We had more people “show up” here yesterday. Just as Mark, Tara and I were getting ready for breakfast, Mark and Lisa Luttinen pulled into the driveway. Mark wanted to “get muddy” playing with and running dogs while Lisa planned on hunting while we were running.  Well, we ended up sitting around bs’ing for so long that we had to wait until the afternoon to head out for the run as handler Steve was scheduled to arrive around 1:00 p.m. Right on time, Steve and his buddy Aaron (who gave him a ride from Ely) pulled in. Once the Jeep was unloaded, Aaron headed back to Ely (there was an important football game on TV in a couple hours he couldn’t miss) and Mark got the heater started in the Bunk Barn, it was finally time to run dogs. Mother Nature who had given us a dry dog yard Thursday afternoon, changed it back to a soupy mess with the rain she sent us all day Friday and most of yesterday. Needless to say, we got a little muddy.

Since Steve had just arrived, we let him stay behind and get unpacked so Mark and Mark (Luttinen) ran the Varsity Team and I, with Tara on the back of the ATV, ran the JV-1 Team. We had a soggy run, but the dogs did great. I don’t think the dogs mind the wet as much as us whiny mushers do. About halfway through the run Tara and I switched places and I let her drive the team. She seemed pretty comfortable driving so I asked her if she felt up to driving the team through our back trail. Why I asked her is our back trail is bumpy, windy, rocky narrow and even I find it’s not my favorite section of trail to run. Especially when the dogs know that they are “heading for the barn” so the like to pick up the speed. That section also includes what Mel (our handler from last year) calls “The Corner of Death”, which is a tight corner that is at an angle so you feel like your going to tip the ATV over, smash into the trees or both. Well, Taras answer when I asked her if she was up to it was an enthusiastic “yeah, cool”. Mel, we made it through TCOD and back to the dog yard in one piece. Way to go Tara…what a trooper!

Today Steve will get to go on the run too. More than likely he’ll be running with Mark and I’ll be with Tara again. We need to get them trained in fast so by next weekend we can hitch up all three teams at once and start getting some serious training miles on the dogs.