| The
Journey Continues
June 19, 2007
“Any day spent above ground is a good day” – Penny
Sputh
Penny is still my baby sister, even considering that after
September 24th the next time any of us see 50 will be when my kids
make it. Isn’t life grand!
Things have been moving fast at R Northbound Dogs. RDI really wanted
to find an excuse to hire me, but they just didn’t have enough
work that fit my skill set. Dowl has not gotten back to me or returned
my emails. Marti did not get any of the jobs that she applied for.
That means we have to sell the house. We are cleaning it up and
talking to brokers about whether to list it or sell it ourselves.
Six percent is a lot of money to pay someone to sell the house,
but marketing is everything. This is a unique home and a simple
MLS listing will not do the job.
It sounds like bad news, but I don’t think so. I prayed hard
about this because at my level a full time job would solve our financial
problems, but I would be working closer to 50 hours a week than
40 and running Iditarod again would be difficult, if not impossible.
Selling the house gives me more time to make the writing, speaking,
marketing partner/sponsorship ideas work. This could be a dream
come true.
Marti and I found 5 acres about 10 miles up Willow-Fishhook Rd (the
road to Hatcher Pass from the Willow side) where the house burned
last winter. The well and septic are there and power is only 400
ft away. If the owner will finance the lot we could purchase an
inexpensive mobile home to put on the lot until our finances allow
us to build our dream home.
I had $2,000 put aside to pay the entry fee at the picnic. When
it went to $3,000 three weeks ago I was in a quandary. Then Trish
and Dale Keefe offered to pay the difference (thank you so much!)
and I’m good to go. So I will be signing up for the 2008 race
on June 30th (I don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every
minute of it :-). I still need a new sled, I pretty much wore out
my arctic suit during the race, and I only have 13 dogs in training
this year. As soon as the house sells, and closes, I’ll have
money to deal with those issues. It will be interesting getting
through all of this, but when it’s done we should be better
off than ever before.
The dogs are bored. Bass has been listening to me say that he is
retired and has been particularly needy. He comes up and leans on
me whenever I go through the lot. I think he is trying to tell me
that he still has a race or two left in him. I told him he could
train with the team as long as he was having fun. If he is still
enjoying himself come February we’ll talk about whether or
not he wants to do one more. I’m thinking that he doesn’t,
but how to you tell a dog that has taken you through thick and thin
for 5 years that you don’t need him to lead the team any more.
Bass is slowly becoming a house dog, but it’s tough to get
anything done with a dog as big as Bass climbing into your pocket.
Bonnie and I both tried to make 7 of 9 a house dog, but she wasn’t
happy with the change. She is very comfortable on her chain and
doesn’t even like being loose in the back yard for very long.
What a strange girl.
I’ve taken the team out twice in the early morning this month.
Barnum and Bailey don’t put on a show like this. The dogs
are firmly convinced that I let them run once just to see what they
were missing and I would never let them go again. The hollering,
twisting, jumping, and general thrashing that goes on is unbelievable.
The first run of the new season is always exciting, but this is
a whole new level than I’ve seen before. The bad news is that
it is hot. Even at 6 AM we are close to 50 degrees. The dogs come
in so hot it takes several minutes for them to cool off enough to
eat. Poor Java takes over an hour to really cool down. So I watch
the thermometer closely. This new place is 1400 feet in elevation
(the current trail I use is only 100) and should be cooler.
Given my race record for the last two years it may be foolish to
set goals, but I want to be in the running for most improved musher
this year. That means a finish in the mid-30’s, which means
11 ½ days. It sounds like a lot, but I’m in good company.
Race fans will remember that Lance Mackey scratched in his second
race also (and Zack Steer in his third), we’ll ignore the
fact that that is pushing Susan Butcher’s winning times in
1986 and 1988.
Keep thinking good thoughts and I’ll
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
© 2007 All rights reserved
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