I've thoroughly enjoyed the KVR, and although I haven't done as many hill miles as we did by this time last year, that will change very quickly being back in the land of hills.
The last few days were spent in Princeton where we went through one of my favorite portals, a beautiful stone entrance cut right into the rock.
I also had the opportunity to take the pups along a long dirt trestle, sitting high above the Princeton-Summerland highway. There was certainly some interest in the horses way below in the fields and the cars whizzing back on the highway. This trestle has a large creek running underneath it, the same creek I flipped my ATV coming out of last season.
It seems that neither trestles, dirt or wood, or tunnels bother these guys. I haven't had much of an opportunity to do major water crossings yet with the pups, we are just using ginormous puddles to train water right now. Perhaps the snow will stay away long enough to hit a river or two, or perhaps this will wait till next spring.
This is the first time in 10 years (since I broke my back and had 7 weeks off work) that I've had 17 days in a row off with no work at a microscope. It was a really good break, and the dogs and I enjoyed our travels. The puppies grew up a bit, and stopped puking in their dog box every time we went on a trip. I'm very GLAD that has been worked out of their systems!
So a few fun stats for you interested readers...... our fastest run to date? 17.1 miles per hour on the flats, ATV in neutral with no motor running, and it was 8 dogs running. (that was pure fun for the dogs!)
Our slowest run? 4 miles in an hour, grunting in snow on hills.
Longest run to date? 12.5 miles, which took 1 hour and 46 minutes. This was an evening into the night run, and I have to say that one of the highlights was the steaming caramel latte that Becky Loveless (Alpine Outfitters) handed me as I parked the team and stepped off the quad. The temps had plummeted, while I was out, so it immediately took away the chill! Thank you Becky!
Becky also recorded some cool video, and as soon as I figure out how to upload it to the blog I will share it with you.
Scariest moment? Flipping the ATV into the ditch, upside down. I thank God for a good Samaritan who didn't want to be named for hauling it out. How did it happen? Stupidity on my part, trying to start a run with the team on a 90 degree angle to the ATV, and a ditch in between.
Coldest run? -9 degrees Celsius (15.8 F for you non metric folks)
Happiest moment? Oh there are too many wagging tails and doggie kisses, and besides, it isn't polite to kiss and tell!
The pups turn one year old this week. I'll post some new photos soon.
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