Update from the road…

Well, after an unexpected delay in the form of the fuel pump in the truck dying on us Friday morning as we departed, we have begun our road trip to Fairbanks. Luckily, the truck died at the end of our driveway rather than somewhere down the long lonely road out of Yellowknife. And even more luckily, we were able to get the guys at the Dodge dealership to work on it for us on Saturday (overtime rates did apply of course) and they actually had the necessary parts – not always a given in the North. So, we were able to hit the road about 330pm on Saturday. This of course meant we had to drive all night long in order to make prearranged meetings here in Whitehorse by 6pm. And we did it. We have picked up the new anorak for Warren sponsored by Skookum brand and are now waiting to pick up some FirstMate dog food which we will need for packing up the Iditarod food drops when we arrive in Fairbanks tomorrow.

I write to you now from a coffee shop in Whitehorse with Ella Fitzgerald playing as I sit in a comfy chair. And this time 24 hours ago we were about to cross the ice road on the Mackenzie River. The unexpected time for a coffee is nice. I just took a short walk around downtown Whitehorse while Warren surfed the net abit. Many of the buildings here are painted great vibrant colors with lots of fantastic murals. You can feel the energy of the artistic community here just wandering around.

We are glad to report that overall the roads were good coming thus far. There were no herds of buffalo blocking the roads in the NT and no big groups of caribou on the highway like we have seen before. Warren has seen a few moose while I was sleeping and I saw a few foxes while he slept. There was recently fresh snowfall so everything looks fresh and bright. The one nice thing about pulling all night drives is you get to see both the sunrise and the sunset, both quite vibrant in this case.

The dogs are doing well. They settle quickly into travel mode. We stop periodically to let everyone out to do their “business”. We do what is called “loose dropping” while on the road which basically means we open the back doors of the trailer and let everyone loose, provided of course it is a safe place off the highway. It is nice for them to all get out and stretch and play. Nice for us to be able to watch how everyone moves and interacts together. Most of the time we don’t have to tell them to get back into the trailer. When they are done they all just start returning to their boxes. Within a few days each dog will have a set chosen box and the process gets even easier. A comfortable rhythm develops for us all.

All for now as we are off to load up some dog food.

Cheers,
Kate