Arrival in Montana
After a long day of travel and a fairly uneventful trip down from Yellowknife I arrived in Missoula Montana late on Tuesday night. We have spent enough time in Montana that I truly feel as if I am coming home when I get here, especially the warmth of Doug and Melanie’s home is like a second home.  And after the frigid temperatures we have been experiencing in Yellowknife these last few weeks, literally weeks of minus 40s, the above zero temperatures were like a breath of summer to me. My body actually started spring allergies as soon as I arrived.

Wednesday was spent regrouping, reconnecting with Warren and the dogs. I am very glad to report that the dogs look great, good weight on them, great attitudes and it was a pleasure to spend the morning with them. I spent the majority of the afternoon cleaning out the dog trailer, taking everything out and repacking. One of the main handler roles is to know where everything is. For myself the best way to know this is to start from scratch. Thursday I will tackle the camper and truck.

After helping Warren hook up the dogs for their last training run on Thursday morning, I think he was happy to have someone else to bootie the dogs for a change, I was busy getting the camper and truck ready for the journey. Although I know things will be a mess by the time we get to Alaska, it always feels good to start fresh and organized. We fondly refer to the back seat of our truck as the black hole while we are on the road!

I did take a break from my organizing /cleaning mode on Thursday to drive out to Warren’s halfway camping spot on the trail. It sure is good to see the dogs in action again and to be able to talk with Warren about everyone’s progress. The temperatures were really warm by this point in the day, 11 degrees Celsius 50something Fahrenheit, and both the dogs and Warren were sound asleep in the sun when I arrived. After the initial excitement of my arrival for the canines, they all settled back into rest mode. They have been doing so much camping this year that it is second nature to them now.

Once Warren took off again I headed back to continue my preparations for the trip. Things are now ready to go and we will keep you posted from the road as much as possible.
Cheers, Kate