVs now which is good. The dogs just cannot work at temperatures up in the 60-70 degree range. I am hoping for a good snowy winter this year for them.

Actually there has been a bit of snow in the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico already so winter is coming even in our vicinity. Normally we expect the first frost by right around Halloween--which is exactly two weeks from tonight. The village of Cloudcroft, just sixteen miles from my carport but some 4,000 feet higher, could have some snow soon and probably has seen at least a light frost. TV indicated that fall color has come to the Sacramento Mountains which are close behind me here, to the east of our valley.

I think there are some other Iditarod fans in the local area and am trying to figure a way to reach out to them. Personals in the newspaper or some of the local sites like Freecycle and Holloman Yard Sale dot com? Hmm, maybe stand down on White Sands with a placard--"Honk if you love sled dogs." LOL.

It was odd--last spring shopping in Wallyworld, which is almost the only game in town, I passed a couple wearing t-shirts that read, "Safety, the last check point." It took a minute, for I  first thought of on-the-job safety, but then it dawned: Yes! OMG--Iditarod's final check point. I looked all over the store but did not find them again. Bummer. I surely wish I would see them and any others. Maybe I need to make myself a t-shirt and wear it whenever I go to town.

Anyway, please come visit often; I will try to update frequently and hope to have some exciting things to report before too long. I have by no means given up or stopped working on this. It's just that life and other obligations tend to take my time up a lot some days.

I will share a verse I wrote a few weeks back about the race, based on some of the things I heard from various mushers and have seen on the videos I have been watching on it.

Iditarod

Iditarod: far, distant place.

A dream. A myth. A trail. A race.

Beneath aurora blazing bright,

Through cold and wind and long, dark night.

Cheering crowds at start and end

But in between, rare is the friend

Who braves the wild to aid or say,

They’re with you in spirit along that way.

Out on that trail, just you and your team

The elements battle to chase this dream.

Those dogs on which your life depends,

Now closer and dearer than kin or friends.

Together, such trust and faith you share

For only true teamwork will get you there.

There are no losers; all winners complete.

Your goal you’ve reached and it feels so sweet.

Despite the pain and the tears you spend,

Somehow you hate to see it end.

Iditarod: far, distant place.

A dream, a goal, a test, a race.

© GMW 25 Aug 14

Last of the Trip

And then, back at Wasilla, I passed my last few days in Alaska--for this trip!! Now it's been six plus weeks--seems much longer but looking ahead is like waiting for Christmas when I was a child. I hope so much that I can get back for the two big races! You can bet I will be giving that my best try.

It has now snowed a little around Fairbanks--maybe at Skunk's Place and Squid Acres and Mary's Tails of the Trail. And perhaps even some around Wasilla. I wish them lots of snow in the coming months and good training as winter rolls in. All the mushers I met and their great dogs feel like friends now and I want to be with them again.

Aug 15
Yesterday was fairly uneventful.I spent quite a lot of time at the Fairbanks airport since I had to turn the rental car in at the midday hour I had picked it up and my flight was not until late afternoon. Airports are rather fascinating for people watchers and most of us writers are people watchers. I made a game of deciding whether people were tourists or locals or at least long term Alaskans. No way to verify my guesses but it was fun. I read some, wrote some--just rambling impressions and emotions as I started the long journey home, with a stop back here in Wasilla.

Sadly although I was on the west side of the southbound plane, there were a lot of clouds and I did not get a peek at the peak--although I looked almost all the time. It only takes an hour, a trip of about 350 miles that would take a long day by car on the highway even in good weather. But if I do get back say in early fall next year there is a chance I may try it and make a stop in the Denali National Park. I did want my own photo of  the Big One but that was not to be although I got a number of post cards etc. which of course were better views than I could expect out a plane window!

Again it was one of the Q400 prop planes. It is strange after many years of jet flying to travel in such a plane.It is actually less noisy I think than a jet and I was sitting even with the wing and not that far from the engine on both flights The propeller--which is huge--is spinning so fast it blurs and you can pretty much see through it with just a faint distortion. All in all a rather novel experience.

This time I got an economy car, and it was the costliest of the trip for the least time but it was too late to catch the bus from Anchorage to Wasilla and I was not going to ask my hostess to pick me up again and then return me on Sunday evening so I left the airport around 7:00 pm, still in sunshine, driving. a silver gray Chevy "Spark." It  is kind of a mini-mini crossover, boxy, four door and a hatch back. Low and feels like you are riding in a boxed up skateboard LOL. But it got me up the highway back to Wasilla and back to the house on the lake. I was tired, no question.

Later today I went to the Wasilla PO and got some priority boxes (my hostess's very good idea) and packed up the books, prezzies and souvenirs and sent them on their way to Alamogordo. They will arrive a little bit ahead of me in all likelihood and I got money's worth out of one large flat rate box! It must have weighed twenty pounds! The other was not as heavy. Tomorrow my extra clothes and such start home, probably by UPS. I need to finish packing that and tape it up tonight.

It was drizzly much of the day and a few harder rains so I did not try to do anything else. I am  not sure if the city library is open tomorrow or not. If it is I may drop in and see if they have any more recent Iditarod year books since the Fairbanks collection ended in the early 90s. Of course they are more focused toward the Yukon Quest which is "their" race.

Aug 17
It was gray and drizzly this morning, kind of depressing, but I got my big box of clothes and personal stuff over to the UPS place and sent it home for less than I sent it here.  It is kind of going slow boat LOL but that is okay; it will get there in a week plus which is soon enough.

Then my hostess and I talked crafts and stuff for awhile. She makes some really neat dream catchers on caribou antlers--shed ones, not from killing caribou--and some jewelry like anklets with a toe loop.They are kind of like the slave bracelet linked to a ring but for the foot! We puttered around in the yard after lunch and then the sun came out some and she said, "Let's go up to Hatcher Pass." It's in some of the  higher mountains on the far side--NW--of Palmer and there is an old gold mine which is a state park and tourist place now. WE didn't wander around there--you have to pay a park fee and it was later in the afternoon--but took picture that show some real Alaska type mountains and a rushing stream, the Little Susitna River. It was a lovely drive and a nice end to my adventures. Tomorrow I will drive back down to Anchorage and hang out at the airport for a bit and then get on my flight to LAX and hence on to El Paso and then home.

Yes, I am eager to get there, pet my two beloved Red Doglets and fall into my own bed and start to recover LOL. I may get the last photos downloaded this evening but no guarantee. And tomorrow/Monday will be a very long day. But it will end with me home and more memories than I can sort out in a few hours. And I will be back; next early fall if not before. I have a new 'little sister' here in Wasilla and other new Alaskan friends and that is special too.

Aug 22
I kind of dropped the ball but I'll explain why! My final day in Alaska went by fast and nicely but the trip back to New Mexico was a bit of a challenge. I left my hostess's home in Wasilla about 1:00 pm and drove by the back roads down to Anchorage--Eklutna (neat little Russian cemetery  there but no pix as they had no parking signs everywhere) and on to Chugiak and Eagle River, now actually pretty much Anchorage "suburbs."  I also stopped at the Native Heritage Center just on the northern outskirts of the city. There was not time to really take it all in and turn my rental car in on time so I just visited the gift shop briefly--yikes, very pricey! I'll save the museum etc. for next time.

Anyway, got my car turned in and was of course very early so had to wait outside security until I could check my suitcase four hours before the flight and then finally upstairs and out to the gate area. I people-watched and read a bit. There was a very intoxicated old man who appeared to be at least part Native loudly proclaiming that he was straight and also drunk. It was funny but a little creepy too. I think security finally took him away. How he got through the TSA I have no idea but maybe he hit the bar on the inside of the check-in point.

Finally it was time to board and I settled into my seat, sharing the row with a young couple. At least no lap dog this time! I managed to catnap a little -- maybe 2-3 hours total--and we landed at LAX shortly after sunrise. I hope I never fly through that mad place again! There was lots of construction and perhaps some other issue as my American/Alaskan Air (kind of a joint thing)  flight landed at the Delta terminal. From there I finally found I had to take a shuttle bus to American and then another one to the American Eagle commuter terminal from which the smaller plane would take me to El Paso.

By then sleep deprivation and some dehydration were hitting. An hour touring the flight line (jet fumes are nasty!) in a diesel-belching bus took their toll on my allergies, especially eyes. By the time I landed in El Paso, I was as bleary-eyed as when I had the infection last year. So I had to take a couple of days using lots of eye drops and sleeping quite a bit to get back to semi-normal. But I was home and my two red dogs were very glad to see me and to snuggle on the bed or in my recliner while I rested. They were very comforting.

Looking back, it really was an amazing and marvelous trip! I am already planning to go back and will be working every angle I can find to make that happen in a few months to a year. Meanwhile though, I have close to 300 photos to be sorted out--there will be a new page on Facebook and on Pinterest soon and I will share links once I have those set up.

I'm sending out thank you notes and such, and will be pursuing some financial assistance along several routes. Also getting back to my other writing as well as starting to put together bits and pieces of Women of the Iditarod (working title as I want one with more oomph for the final version!) More on all that later. Thanks for traveling with me vicariously; that has its benefits as no airline miles are involved LOL.

More photos in a bit. Here is one of me that Gail took on our trip up to Hatcher Pass Saturday afternoon, the 16th. I'm looking over the Little Susitna River.  I wore that purple shirt-jacket everywhere; now it is very special with a dog track or two and lots of memories invisibly woven into the flannel.

Wrapping up Fairbanks Days, Aug 11-13

Here are parts of a couple of August posts that I made on my other blog just to continue the narrative of my trip.

***
Aug 11
My research today was more the book kind, I paid a visit to the Fairbanks Public Library and went through several shelves of books in the "SLED DOG" category. The bad news may be there are an awful lot of them, good, bad and indifferent if not downright ugly! The good news is there does not seem to be anything even close to what I plan to do. I skimmed many, read blurbs and noted who was involved and then made an extensive list to try to get thru inter-library loan and buy a few and start to compile a bibliography. I haven't done serious semi-scholarly writing in a while but I think I still recall how.

I finally located where the museum I wanted to see used to be but they are closed and moving. Not sure where the new site is but may be able to find it and whether or not they are open again. That was frustrating!! I went back to Pioneer Park and rode the little train around the park; seniors only have to pay a buck! I also went thru an art exhibit I had not looked at the first day and chatted with the volunteer who is also a quilter and told me where the fabric and quilt shops were in town.  Did locate one and got two fat quarters with northern lights design in colors that will compliment my planned Alaska Musher quilt. And a pattern for Mary Shield's summer parka. Then I came back to the hostel and have loafed in the grassy quiet back yard since about 3:30. I needed a kind of down day to pull myself together, get some notes down and just veg a little. It has been very hectic. Not sure what the schedule will be for the two last days but I think I have about run out of people to see and even close places to go but I will find something to do for sure.

***
Aug 12
I woke up to a drizzle today and it rained fitfully much of the day. Went up to the Museum of the North on the University of Alaska campus. It's one of the few I've visited here that has an admission fee but it is pretty impressive so I guess worth the cost. Even have to pay to park. I do recognize though that it costs plenty to operate and maintain such a facility.

They have a vast, varied and voluminous display of Alaska by region--flora and fauna, native peoples, artifacts and art and history. I took a lot of pictures which they allow. A few I got reflections off glass over displays but most of them were fairly good at first review.

I was especially taken by the basketry, beadwork and varied garments of the different native people.  I guess during the winter, if they were lucky enough to stock up on and cache food for the winter, they had time to do detailed and exquisite work. I was also impressed at similarities in some of the motifs although I do know basic geometrics are used by many in varied and diverse places. And the weavings of some, mostly the Tlingit people I believe, were beautiful too. I'm not sure at once how to incorporate such designs into any of my art and craft projects but I am sure something will occur to me  in time.

I spent close to three hours in the various galleries and displays and my legs got tired before I really saw it all thoroughly. Very impressive and well worth a look IMHO. I did see subtle connections that link the Navajo and Apache people to their distant Athabascan kin. That even extended to a sample Native house at the Pioneer Park that bears a strong resemblance to a traditional hogan with a faceted circular structure and a doorway faced east.

Apparently the Eskimo were the first to use sled dogs--again I recall from anthropology classes reading about eastern and plains tribes in the old US region who used dogs to pull drag-able pole travois to haul their goods. I suspect the women were the ones to tame and train the dogs because otherwise they would have been the beasts of burden. That might be worth mentioning in my book about the lady mushers. They may be carrying on a very old tradition. Yes, men used the sleds to hunt and haul in meat, but I'd lay a bet the women used them when it came time to move camp.

Otherwise there was not much on mushing but a lot on many facets of Alaska and life up here to include the gold rush and building of the railroad, main highway and later the pipeline. There was also a bit about the internment of Japanese and  Aleut people from out on the Aleutian chain and especially on Unalaska where a writer friend of mine lives now. That was kind of a downer and I went on by after a short time; not anything we as Americans can be proud of but in wartime many bad things are and will continue to be done. I'm not sure how to fix that.

The end approaches and I will be glad to be home among familiar things, pet my own puppies and try to sort out all the amazing impressions and experiences I have enjoyed.  But as I keep saying, a part of me is already drawn to a return; there is so much more to see and do and of course more dogs, the actual races and many mushers I have not yet met. Must go to Denali for real and maybe even a little farther north though I am not sure I want to go all the way to the Arctic Circle! But never say never. Also down to the Kenai and perhaps even the far southeast area... I am a little sorry I did not get started on all this this much sooner. Were I twenty years younger... well shoot. But I have been here and I shall, like McArthur, return!!

And below you have the Native house I mentioned, the Antler Arch near the Golden Heart Plaza and First Family stature and the Yukon Quest Headquarters Building. The race starts on even years on the frozen Chena River just behind me where I shot the picture of that traditional sod roofed log cabin.The locals pronounce that with a long e, like Cheena btw.

***
Aug 13
This is really a pretty town and fairly easy to get around in. But for the winters which I am sure would take some major adjustments for this desert rat, I could live here. With a solid vehicle with snow tires I could probably even get around most of the time. In the summer it is really lovely with the flowers and is mostly pretty clean and people are mostly friendly too.There are trains--I hear them night and day--the long days of summer are very inviting and inspiring.

I spent more time at the library today and then took a final drive up into the hills to the north east to the area of an old mining camp called Fox. My only real disappointment with the scenery is that the trees are so thick and even on a ridge top there is no view.I am reminded of Kentucky and North Carolina in that regard. You saw my pix of the mountains around the Prince William Sound on which Anchorage sits and Wasilla is just above but here it is a valley and the hills just roll away gradually higher and higher. Not looming and impressive.

So tomorrow I will fly back south and the final days will zip by. I need to pack and ship a couple of boxes by Saturday and maybe I can visit the Wasilla library and see if they have any mushing stuff that Fairbanks lacks. Other than that, not much left to be done. I am a bit tired; it has been hectic and busy but I feel I have made progress, less perhaps than I had hoped or wished but a good start.

Once I get home I will focus on fund raising efforts, taking stock of where I am and what else is needed and then lay out the next stage or two of the program. Of course other things will intervene such as stories to be written and sewing, my exercise classes, and the various normal chores. I'll be a few days getting back into that, I am sure. But I will. And life will go on with its normal joys and sorrows and frustrations and all the rest! But I did it; I set a goal that seemed very pie in the sky and I believed and made it happen!! The "theme" for that book to be is Dream it, Dare it, DO it!!