Here I am part 2 of the journey to The stage stop race, Kate and I drove from Quesnel to Edmonton Yesterday in part to drop off some dogs to ship to Newfoundland, to their new owners.
Kate is driving back home as we speak and I am now in Denver on an extended  6 hour layover.
 When we started out the season, this year the motavation was low and we really wanted to take it easy and get some of the spark back in running dogs, It takes aloot to be competitive and  it takes it's toll on the whole family. I partially just did not want to ask for more sacrifices from them and not be so selfish for once. I have been going at it hard  the last number of years and  was really tired. Just no passion it was just a "job" .
So having said that  as the fall went on , we were wavering on what we would actually do with the dogs , we started offering tours and that is something that we will continue.  I also figured that sprint racing would be good, as you do not need a large time commitment for training. 
Well I have sprint raced before and know what needs to happen, It is fundamentaly different from distance training, more focused, more competitve and you need to have no mistakes during your runs... Well with the exception of the young dogs, all others have been trained for distance. rolling in the snow when stopped , peeing and pooping on the run , maybe necklineing a bit etc. Well I figured that would be too much of a difference in training so we started 10- 25 mile runs , and they were smoking the trail .. Once they figuerd out they we not going 140 miles in a run , and they were not pulling 160  extra in the sled. They really started to move.
At the last minute We decided to head down to Montana for the Flat head race in early january and (2 45 mile runs) get the dogs run there.
I had no expectations and knew the competition would be high from a number of teams, Charlote Moody, Kate St Onge, Dave Turner and Rick Larson. Figuring we would finish in the mix somewhere. We live on our own in Quesnel and have no one to compare run times with I knew the dogs were running well and were running up the hills. I have helped Doug Swingey and Melanie  with their stage teams last last few years so I knew that the dogs were running pretty strong. So having said that when we finished about 20 mins ahead of the competiton in Montana, I figured that we have a good moving team.
 While there I talked with other mushers on where we would be racing , As I did not have have any other plans I said...Nowhere., We're not racing this year...
Byt it thought it would be a shame not to...
That promted a call to Lance and a few emails.

And how it came to be that I am now waiting for my flight to Wyoming, headed back to the stage stop. I have no idea what will hapen there, The dogs have minimal training and the focus has only been the last 2 weeks or so to head to the stage stop, I am sure and I know for sure that teams like the Streepers have been focused on this since the fall. and will be ready to compete. The competiton  is very stiff  I have no ilusions that we will win, or even top 5 ... But w'ell give it our best and see how things work out. Lance, it  has been said, that he mush's by the seat of his pants and perhaps this will be the best combination for racing this team..    
For sure this I know, It will be exciting and I will keep you all up to date!
We will be racing!