[]
The story of the serum relay to Nome. Balto and Togo and
Seppala (oh my!). 8pm EDT.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

Melinda said in part...
The story of the serum relay to Nome...
______________________________
Meinda,
I just posted it too!!! I saw it last night at 11PM. I will be
watching again tonight, as always, I was distracted. It was very
interesting!


Be Free.....Judy

On 3/24/2008 6:13 PM Judith Althouse plucked Senior Frog's Magic
Twanger and said:
Melinda said in part...
The story of the serum relay to Nome...
______________________________
Meinda,
I just posted it too!!! I saw it last night at 11PM. I will be
watching again tonight, as always, I was distracted. It was very
interesting!


Be Free.....Judy


I really enjoyed an extended version of this on The Travel Channel.
They also covered sled dogs in Alaska's state parks. You can go for a
sled ride for 2 to 4 hours. The fee you pay helps support the dogs.
It was very informative.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Melinda said.
The story of the serum relay to Nome. Balto and Togo and Seppela (oh
my)
___________________________
Melinda.
I have watched it several times and I enjoy it more each time.
Seppela was a snappy dresser huh? He certainly had some hair.
I can't get over the fact that during the 1925 serum run, it took the
teams 5.5 days and the re-enactment of the run took 20 plus days.
I just need some a sled, some more dogs, some snow, and I could get
into dog sledding. I think my Jack could pull a small car. He is
solid. I don't know about stamina but he is strong.
How did you get interested?


Be Free.....Judy

Brian said in part...
I really enjoyed an extended version on the Travel Channel...
__________________
Brian,
Thanks for the FYI, maybe there will be a re-run. I will be watching
for it.


Be Free.....Judy

In article ,
Judith Althouse wrote:
I have watched it several times and I enjoy it more each time.

I really enjoyed it, too. They can't pack everything into a
one-hour program but they covered an awful lot. In the book
"The Cruelest Miles" I was really interested by the
discussion of the argument over whether or not to try to use
airplanes.

Anyway, some of the mushers in that program are quite well-
known (the mom, in particular).

I can't get over the fact that during the 1925 serum run, it took the
teams 5.5 days and the re-enactment of the run took 20 plus days.

On the other hand, the All-Alaska Sweepstakes is underway.
It's an historical race that hasn't been help in, I think,
25 years, and they're using the original rules that were
used at the beginning of the 20th century. Anyway, the
record for that race is 74 hours and change but it looks
like the first musher will be coming in at around 60 hours.
My friend scratched; it looks like he just took too many
dogs for a race that doesn't allow you to drop any.

I just need some a sled, some more dogs, some snow, and I could get
into dog sledding.

I bet you could. It's a pretty amazing thing. Very
romantic, if nothing else.

How did you get interested?

I really love cross-country skiing and I really love dogs,
so when I learned about skijoring I thought it sounded just
about perfect. Unfortunately my old collie/Newf cross gave
my skis the hairy eye when I introduced her to them, so I
thought I should get a dog of a more appropriate breed.
That was Emmett. By the time Emmett got to be an adolescent
he was bugging the crap out of poor Greta, and I decided he
needed a friend with a similar energy level. About the same
time one of the Siberian Husky rescues put out a call to
help get a bunch of Siberians out of a shelter in Newark,
where they'd been short-listed for euthanasia. So I drove
down and came home with Duncan. Then I ended up with Saber,
also through rescue, and at that point I realized that I'd
be better off behind those guys with a sled than with skis.
That's also when I realized that I really needed an
experienced leader, which was when I got Image. So that was
the beginning.

You can go to places in the north and take dogsled rides,
either in the basket or driving your own team. You can go
out for a few hours or you can do a real expedition. Or,
you can just go watch something like the ceremonial start of
the Iditarod. You can even do glacier mushing in the
summer.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

Melinda said in part...
I really enjoyed it too. They can't pack everything into a one hour,
but they covered an awful lot. In the book "The Cruelest Miles" I was
really interested by the discussion of the argument about whether or not
to try to use planes.
___________________
The decision about planes was rather dramatic. We will never know,
but in view of the horrible weather conditions my guess is man and dog
trumped the argument for planes.
My daughter has a reading list in place for me, I have 2 books to read
and then I am going to hit the library for "The Cruelest Miles" and read
it during July in Florida.
Another thing that could have vastly changed the outcome of the 1925
run was the Mayor's decision to call off the run due to the weather.
Obviously, he was unable to contact the dog sledders to call it off, but
I would like to believe they would have pursued anyway even if he had.
__________________________
Melinda said in part...
On the other hand, the All-Alaska sweepstakes is underway....
___________________
I did try to find your original post on that race to check out the
status of your friend. Sorry to hear he scratched. I will google it and
check out the race results.
Your story of how you became interested and got started is very
passionate. I would have to bypass the skiing and go right to the sled.
The mushers that were profiled said they gave their dogs warm meals on
the trail, do you know what they feed dogs during races?
My goal would be not to win the race, just to finish, with the most
diverse pack of dogs. I have got the tail man already, that would be
Jack, my muscle dog. I have got a lead dog, Jubal Early. He and I
could be at odds at the drop of a hat, so he may be scratched Ok, all
I have to worry about is my outfit. I see me in Buckskin suede
outergarments, fringe and beaded. I know from riding a motorcycle not
to go "big" on the fringe becaue it will beat you to death on the
road/trail. Our team would travel by night, as I am a night owl.
I hope you know I am not making light because I don't know the proper
lingo. I see it as a very intimate time with a person and their pack.
The dog sledder and her dogs would be bound together forever because
their survival could depend on it. The thought of it makes for exciting
dreams.
My Lady girl could have done it, back in the day. She could have been
the lead dog to beat all lead dogs. She is a BC/Aussie mix and her face
reminds me of some of the photos of sled dogs I have seen. She could
have given the rest of the team a look that would have made them believe
"Follow Me" and "Don't Dilly Dally"!


Be Free.....Judy

In article ,
Judith Althouse wrote:
I did try to find your original post on that race to check out the
status of your friend. Sorry to hear he scratched. I will google it and
check out the race results.

Well, there's a sad story out of the race. Lance Mackey
wasy coming into Nome after dark and saw a skidoo coming up
behind him on the trail. He flashed his headlamps and tried
to get the guy's attention but the machine kept coming, and
Lance jumped off before the guy hit him. The sled was
pushed 30 feet up the trail, and when Lance ran up he found
that the sled had been pushed over two dogs and that the
skidoo's skis had impaled the sled bag, where Zorro, his
legendary lead dog and foundation stud had been riding.
Zorro is badly injured - paralyzed from the waist down - and
is in Seattle seeing a veterinary neurologist.

Zorro's a special dog - here's an article about him from
last year:
http://www.adn.com/iditarod/2007/fea...ry/278986.html

Apparently the skidoo driver was drunk. After he and his
friend help Mackey straighten out his sled, they drove off,
and they're not sure who they were.

The mushers that were profiled said they gave their dogs warm meals on
the trail, do you know what they feed dogs during races?

It depends. These days it's almost always based on some
high-density kibble, generally supplemented by meat and/or
salmon, served in a warm slurry. Hydration is critical,
which is why the slurry. Mushers were so unprepared for the
first Iditarod that several of them ended up hunting during
the race. Beaver seems to be the preferred meat.

My Lady girl could have done it, back in the day. She could have been
the lead dog to beat all lead dogs. She is a BC/Aussie mix and her face
reminds me of some of the photos of sled dogs I have seen. She could
have given the rest of the team a look that would have made them believe
"Follow Me" and "Don't Dilly Dally"!

That's it! The truth is that a lot of lead dogs have no
steering, but they've got confidence and judgment and the
other dogs trust them.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"Melinda Shore" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Judith Althouse wrote:
I did try to find your original post on that race to check out the
status of your friend. Sorry to hear he scratched. I will google it and
check out the race results.

Well, there's a sad story out of the race. Lance Mackey
wasy coming into Nome after dark and saw a skidoo coming up
behind him on the trail. He flashed his headlamps and tried
to get the guy's attention but the machine kept coming, and
Lance jumped off before the guy hit him. The sled was
pushed 30 feet up the trail, and when Lance ran up he found
that the sled had been pushed over two dogs and that the
skidoo's skis had impaled the sled bag, where Zorro, his
legendary lead dog and foundation stud had been riding.
Zorro is badly injured - paralyzed from the waist down - and
is in Seattle seeing a veterinary neurologist.

Zorro's a special dog - here's an article about him from
last year:
http://www.adn.com/iditarod/2007/fea...ry/278986.html

Apparently the skidoo driver was drunk. After he and his
friend help Mackey straighten out his sled, they drove off,
and they're not sure who they were.

This is horrible. Devastating.

In article Qk6Ij.260$ta2.205@trndny05, filly wrote:
This is horrible. Devastating.

It's really awful for a lot of reasons. Certainly, there's
that you never want to see an animal hurt, and then there's
Mackey's uncommon bond with his dogs. There's also the
practical side - he's a really hardscrabble musher who
started with nothing. He and his family lived in a tent for
a year while he started pulling his kennel together, and
while they've now got solid walls they still don't have a
well or septic. He's been able to make some money from stud
fees and that's helped him out, not to mention that Zorro is
the foundation stud for his own insanely successful racing
kennel.

Apparently the guy driving the skidoo has come forward and
offered to pay for Zorro's vet bills. Lance says he's not
going to press charges, but I don't know. A skidoo hit
Jennifer Freking's team during the Iditarod, killing one dog
and crippling another (lost use of one front leg). Drunks
on snow machines are a huge problem nearly everywhere and it
seems like there's just not that much done to deter them.
They kill themselves, sure, but they often collide with
other people, too. We had more fatalities than usual in NY
this year, despite us having a low-snow year, and apparently
other states had more fatalities, too. It seems to me that
there's got to be something in-between "no consequences" and
"dead."
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community