December 11th, 2001
Training is going well, we are running over in Sterling right now near Swanson River with great thanks to Gail & Phil Hoekman for putting in a trail to accommodate the distance mushers as well as the Sprint mushers and for their wonderful hospitality. They have made it possible to train closer to home this season. We are now up to 30 -40 miles and doing some camping out as of the 14th of the month. We are in the process of getting ready for the Knik 200 on January 5 & 6 and then for the Klondike on January 19 & 20. There is allot to prepare for for both the team and the musher. The temperature is finally up a little bit today, it's about 15 degrees, last week we we're at about - 20 below zero. Just a little Burrrr. We have acquired a new team member, her name is Cindy and she has run some mid-distance in the past but mostly Sprint ( 20mph) so she is use to going fast but due to her age she is slowing somewhat and will make a great addition to our team ( 10-15mph ).
We are working with the puppies on daily basis now doing some free run with them and harness breaking, they seem to be taking to the harness real well. We attended the Iditarod Rookie meeting over this past weekend and really enjoyed seeing allot of friends and making some new friends over the 2 day event. So now it's back to training the team again, and having some fun because that's what it's all about.
Happy Trails , Judy.

Alaska's wonderful northern lights

November 11th, 2001
We've been out on the trail running and training the team still on the 4 wheeler but we're increasing the miles a little at a time for the team. We've been doing quite a bit of leader training in the campground by our house up until Friday and now we're training over at Quartz Creek, it's a 16 mile run with hills and tight corners, oh yes and an occasional assault of the low lying branches and shrubs due to the snow. We will run this mileage for the next couple of runs and then boost another 5 miles with the hopes of running 30- 40 mile runs by the end of the month and a couple of camping trips added in just for fun. The dogs are all doing quite well with increase in mileage even the yearlings. My husband is a little sore from the bumpy ride on the 4 wheeler these last couple of days but he sure is trooper about the whole thing. We've been assembling the food bags and drop items for the upcoming races and contacting people about meats and other items we may need to make this season a little easier. We will be getting a sled from Blackfoot Sleds . Ray (the owner) said he will be delivering Davids Straub's new Blackhawk sled in couple of weeks and will bring mine as well.
We just finished cutting up meat last night for the dogs, we still need to grind it and cook it but at least it's off the bone. Our puppies are getting big and we're doing some free runs with them on a daily basis. We have 2 handlers for the season and another young man periodically that ran the Jr. Iditarod last year helping us this year.