Saturday morning brought a small break in the downpours, so when I checked the thermometer at 5:30am to see it sitting at 10C I decided to take the dogs for a run.
This is the first time I've left KitKat at the house. Up till this weekend she has been raring to go as soon as it looks like I might be even thinking of heading out, but last Tuesday she was quiet and tired after our run and I knew it was time to leave her at home.
And today, she settled down with a nice juicy beef bone, completely ignoring the madness of the pre-run load up. My girl knows she has an important job ahead.Back up to the forest service road at Stave lake, as I've talked to BC Hydro about the locked former parking area at the entrance to the road, and although they could not give me a key, they did give me permission to head up the road a few hundred meters and park in front of another gate, and promised not to tow me. What was especially nice was the Hydro chap that pulled up behind me as I was hooking up the last couple of dogs, he came specifically to tell me that the word was out, I was fine parking there, and wish me good running!
Today I put Hilda in single lead. Leading is a tough job, the hardest job in the team, and this little Iditarod veteran showed what she was made of in the confident manner in which she kept the team over to the right of the road, right through all the steep and banked curves and set a nice brisk pace for 6.75 miles of hills.
Traffic was fairly light this morning, was stopped by a couple of chaps looking for a set of jumper cables, and was passed by a RCMP car going in, and later pulled over by the same car heading back out.
Little Miss River was moved back up to Point today, on the right, beside her Uncle Chip, who is very serious about his job as a sled dog. A couple of minor "over" corrections at hook up and when I stopped to water, she ran the entire run on the right side of the gangline. She is a quick learner this one!
The last mile of this run is mostly down hill, and I have to confess I was smiling as we loped down that last stretch, looking at tight tugs and smooth gaits and thinking I really am the luckiest person on earth. A year ago today I was just arriving in Sweden, after spending 2 months teaching in Slovenia. That was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world, but somehow early November belongs to training up one's dogteam, and despite the gloomy sky, I was at peace with myself.
A few minutes later, as I was pulling up to the truck, the RCMP car pulled over beside me, and down rolled the windows. Not sure what to expect I said "Good Morning!?!" to which I was answered with a hearty "Good Morning!! " by two beaming RCMP officers that had stopped me to tell me that this was the best thing they had seen yet up in this area. (whew, normally when the police pull me over they are handing me an 'award' for excessive speeding!!) Smiles and good day wishes all around I set to unhooking dogs, putting away equipment, watering and snacking the dogs, loading up the trailer, loading up the dogs and as I was closing up the last latch the rains returned, hard and heavy. Driving home I found myself smiling again and humming a few bars from R.E.M. to the beat of the windshield wipers...
The rain came down
The rain came down
The rain came down on me.
The wind blew strong
The summer song
Fades to memory....
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