I got back to the beloved mountains of Idaho at about 5pm on March 17th. It was a long trip - with Leila running the yearlings in the Two River's 200, Scott and I had a lot of driving back and forth between the kennel, race and airport before I left.
The Iditarod dogs got back to Nenana shortly before I left. I was glad to see them looking in such good shape and to get to say goodbye to all the dogs...yes, I did shed some tears! They might just be dogs, but they are amazing athletes that each have their own personality.
Since coming back to Idaho, I became a licensed Insurance agent and have been actively selling insurance, in addition to my writing and sled dogs.
With so few dogs, I began running my Collie - he's actually a great sled dog (Left wheel-dog):
It has been really, really nice to be with my family again, too. I'm extremely grateful for their support and how well they took care of my dogs while I was gone!
For those of you that know me well, it's kind of hard for me not to have a bunch of dogs around. So, it was only a matter of time before my kennel filled up again. In a win-win situation, my friend Hannah, who is up in AK for the summer working glacier sled dog tours with Linwood Fiedler, wanted to reduce her kennel for the summer and sent Quest back home (she had him over the winter) as well as eight pups out of Athena - a dog out of my first sled dog litter back in '08. There are four yearlings that have been a huge help pulling the 4-wheeler around the mountain and four adorable puppies. Luke and Thea are going to send them back well socialized!
Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone had a great spring and is looking forward to summer!
