Location: Northwest GA
Time - 5:21pm
Temperature: 45 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, light rain
Forecast: Thunderstorms and wind tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 40s

I know it seems like I have done nothing but post articles lately but there are a lot of them out there that I want to post and I am swamped (my favorite word right now) with other things regarding my trips to Wyoming and Alaska.

Oh, I did (finally) get the Winterfest pictures up on Flickr. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/gamusher/2220785025/ The other photos can be viewed by scrolling to the right on my photostream.

I had a minor wreck with my scooter this morning. Calypso was running along and suddenly (I have no earthly clue why this was, there wasn’t a KFC bag in sight) she dodged to the other side of the trail. The tugline went slack for just a moment but in that moment the front wheel of the scooter rolled over it. Calypso continued towards the other side of the trail - pulling on the tire that was on the gangline. And that pulled the scooter over and the skateboard deck whacked the back of my leg. OUCH! Fortunately I don’t think it’s very bad but I’m going to have a glorious bruise.

 But here is the news piece I mentioned. This one is on Tennessee musher, Rodney Whaley. The article below is from our good friends at the Bristol Herald Courier, who have run some really great sled dog articles in the past few weeks.

From: http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/search.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-01-30-0018.html

Tennessee Guardsman will compete in Alaska Iditarod

Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 - 11:29 AM

Rodney Whaley, first Tennessean every to compete in the Iditarod, makes a practice run with his team of sled dogs

BY Special to TriCities.com Staff Reports - Tennessee Army and Air National Guard Tennessee Army and Air National Guard

var emailUrl = “/tristate/tri/search.emailForm.html?handle=%2fcontent%2farticles%2fTRI%2f2008%2f01%2f30%2f0018&link=%2ftristate%2ftri%2fsearch.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-01-30-0018.html”; function newWindow(url,name,width,height) { window.open(url, name, “toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,directories=no, status=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,width=” + width + “,height=” + height); } Email to a Friend       Printer Friendly

NASHVILLE — A Master Sergeant in the Tennessee Army National Guard will become the first Tennessean in history to compete in Alaska’s 2008 Iditarod, billed as “The World’s Last Great Race.”

Rodney Whaley, a veteran of 24 years in the Guard, is one of only 102 people in the world to qualify for the 1,159-mile race. Of that number, 52 are from Alaska, 14 from other states and 16 from foreign countries.

The 56-year-old National Guardsman from Franklin, Tennessee, will run 16 sled dogs in the event which starts Saturday, March 1, in Anchorage, Alaska. The mushers will be on the trail from 10-17 days, accompanied only by their dogs as they battle the fierce elements along the dangerous route.

The Iditarod is considered by many to be the most grueling and demanding individual sporting event in the world today.

The two-week race will take the Tennessean over frozen rivers, jagged mountain ranges, dense forests, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast. Added to that are temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs on side hills.

Master Sgt. Whaley, who lived his childhood in Alaska, is being sponsored by the Army National Guard. As a boy, he raced in junior sled dog competitions but has always remained passionate about the sport. In recent years, he has raced in British Columbia, Canada, Washington state and northern Michigan.

“The Iditarod is the ultimate experience and my life-long dream,” Whaley said. “Now, utilizing what I’ve learned in the Guard and with their sponsorship, it’s a reality.”

To qualify for the Iditarod, Whaley was required to successfully complete two sanctioned races, one of 300 miles and the other of 200 miles. He began full-time training in October of last year in Michigan and Minnesota, but he’s been a familiar site in his Franklin neighborhood during the cold months as he ran his team using a “dogsled-on-wheels.”

The rules of the race lay out certain regulations by which each musher must abide. There are also certain pieces of required equipment: an arctic parka, an ax, a heavy sleeping bag, snowshoes, musher food, dog food and boots for each dog’s feet to protect against cutting ice and hard-packed snow injuries.

On the trail every musher has a different tactic. Each one has a special diet for feeding and snacking the dogs. Each one also has a different strategy. Some run in the daylight; some run at night. Each has a different training schedule geared to the dogs’ stamina and the musher’s own personal stamina.

The Iditarod Trail had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from coastal towns to the interior mining camps. Men and supplies went in; gold came out, all via dog sled. Heroes were made and legends were born.

In 1925, part of the Trail became a life-saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened the populace and serum had to be rushed in, again by intrepid mushers and their faithful, hard-driving dogs. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those early years, a not-so-distant past of which the Alaskans are particularly proud.

Note: Continually updated information on Master Sgt. Whaley and the Iditarod may be found at:

http://tndogmusher.com

The article is in several other places also so keep on the lookout!

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 2:54pm
Temperature: 65 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, breezy
Forecast: Thunderstorms tonight, sunny tomorrow. Warm.

 Well, I have been SWAMPED. The article on me and Calypso is all over the place right now and it’s a little bewildering.

But let’s focus on another Southern musher - Fayth Smith of North Carolina. I’ve met Fayth a couple of times and she is great!

Here’s what the Gaston Gazette had to say. Be sure to go to the original article and post a comment!

From: http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/Iditarod_16190___article.html/Fayth_Smith.html

Journey of determination

Girl dreams of taking part in Iditarod

By Bernie Petit

January 28, 2008 - 6:24PM

When then-15-year-old Fayth Smith first told her parents, Tonya and Jeff, that she wanted to be a dogsledder and one day compete in the Iditarod, they didn’t take her seriously.

“They were like, ‘Whatever,’ ” said Fayth, now 16. “They didn’t think I would be able to find someone to train me.”

But Fayth was determined to pursue her dream of making the 1,500-mile voyage across mountains and frozen rivers, and through deep forests and the Alaskan tundra in 2010.

She saved money to buy her husky, 1½-year old Dominic, and she spent three months searching on the Internet and calling strangers until she found a trainer.

Her parents were skeptical, but relented.

“I always try to give my kids the chance to do something they really want to do, said her mother Tonya. “I still ask her every day, ‘Is this something you want to do?’ ”

So far, Fayth’s answer has remained unchanged, as she regularly makes the 260-mile trip to Chapin, S.C., (outside Columbia, S.C.) and back to train with expert musher Chapin Burgess during the winter months.

Recently, Fayth traveled to Damascus, Va., a small Blue Ridge Mountain town, to participate in the second annual re-enactment of a 1925 dogsled run that brought life-saving medicine to the isolated Alaskan town of Nome.

The original run featured 20 mushers carrying a vaccine for diphtheria (an upper-respiratory tract illness) 674 miles across the harsh Alaskan terrain; the re-enactment covered 16 miles in roughly 50-degree weather.

Fayth, participating in the event for the second time, ran the second-biggest team of dogs at the re-enactment, including Dominic and seven huskies belonging to her trainer.

“I was scared,” she said. “I was running a team of new puppies that hadn’t run much, with one of Chapin’s lead dogs up front with Dominic. They did really well.”

Chasing this dream has meant many changes for Fayth and her family. She’s homeschooled by her mother and she, her parents and nine-year-old sister Danielle, a fourth-grader at Sherwood Elementary, travel a lot more than they did before. The addition of Dominic has meant another animal to an already crowded York Chester-area home — they have four other dogs, a cat and a rabbit.

“We’re just a family with a passion for animals,” Tonya said.

Dogsledding can also be a huge financial commitment. Besides the travel and training costs, sledding gear and supplies can cost mushers up to $80,000.

Fortunately for the Smiths, Burgess isn’t charging Fayth for lessons and has supplied her with most of the materials she needs, which has greatly reduced the expenses they would otherwise incur. Her father worked with Burgess to weld her a cart and does much of the physical labor involved in preparing for mushing events and practices.

Her family’s unwavering support has not been lost on Fayth.

MORE ABOUT FAYTH SMITH

AGE
16

PARENTS
Jeff and Tonya Smith

HOW SHE GOT INTERESTED IN MUSHING
By watching the Universal Studios animated movie “Balto” when she was three-years-old. The 1995 film, based on the lead husky of the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, remains one of Fayth’s favorites.
“I still watch it all the time.”

HER FIRST MUSHING LESSONS
She learned the directional commands - “Gee” for “right turn,” “Haw,” for “left turn,” and “On by” - to keep the dogs straight by distractions such as squirrels or foxes.

HER OTHER LOVE
Fayth has been drawing anime for more than a year. She became interested in anime after seeing “InuYasha” on Cartoon Network. Other favorites include: “Naruto,” “Blood Plus,” “Bleach” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”
She’s also been creating her own manga (a Japanese-style comic) and has developed her story line, characters and three chapters.

“I love them to death for everything they’ve done for me,” she said.

Great to see mushing getting so much attention right now. You go Fayth! This looks like it is the year of the sled dogs!

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 6:56pm
Temperature: 44 degrees F
Conditions: Partly cloudy, warmer
Forecast: Clear tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s.

Well, I’ve spent the past couple of days talking to news people. Last week I sent an email to The Rome News-Tribune just mentioning my participation in the Blue Ridge Dryland Challenge. Last Friday I got a call from one of the paper’s writers asking to interview me. We did the interview by phone and talked for quite a while. Then, yesterday, the paper sent of photographer out to get some pictures. We met at Berry College and he got some GREAT photos.

Anyway, the article made the front page of today’s Rome News-Tribune! I’ve included the article below. There are some errors (Calypso is NOT a mix - she is a purebred Siberian Husky) but it’s great publicity for dryland mushing.

From: http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news871991.html

A passion for a wild ride

‘There’s just nothing quite like being out on a trail in the woods with a dog team’01/27/08 By Jeff Gable, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer Respond to this story Email this story to a friend … …A lot of people in the South share hobbies and interests. Softball. Grilling out. Fishing. Golf. However, not a lot of people share Alice White’s hobby.The 19-year-old from Armuchee loves mushing, the common term for sled-dog driving. While most people think of the Iditarod — a 1,000-mile trek through Alaskan ice and snow — sled-dog racing is becoming more and more common in the lower 48 states. And snow is not a requirement: many sled-dog races are over dry land during different seasons of the year. It may seem like an unusual activity for a Georgian, but it’s a natural fit for White. “It’s just something that gradually came about,” said White. “I love huskies, I love the outdoors, and I love cold weather. I got my first huskie when I was 11 years old, and I’ve just really enjoyed it ever since.” Click here for more information from the www.dogsled.com home page. Click here to learn about sled-dog scooters, contraptions and other information and equipment. Click here for more information about the USA sled dog kennels. While most picture mushers on a big sled with a 16-dog team, dog sled racing encompasses many divisions, from one-dog to four-dog to six-dog teams, involving scooters and wheeled carts of all sizes. “When I first got into it, I would hook my dog up to a bike and have him pull that,” White said. “I then got online and ordered him a sled harness. Now I use a scooter. It looks kind of like a skateboard-mountain bike hybrid.” White said a dog can be trained to pull sleds or scooters, but it’s a gradual process. “Dogs like huskies love to run, but you have to work on the running instinct,” she said. “They learn fast what they need to do, but they definitely need guidance. “I started out putting a harness on him and running alongside him. That way I can teach commands, teach them to keep moving forward and how to run to keep the line tight.” Once the dog is comfortable running in harness, a scooter can be hooked up, and race training can begin. “We started out with a half-mile run, and worked up from there,” White said. “I think the longest run we’ve done is six miles.” Her current dog, Calypso, is a 2½-year-old huskie mix. “She’s a lot stronger than you might give her credit for, and she’s very fast,” White said. “She loves to be outside, so she loves running. She’s a good dog, but like any of them, you can’t always control their ‘chase instinct’ if they see something on the trail, so you have to wear safety equipment and be sure to have brakes.” White said she uses a helmet, elbow pads and knee pads, all of which come in handy. “You have to wear some type of cushioning, and I have the scrapes on the pads to prove why,” she said. White has had success in her sport. Last week, at the Blue Ridge Dryland Challenge in Virginia — the only sled dog race in the Southeast — she placed fourth overall in the one-dog scooter class, a 2½-mile race. In February, White goes to Wyoming for the Casper Mountain Sled Dog Races, which use traditional sleds. “It’s different driving a sled, especially when you add more dogs,” she said. “You’ve got to keep an eye on several at the same time and make sure they work together.” White, who plans to participate in two or three more races this year, is sponsored by the Continental Kennel Club, which promotes sled dog sports. White is taking a year off before going to college (she hopes to attend the University of Alaska in Anchorage) and said she has big plans. “Eventually, I want to run in the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest. In March, I’m going to Alaska to work at a small kennel, and eventually I’d love to run my own sled-dog kennel. “It’s really become a passion. There’s just nothing quite like being out on a trail in the woods with a dog team.”

Comments can be posted on the bottom of the page linked to.

What’s more, the Associated Press picked up the article and put it in The Macon Telegraph! Below is their version. You can also post comments on that link.

From: http://www.macon.com/220/story/249828.html

Georgia woman trains for sled dog races

The Associated Press

ROME, Ga. –

When Alice White takes her dog out for a run, she makes sure she wears a helmet, elbow and knee pads.

The protective gear comes in handy because Calypso, a 2-1/2-year-old husky mix, pulls White on a type of hybrid skateboard and mountain bike called a scooter.

“You have to wear some type of cushioning, and I have the scrapes on the pads to prove why,” the 19-year-old said. “She’s a good dog, but like any of them, you can’t always control their ‘chase instinct’ if they see something on the trail, so you have to wear safety equipment and be sure to have brakes.”

The Armuchee teenager loves mushing, the common term for sled dog driving.

Although many people think of the Iditarod - the famous 1,100 mile sled dog trek through Alaskan ice and snow - when they think of sled dog racing, the sport is becoming more and more common in the lower 48 states.

Snow is not even a requirement - many races are over dry land during different seasons of the year.

For White, the sport is a natural fit. She got her first husky when she was 11. At first, she hooked up her dog to a bike and had him pull it. Then she ordered a sled harness and now uses a scooter.

“I love huskies, I love the outdoors, and I love cold weather,” she said. “We started out with a half-mile run, and worked up from there. I think the longest run we’ve done is six miles.”

Dog sled racing has many different divisions, from one-dog to six-dog teams, involving scooters and wheeled cards of all sizes. Recently, White placed fourth overall in the one-dog scooter class in a 2-1/2 mile race at the Blue Ridge Dryland Challenge in Virginia, the Southeast’s only sled dog race.

“Dogs like huskies love to run, but you have to work on the running instinct,” she said. “They learn fast what they need to do, but they definitely need guidance.”

Next month, White will go to Wyoming for the Casper Mountain Sled Dog Races, which use traditional sleds.

“It’s different driving a sled, especially when you add more dogs,” she said. “You’ve got to keep an eye on several at the same time and make sure they work together.

White, who is taking a year off before going to college, said she eventually wants to participate in the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest, which is considered to be the most difficult sled dog race in the world. She said she wants to work at a small kennel in Alaska and would eventually like to run her own sled-dog kennel.

“It’s really become a passion. There’s just nothing quite like being out on a trail in the woods with a dog team,” she said.

Information from: Rome News-Tribune, http://www.romenews-tribune.com

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 9:33pm
Temperature: 42 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy
Forecast: Cloudy tonight, sunny tomorrow. Lows in the 30s and 20s

Okay, so here’s what happened on the way back from the Winterfest last Monday. We took a detour through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park - right up and over Newfound Gap. There. Was. Snow. A lot of it. I started going crazy in the lower elevations when there was around an inch. At Newfound gap there had to be 4-6 inches! Glorious!

We pulled over at the entrance to Clingman’s Dome Road (which is closed during the Winter) and I unloaded Calypso, took the kicksled off the roof and helped my Dad put it together. While I was doing this, a family with several kids (who had large, round plastic sleds that Calypso did not like for whatever reason) walked over. One boy, about 9 or 10 I think, said “Are you going mushing?”

Mushing. Not dogsledding or worse, sled-dogging. Mushing. Turns out he was from the Atlanta area and a musher and dog had done a program at his school. Looks like sled dog publicity is everywhere.

I ran a little in the snow and had a great time. Unfortunately, a bit of the road had been scraped and Calypso, trained to run on a path, kept trying to run on the bare road rather than in the snow. Fortunately I found a ski trail and that helped.

When I was sledding back towards the parking area, we came around a curve and saw…a woman walking two huskies!

Turns out she and her husband were ALSO from Georgia. They were very interested in my kicksled since they had huskies. I showed them my scooter and they were even more interested in that. I told them about scootering and directed them to dogscooter.com . Who knows, we might have a couple new Georgia mushers soon…

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 11:09
Temperature: 24 degrees F
Conditions: Clear, cold
Forecast: Mostly cloudy today with a chance of snow flurries this eveing, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s

It was 14 degrees when I ran Calypso this morning! Brrr! Absolutely wonderful for scootering.

The major news is that, in the Blue Ridge Dryland Challenge, I finished 4th rather than 5th! So Calypso and I did better than I thought!

And last but not least, I want to again thank the Continental Kennel Club for sponsoring me in the race!

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 10:42am
Temperature: 38 degrees F
Conditions: Mostly cloudy
Forecast: Mostly cloudy today, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s and teens

Check out http://wcybstream.wcyb.tv/stream/archive.asp to see a broadcast of the Winterfest. It will only be up for a few days. Click on NewsCenter5at6 for Sunday. The Winterfest piece is at minute 7:03. You will need to download RealPlayer to view the broadcast. To download it for free, go to http://www.real.com/player/index.html?src=010605realhome_1

Here is an excellent article on Winterfest musher, Fayth Smith. Be sure to go to the actual article on http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/running_with_the_big_dogs/news/1524 and post a comment on the bottom of that page.

Running with the big dogs

Fayth Smith, 16, feeds her dogs a helping of meat water.

Wytheville Enterprise Staff
Top Stories > Washington County News: News >
02:58 PM
By JUSTIN HARMON/staff

At a time when many her age are worried about passing their driver’s licensing test, 16-year-old Fayth Smith is worried about preparing for the grueling cold.
The Gastonia, N.C., resident, is training for the Iditarod. For dogsledders, that 1,500-mile trek across mountains, over frozen rivers, through deep forests and through the Alaskan tundra is like the Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and World Series rolled into one.
With her eyes on that prize – that she hopes to run in 2010 – Smith was in Washington County over the weekend, guiding a group of huskies down the Virginia Creeper Trail. The event, the second time it’s been held between Abingdon and Damascus, is a re-enactment of a 1925 Serum Run to Nome, Alaska, organized by Siberian Husky Assist. The original 1925 run featured about 20 mushers carrying a diphtheria vaccine across the then territory of Alaska. It took them five days to get to Nome, sparing the population there from the epidemic.
The serum run re-enactment gives Smith and others a chance to train, she said. Smith’s mother, Tonya, said her daughter only began training in October. However, she said she’d been interested in the dog sledding world for a number of years. Balto, the lead sled dog and canine hero of the original 1925 Serum Run, became her inspiration. Fayth Smith said she learned who Balto was when she 3 years old, via a Disney film. She was instantly hooked.
Tonya Smith didn’t take her daughter’s mushing fascination too seriously, she said, until Fayth turned 15. That’s when she asked for Siberian husky of her own for her birthday.
While searching for that first dog, Fayth was also on the lookout for a way to break into the world of mushing. That first husky would be named Dominic. The way in would be named Chapin Burgess of Burgess, S.C.
“I looked on Iditarod.com and they had a list of mentors and he was the closest,” she said.
Burgess was also at Damascus this past weekend.
Tonya Smith said she and her husband, Jeff, support their daughter’s dreams. But it’s a big commitment, especially in the wallet. Gear can get downright absurd – up to $80,000 in all. Not that the price tag will deter Fayth Smith, or her mother.
“I’m on of her biggest fans and supporters … we want to make this really happen,” Tonya Smith said.
Debbie May, Fayth’s grandmother is also an avid supporter.
“We love it,” said May. “We’re fans… we try to be here for her. We want to watch.”
Some who hear Fayth Smith’s story may think she’s too young to take the race seriously, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. According to Fayth, she’s home-schooled. While others her age are taking in part in extra-curricular sports or clubs, or hanging out in parking lots and cruising Main Street, she trains.
“This is what I do in my free time. I do art late at night, so it all levels out.”
While Fayth Smith is getting a jumpstart on the Iditarod, she still has a long way to go before the race. You have to be at least 18 to run the race, and before you can even register you have to qualify in another race.
There’s also the matter of school.
“She won’t be able to do anything until school is done,” said Tonya Smith.
Well, not exactly anything. She’ll be training, running her dogs at events like Washington County’s, waiting for her big moment in the Alaskan wildnerness.
Justin Harmon can be reached at 628-7101 or //’;l[1]=’a';l[2]=’/';l[3]=”;l[26]=’\”‘;l[27]=’ 109′;l[28]=’ 111′;l[29]=’ 99′;l[30]=’ 46′;l[31]=’ 115′;l[32]=’ 119′;l[33]=’ 101′;l[34]=’ 110′;l[35]=’ 101′;l[36]=’ 104′;l[37]=’ 116′;l[38]=’ 121′;l[39]=’ 119′;l[40]=’ 64′;l[41]=’ 110′;l[42]=’ 111′;l[43]=’ 109′;l[44]=’ 114′;l[45]=’ 97′;l[46]=’ 104′;l[47]=’ 106′;l[48]=’:';l[49]=’o';l[50]=’t';l[51]=’l';l[52]=’i';l[53]=’a';l[54]=’m';l[55]=’\”‘;l[56]=’=';l[57]=’f';l[58]=’e';l[59]=’r';l[60]=’h';l[61]=’a ‘;l[62]=’= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ‘ ‘) document.write(”&#”+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+”;”); else document.write(unescape(l[i])); } //]]> jharmon@wythenews.com

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 5:15pm
Temperature: 35 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, freezing rain
Forecast: Rain tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s

THIS IS A MAJOR THANK-YOU THAT GOES OUT TO MARCIA HORNE OF SIBERIAN HUSKY ASSIST AND TO EAGLE PACK PET FOODS.

MARCIA PUT ON THE WINTERFEST TO HELP BRING ATTENTION AND SUPPORT TO HER RESCUE AND TO SLED DOG SPORTS! WITHOUT HER, THIS EVENT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED.

THANK YOU MARCIA!!!!!

EAGLE PACK SPONSORED THE EVENT AND WAS VERY SUPPORTIVE! THEY HELPED MAKE THE WINTERFEST A SUCCESS!

THANK YOU EAGLE PACK!!!!!

AND THANKS ALSO TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED, ORGANIZED AND PARTICIPATED IN THE EVENT!

No Comments »

 Location: Northwest GA
Time - 5:14pm
Temperature: 35 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, freezing rain
Forecast: Rain tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s

We left for Abingdon, Virginia at noon last Friday and the trip went very well. Calypso was exceedingly happy to be in the car with me and my parents and really seemed to enjoy the ride. It was after dark by the time we arrived at our motel (a Super 8 - VERY pet friendly and not at all run down like some might assume. Stayed there last year too and would definitely stay there again). Some other mushers (Jenny and Sam) were already there and others arrived soon thereafter (Christine, Jeff & family from KY, and Marcia and Bob Horne who weren’t staying there but dropped by to say hello) . At one point, we were all standing out in the hallway with our dogs and being given some odd looks by guests who were non-mushers. I swear I heard a comment about “some husky-owner convention going on.”

The Serum Run re-enactment began in Abingdon on Saturday morning. A whole crowd of people gathered on the Virginia Creeper Trail to watch the teams take off. First went Chapin and Cathy and their passenger. Then, with the “serum” secured on his dryland sled, Jim took off down the trail. Iditarod veterinarians Al Townshend and Sonny King (also an Iditarod musher) were on site helping with teams. The dogs were READY to go - they were leaping and barking and pulling at their tugs. I’m sure the observers left with no doubt about how much the huskies love to run.

The several inches of snow did not happen. The forecast changed and most of the snow went East of the Bristol area. GA was still supposed to get a good bit but I have no idea if we got any at our house. It’s all melted now and we aren’t getting anything but ice. Anyway, on Friday night they were still saying there might be around a half-inch accumulation but all we saw were a few tiny, wind-driven snowflakes.

We skipped most of the Serum Run relay stops and went straight to Iron Horse campground, which is around two and a half miles from Damascus, VA. A few people and dogs were already there. Even people who weren’t running brought their huskies and there was a group of rescued huskies on a dropline. There was this one young pup named Bella who was SO CUTE! Apparently she had broken her leg at a young age and her owners didn’t want to pay for medical care! She ended up in a sanctuary in Alabama where she will have a happy life.

The crowd grew and I talked to lots of people. Calypso is great with small children - she loves it when they come and fuss over her! Jenny calls her the “Goodwill ambassador of Siberian Huskies.”

A large parade of dog teams ran from Iron Horse to downtown Damascus. It was like the event of the year for the onlookers. Damascus, which is a small town, was dealing with major traffic jams. People were pulling over on the side of the road, taking pictures, sitting on the side of the trail. Good publicity but Calypso was very distracted. And it wasn’t just the people, she was just moody. She developed a slight obsession with (of all things) covered manholes along the trail. She kept wanting to stop and sniff them. And then she had to stop and sniff every single fencepost or mailbox post and every tree, every stump, every blade of grass. She acted like she needed to go to the bathroom but she never did. About halfway to Damascus, a car pulled over on the side of the road in front of us and a reporter got out. She was very nice and we spent a good while talking. I just sort of rambled on, trying to hold Calypso and talk at the same time.

We came into Damascus very slowly and it was just plain cold with tiny snowflakes. I watered Calypso and watched some of the other teams come in. Right about then I realized that Calypso and I were both very tired. I said hello to Fayth and she showed me her dog (who has REALLY grown a lot since last year). Robin and Jesse were over at Jeff’s truck and Calypso was really determined to go see Jeff’s dogs, especially her “boyfriend,” a black husky named Steele.

We hung around and talked for a bit and then went back to the motel. I took a shower and rested a bit. Then we got ready for the dinner. I loaded Calypso into her crate, got into the car with my parents and was ready to go. My Dad tried to crank the car but it wouldn’t start. He ended up spraying some starter fluid on it and it started (later we learned that this may have just been a coincidence).

Calypso did fine in her crate in the car. She was still tired and slept while my parents and I had dinner. They served really good food at the restaurant at Iron Horse and I talked to a lot of people who were there. There was a silent auction going on and that was fun. I won a T-shirt autographed by Lance Mackey that I have no earthly clue what I’m going to do with (as Jeff said “you won’t be able to wear it.”).

After supper, Dr. Townshend did a great presentation on the Iditarod. It was full of information and I think a lot of us learned new things! Later in the evening, several of us had a meeting to discuss the creation of a Southern mushers association/club. We talked for a while and had some good ideas but nothing was finalized. We’re still working on it and I think it will come together. I am going to be putting together a newsletter for this group.

We all slept very well Saturday night.

Sunday morning it was 11 degrees in Abingdon. Good for running dogs. There was a big article in the Bristol newspaper about the Serum Run and the Winterfest. I was quoted in it and I realized, in retrospect, that I’d been pretty incoherantly. I guess it wasn’t that bad, I just wish I had said things better.

That morning, the car wouldn’t start again. We tried everything and it didn’t work. Jenny and Sam were nice enough to take my scooter to Iron Horse but I still needed to find a way to get Calypso and myself to Iron Horse for the race.

We tried calling taxi services, bus services, shuttles…no answer at any place. It was Sunday morning. Feeling frustrated and disgusted, we all sat around in the motel room and discussed options. We could have called AAA but by the time we went through their 800 number, we’d be too late for the race.

We ended up calling a towing company. The guy said he could help so we stood around out in the parking lot that was 11 degrees without windchill (and there was windchill) and waited for him to come. He was late getting there because most of the towtrucks wouldn’t start.

He arrived in an older truck with a bench seat in the cab. We decided that my Mom and Calypso and I would ride to the race site in the tow truck and my Dad would wait back at the motel for the towtruck to come back. So there we were - three people clad in heavy cold-weather gear, toting bags full of equipment, and one fuzzy husky (who did NOT want to get in the truck) sitting on us. And the passenger door wouldn’t shut properly in the best of circumstances.

Somehow, we made it to Iron Horse and I felt SO MUCH better when we got out of the truck. We thanked the driver and then got ready for the race. The one and two-dog scooter races went from Iron Horse to Damascus. The two-dog teams went first. I got Calypso and myself ready while a TV crew from channel 5 in Bristol filmed some of us. When it was my turn, I took Calypso up to the starting line. The woman at the line said “she’s so pretty” to Calypso and the silly little dog went bounding over to her. “No, no,” the woman said. “You’re supposed to be going that way.” I took Calypso back to the trail, explaining “you said she was pretty. She liked that.”

When the timer said it was time to go, Calypso took off like a shot! It was such a change from the day before that it almost shocked me! I quickly recovered and focused on getting to Damascus as fast as possible. There were some patches of old snow on the trail in some places, which is not easy with a wheeled rig. We blew across it without any major problems though. I kicked along to help as much as possible. Calypso kept up her pace but we lost sight of the team in front of us. I hoped Calypso wouldn’t tire out in the middle of the run. I shouldn’t have worried, she was no longer interested in manholes and fenceposts. It was a beautiful sunny morning in the mountains. It was cold. It was time to run!

About the time Calypso started to slow, Jenny and her dog, Jack (an Alaskan husky from the Second Chance League in Fairbanks) caught up. Calypso did NOT like that and picked up her pace. The race was on between the Siberian and the Alaskan. I kicked harder and Calypso was really flying. So was Jack. Eventually they passed us and I thought ‘Jack has a really nice gait.’ We stayed right behind Jenny and Jack right up to the finish line in Damascus Park.

By that time, what with all my kicking and scooter driving (who says a musher doesn’t work?) I was no longer cold AT ALL. First thing I did after watering Calypso was to take my mittens off. My hands were literally steaming.

Soon, other teams arrived and the park filled up with mushers and dogs. We all hung around and talked until the results were announced by Marcia. I will post the results soon. I think we came in 5th. I was disappointed that we didn’t place [in the top 3] but that was okay. We’d had a near-perfect run and that was what was important. I really couldn’t be much more pleased with Calypso’s performance.

My Mom and I rode back to the motel with Will, who is a musher too - though he didn’t race this year. When we got back, the car had been fixed and all was well. I took another shower and slept the rest of the day.

We watched the evening news and they did a really nice piece on the Winterfest. Jenny did an excellent interview! The very last shot showed me and Calypso taking off down the trail! After the news, we went and got Chinese takeout. Since we’d slept half the day, we weren’t very tired by then. Oh well.

More coming soon, including our snow adventures on the way back!

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 5:06pm
Temperature: 35 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, freezing rain
Forecast: Rain tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s

Visit http://www.damascus.org/index.html and click the huskies to see pictures from the Winterfest (the town of Damascus really likes this event since Winter is usually such a slow season for them).

Go to http://www.siberianhuskyassist.com/ for more info on the Winterfest. Siberian Husky Assist puts on the event.

No Comments »

Location: Northwest GA
Time - 4:51pm
Temperature: 35 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, freezing rain
Forecast: Rain tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s

I have written a long account of the Damascus, VA Winterfest which I will post in a minute. But first, here is an article that appeared Sunday, January 20th on the front page of the Bristol Herald Courier’s “Region” section with the title “Bred for the sled.” I’m quoted in it. Yeah, that’s me making those random incoherant comments such as ”just sort of like there’s a big carnival going on almost” (did I actually SAY that?).

But seriously, it’s a very good article.

From: http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/search.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-01-20-0011.html

David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier
Chapin Burgess and Kathy Anderson make their way from the Iron Horse Campground to Damasus during the final leg of the serum relay Saturday morning from Abingdon.

Crowds gather along Creeper Trail to was sled dogs and mushers re-enact historic event

 

Sunday, Jan 20, 2008 - 01:00 AM

 

BY Debra McCown Send e-mail Bristol Herald Courier

Email to a Friend       Printer Friendly

DAMASCUS, Va. – Barking and yipping with excitement, the dogs leap into the air, tugging at the ropes that tie them together as a team.

The musher releases the sled from its mooring, and they’re gone, with several pairs of huskies pulling the wheeled sled along the Virginia Creeper Trail toward Damascus.

“They’re bred, born and trained to pull, and that’s what they want to do so badly,” said Barbara Bennett, who planned her trip from West Lafayette, Ind., around this weekend’s events.

“When the musher gets out the sled, every dog in the kennel, even the retired ones … will be up leaping in the air trying to get the musher’s attention because they all want to pull that sled.”

With Bennett was Mischief, an Alaskan husky who has run the Iditarod – the famous 1,150 mile Alaskan sled dog race across the Arctic tundra, which is the ultimate goal of several mushers – or dogsled drivers – here this weekend.

Hundreds of people turned out on a frigid Saturday morning, despite intermittent snow flurries and a biting wind, to watch the dogs in the second annual re-enactment of a 1925 dogsled run that brought life-saving medicine to an isolated Alaskan town.

The Blue Ridge Dryland Challenge, a dogsled race at 10 a.m. today, brings mushers from all around the Southeast to compete on the Creeper Trail.

The 5-mile race is from Straight Branch to the Damascus Town Park, with another race beginning at the same time from the Iron Horse Campground for smaller dogsled teams.

“This is the only dogsled race in the Southeast,” said Alice White, 19, as her dog pulled her down the trail on a scooter outside of Damascus on Saturday. “There’s people sitting on the side of the road in their cars taking pictures, and people pulling off to the side, just sort of like there’s a big carnival going on almost.”

Along with the activity surrounding the dogsleds, the town park also hosted a bonfire with free hot chocolate and donuts, dachshund races, a lumberjack competition and booths for local organizations to share programs and information.

White, who lives in Armuchee, Ga., said the sport of dogsled racing has been growing with the availability of equipment that makes it possible to run sled dogs one or two at a time, hundreds of miles from the frozen north.

“You don’t have to have a big team or live way up north anymore,” White said.

Nearly 100 cars of people followed the dogs from the start in Abingdon to the relays at Watauga, Alvarado, the Iron Horse Campground and into Damascus, where hundreds more awaited the teams’ arrival.

At the lone store in Alvarado, which opened up with free food and hot chocolate despite being closed for the season, owner Belle Avery said the crowd had increased tenfold since last year’s debut.

In Damascus, musher Chapin Burgess said he saw as many as 1,000 people watching along the trail.

In addition to running dogs on the trail Saturday, Burgess is also training 16-year-old Fayth Smith of Gastonia, N.C., to be a musher.

“I was 3 whenever I watched ‘Balto’ [an animated film about the 1925 serum run to Nome, Alaska],” Fayth said. “I wanted a Siberian husky, and I wanted to mush.”

Both she and Burgess hope to compete in the Iditarod in 2010, and Burgess added that running trails like the Creeper is part of the dogs’ training for the long race.

“I like running doggies, and this is a good trail,” said Burgess, who is toying with the idea of opening a dogsled tour company in town.

“I think it’s just curiosity,” said event organizer Marcia Horne, of Siberian Husky Assist Rescue, about this year’s crowd.

Horne, of Bristol Virginia, said Winterfest – now an annual event – was started to educate people in the area about the dog breed they rescue – and she never guessed it would be such a hit.

She said if the event grows again next year as expected, she’ll need help from many more volunteers.

In Alvarado, Avery said she’ll be ready next year with a full country breakfast – to be given out free.

In Damascus, some hope the annual Winterfest will grow enough to help give a mid-winter boost to the town’s tourism-based economy.

“This event this year was a lot bigger than last year,” said Damascus Vice Mayor Marianna Farmer. “We hope that it will grow and be much larger next year.”

dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701

YOU SHOULD KNOW

For information on Winterfest or to volunteer next year, contact Siberian Husky Assist Rescue at (276) 494-3153.

For information on training to be a musher, or to take a dogsled tour on the trail, look online at www.scdogsled.com.

Be sure you also check out the photos on http://tricities.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=412020 

click here to see the photo of me and Calypso.

No Comments »