| The
Journey Continues
April 28, 2006
No, I didn’t fall off the end of the earth, but I’ve
had a very bad case of Post Mushing Syndrome and just haven’t
been able to get much traction. As I recovered from the nasty bug
I caught during the race I became overwhelmed with the magnitude
of the task I had set before myself. If I want to run this race
again, and I do, I need to find some way to generate enough money
to not only cover the race and kennel expenses, but to also pay
the mortgage and other household bills. I love my wife very much,
but over the last 34 years she has gotten very used to sleeping
under a roof in a warm bed and eating regularly, so the typical
musher trick of sleeping under the stars at night and eating what
you catch just isn’t an option. Besides if we had to live
on my hunting and fishing prowess, even the dogs would loose weight
;-).
I played with several ideas to raise money, none of which have a
very high probability of success, and then I realized that I had
once again lost focus. I feel very much akin to Peter when Christ
called him to walk on the water. As long as Peter focused on Jesus
he did fine, but when he lost that focus he started to sink. I believe
that God is with me on this journey, and as long as I focus on that
and I am willing to walk in the faith that God will take care of
me, everything goes smoothly. When I loose that focus, just like
Peter, I start to thrash and sink. I hope that by sharing my journey
I can inspire other people to walk in faith and achieve their dreams.
Eric's new dog truck bought sight unseen. Kelley
Wemark had the truck professionally detailed, but I took the
picture after driving 1500 miles in Alaskan breakup. |
As you know I wrecked my truck and dog
trailer coming home from the Don Bowers race the end of January. Jim
and Bonnie Foster loaned me their 4 wheel drive suburban (their strong
winter car) and Bill and Brenda Borden loaned me their dog trailer
(much bigger and nicer than my old one) so that I could keep training
and do Iditarod. So the first order of business was to get my own
transportation so I could return the borrowed vehicles. I got a nice
$4,000 settlement from the insurance company for my truck and the
logical thing is to find an older 4x4 truck that can pull the trailer.
But when I went looking nothing felt right. Then I saw an add for
a 2003 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD extended cab with dog box in Salcha
(east of Fairbanks). I couldn’t see anyway to get that truck
without a job to apply for the loan, but it felt like my truck. I
kept looking at older vehicles and would you believe I got an ad in
the mail from my bank that I was pre-approved for a loan up to $50,000
to buy a new car! I called the bank and told them my story and the
agent checked and said my credit was good enough to “fast track”
where they didn’t look at income vs outgo and as long as Marti
was working we were qualified.
I couldn’t afford to go to Salcha just to look at the truck,
so I asked lots of questions and Kelley Wemark sent me lots of pictures.
Since I had a strong feeling that God was working here and intended
this to be my truck, I committed to buying the truck sight unseen,
finalized the loan, and flew to Fairbanks where Kelley met me. I saw
the truck, handed Kelley the check from the bank and drove it home.
It’s not the truck I would have chosen for myself, but it feels
good and I like it. I think we will share many adventures in the days
to come.
Well the only reason to buy a new dog truck is to be a full time musher.
For the local races I’ve been doing the last 12 years the truck
and trailer combination has served me well, but if I want to run the
quest and race outside the thought of pulling a large dog trailer
over those icy roads just doesn’t appeal. So buying a large
dog truck (it passes anything but a gas station) only makes sense
if I follow through and get the dogs I need to race. At this time
I’m focusing on the 2008 Iditarod, with the 2007 Iditarod being
my second training race. Of the dogs I’ve got now, the ones
that should make the 2008 team are: Keiko, Lycos, Dijon, Basil, Dash,
Platinum, Jewels, Rom, Sisco, Dukat, and Mocha. In addition I expect
one of Balu, Picard, and Java to make the team. To run a 16 dog team
I should train 20 dogs (many mushers would train 24) and I have 12,
so I need 8 really good dogs between now and the 2008 race. I was
going to wait until the money resolved itself before getting more
dogs, but Marti (just got to love that lady) reminded me that we were
walking in faith, so off I went.
I really like Jeff King’s dogs so I started there. Bryan Bearss,
a good friend and fellow rookie this year, works for Jeff in the summer
and Bob Bundtzen and Zack Steer in the winter, so he is my insider
to help me pick good dogs. By the time I contacted Jeff, most of the
dogs were sold, but he did have two nice pups that would be yearlings
for next year’s race. However both Bryan and Lexi Hill (my coach)
strongly argued that I didn’t want yearlings in next year’s
team. The argument is that I need to improve my performance next year
and that could be difficult for someone of my experience level if
I’m worried about protecting yearlings. I can be much more aggressive
in training, and somewhat more in racing, if I don’t have yearlings
to worry about.
Mocha's sister
Thyme purchased from
Zach Steer's kennel. This girl is poetry in motion.
Look at those eyes, there is someone home there. |
Bryan told me I should talk to Mike Santos,
who also works for Jeff’s tourist operation in the summer. Mike
has bought three of Jeff’s brood bitches and bred them back
to Jeff’s main stud. Mike ran dogs on the East coast for years,
but recently moved to Alaska to be at the center of distance mushing.
He is planning to run the 2008 Iditarod and is definitely someone
to watch. He has a great puppy training program and a very impressive
operation. You can follow him at http://www.wolfsdenkennel.com/
. To make a long story short, Mike is selling a brood bitch and some
pups from the stuff he was working with before he started breeding
Jeff King’s bloodlines. They are very nice dogs, but when I
looked at them it was like kissing your sister. You know they are
special and there are lots of other guys that would love the chance,
but for me it just didn’t quite make the grade.
Next I went to Zack Steer’s kennel and looked at three dogs
that Bryan recommended. The first was Thyme, who is Mocha’s
litter mate. I really like Mocha, and this is Jeff’s bloodlines.
Zack was selling Thyme because she is not a good eater and he is worried
about keeping weight on her during the race. I walked this girl and
watched her move and put her in my truck. She is absolutely poetry
in motion. She is a little shy (Mocha is a little timid) and a little
small, but gee she moves pretty.
Throttle purchased
from Zack Steer's
kennel. Throttle has run two Iditarods
and gained weight during both.
She runs lead, but has never
been tried in tough situations.
She is very intelligent
and affectionate. |
The second dog, Throttle, ran Iditarod
in 2005 with Bob Bundtzen and in 2006 with Bryan
Bearss. She is such a great eater that she gained weight during
both races. She runs lead, but has not been asked to lead in difficult
situation, so nobody knows how good she might be. Throttle is a real
love and when I asked her if she wanted to be my dog she said definitely!
I got a serious face washing and that closed the deal right there.
I brought both dogs into the house last night so Marti could meet
them. Throttle said she belonged here and would stay on the couch
forever!
The third dog was Cajun, and you might hear great things about her
in Zack’s team. He wasn’t sure he wanted to sell her,
but would let me have her if I wanted. She is a very nice dog, but
didn’t touch a special place in my heart and will probably do
better for Zack.
That leaves one empty position in my kennel before I either place
some dogs or expand the kennel. So I am still looking for a good dog,
but I’m going to continue to be picky and try to find the dogs
that I will enjoy working with and that will enjoy working with me.
If you look at the list of dogs I’m counting on for the 2008
race, most of you will notice Bass isn’t on that list. Bass
will the 10 for the 2008 race, and I’m not sure I should even
ask him to run at that age, but I am counting on him for the 2007
race.
Tussock, a very
sweet 9 yr old neutered,
debarked male with strong prey drive.
Tussock is available for adoption
and should be the only animal in the
home with no small children.
Tussock is on thyroid medication. |
Then there are three dogs that I have
that are looking for couch potato positions. I had placed Tussock
before, but it didn’t work out (he disagreed with one of the
other dogs). Tussock will be 9 this June and is on Thyroid medication.
He has a strong prey drive, so no small animals and I don’t
always trust him with other dogs. With the prey drive I wouldn’t
trust him with small children either. But Tussock is an absolute love
who adores attention and is a very easy keeper. He has been neutered
and debarked and would make someone a very nice companion.
Then both Worf and Quark are available for adoption. Their pictures
and descriptions are available on the web site. Both dogs are shy,
but bond very tightly when you work through the shyness. Both are
very sweet neutered, debarked males.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
© 2006 All rights reserved
|
