A new beginning
8:45 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
My my, how times flies. Its strange how my trips from this summer seem so close and so far away. I now find myself in a completely different climate as I begin to pursue my dream of dogsledding and the Iditarod. I am working with Team Ollie based out of Winchendon, Ma. Yesterday I filled the Sass-machine and drove up here, arriving around 4:30. I quickly unpacked my car --which was mostly filled with cold weather (four winter jackets!) while the cat, Hemmingway, meowed and kept me company as I was the only one home.
Now for my adventure:
By the time we had fed and watered the kennel (consisting of approximately 55 dogs) and had our own dinner, it was 10:15 at night. Then, we loaded up the dogs in the dog trailer, drove to the trail, harnessed and hooked up the dogs. Now, normally this is sort of easy but I had't harnessed a dog in over a year and I'd certainly never done it in the dark, so it presented an interesting challenge. I also learned how to change the runners on a sled because mine were broken.
If anyone ever tells you that dogsledding easy than they aren't doing it right. It's terrifying. Especially if you are double sledding (which is what I was doing). Double sledding means hitching up one sled behind the other, so that the second sled takes every turn with an amazing amount of whip lash. Needless to stay, I fell off within the first two miles. I stayed on for the next sharp turn but had a major wipe out on the next one. I ended up landing on the battery pack of my headlamp (attached to my hip) and breaking it, requiring me to mush in the dark. (Lev forgot about his spare head lamp in his sled.) Then, by about mile 7 or 8 and numerous more falls my brake broke. Sleds have 3 different ways to brake: there's the bar, the drag pad, and your feet. My bar broke, so I had to resort to using the other two methods which are fine but less effective when going down hill.
I can't even remember how many times I fell off the sled last night. All I know is, my only thought was "I can't wait for this to end. I can't wait for this to end." and "I am in so much pain. I hope I didn't break anything. I can't wait for this to end." But when all was said and done I had amazing time: despite the fact that our run lasted until 1:30. We went just under 22 miles with the team. It was pretty amazing. By the time we snacked the dogs, drove home, housed the, then fed and watered the dogs, it was 3:30 in the morning.
I woke up at 7:45 today then after lolling about for a bit, headed out to the dogyard to scoop poop and say hello. Sounds simple but it took me about an hour and a half. Then I had to take out the old straw in the dog boxes in the trailer and put in new straw, which took another two hours. Good thing I have an ipod with Harry Potter on tape. I'm done with work for the day until we go run them, so I'm going to eat lunch and take a nap.
I would say more, but my eyes keep closing.
Now for my adventure:
By the time we had fed and watered the kennel (consisting of approximately 55 dogs) and had our own dinner, it was 10:15 at night. Then, we loaded up the dogs in the dog trailer, drove to the trail, harnessed and hooked up the dogs. Now, normally this is sort of easy but I had't harnessed a dog in over a year and I'd certainly never done it in the dark, so it presented an interesting challenge. I also learned how to change the runners on a sled because mine were broken.
If anyone ever tells you that dogsledding easy than they aren't doing it right. It's terrifying. Especially if you are double sledding (which is what I was doing). Double sledding means hitching up one sled behind the other, so that the second sled takes every turn with an amazing amount of whip lash. Needless to stay, I fell off within the first two miles. I stayed on for the next sharp turn but had a major wipe out on the next one. I ended up landing on the battery pack of my headlamp (attached to my hip) and breaking it, requiring me to mush in the dark. (Lev forgot about his spare head lamp in his sled.) Then, by about mile 7 or 8 and numerous more falls my brake broke. Sleds have 3 different ways to brake: there's the bar, the drag pad, and your feet. My bar broke, so I had to resort to using the other two methods which are fine but less effective when going down hill.
I can't even remember how many times I fell off the sled last night. All I know is, my only thought was "I can't wait for this to end. I can't wait for this to end." and "I am in so much pain. I hope I didn't break anything. I can't wait for this to end." But when all was said and done I had amazing time: despite the fact that our run lasted until 1:30. We went just under 22 miles with the team. It was pretty amazing. By the time we snacked the dogs, drove home, housed the, then fed and watered the dogs, it was 3:30 in the morning.
I woke up at 7:45 today then after lolling about for a bit, headed out to the dogyard to scoop poop and say hello. Sounds simple but it took me about an hour and a half. Then I had to take out the old straw in the dog boxes in the trailer and put in new straw, which took another two hours. Good thing I have an ipod with Harry Potter on tape. I'm done with work for the day until we go run them, so I'm going to eat lunch and take a nap.
I would say more, but my eyes keep closing.
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