As I sit here by an air conditioning vent trying to escape the 90 degree heat, I think back to the hot days in years past. 15 years ago I would have been jumping a course at Westwind with Elise and Kristine. We were careful to keep our horses supplied with electrolyte water and rub them down with a cooling rinse in between rounds, but we barely carried a water bottle a piece for ourselves. We wore tall boots and black helmets, with no thought of how hot we were. 8 years ago, with Ian now part of the mix, we spent our weekends going down the Hiwassee or Nantahala rivers. Ian would ride in the front of the funyak with Mogwai and laugh at each splash, then jump out to swim in the flat sections. Now Ian is a big 13 year old and has friends to go off with to do his own thing. Today he is on the lake with friends from his learning center, while I sit home in the air conditioning with his 7 huskies who fight to be in front of the fans. My, times have certainly changed in my life!

This new season of life finds me as the parent of a teenager who lives for the winter rather than the summer. Horse show people are the opposite. I faithfully worked my horse through the cold and and mud of winter to have a fit jumper come spring and summer. I lived for the jumper portion of East Tennessee Hunter Jumper Association shows. I hauled Reggie all over East Tennessee to jump all the things. I drove home with a sunburned face and arms, aching feet, and swollen calves from staying crammed in tight tall boots. And it was glorious. But now summer is for hiking dogs in creeks, so the water can keep their feet pads cool, and jogging (I HATE running, even at a jog) canicross to help keep a little fitness on the dogs. Ian gets up with the sun to take his dogs for jogs and put their pulling harnesses on for drag work. I never thought I would be so glad for winter to come!

As I look back on my publication history, I realize that I haven’t posted anything since Ian’s first race of the season, back in November! I’ve got to say, life has been busy since Ian started mushing. So while I hide from the heat, with huskies gathered around my feet, let me summarize Ian’s season for you.

1. November 30-December 1, 2024: Ohio Trailbreaker’s Sled Dog Club Dryland Challenge in Lodi, Ohio

I summarized this race in my last post: https://appreciatetheadventure.com/

2. January 4-5, 2025: Georgia Urban Mushing’s Allatoona Sled Dog Dryland Challenge in Ackworth, Georgia.

This was a great race for Ian. His beloved Falcon raced in wheel for him! Falcon is Ian’s special boy who Shantel selected for Ian before she’d even met Ian. Shantel and Bonnie helped get the gears in motion to put Falcon on a plane and fly him from Anchorage to Tennessee. You can read about the process here. Falcon’s purpose was to teach Ian’s Siberians how to run in harness. The old man did a great job teaching Ian how to drive dogs and training baby Shallot how to be a lead dog. He was always intended to be a recreational dog to run at home for Ian. But then Ian started looking at racing, and the junior rig class allowed for 3 dogs, so Ian decided he wanted to see if Falcon would be willing to run in wheel to help the girls out. And Falcon said yes!

We drove down to Allatoona early on January 3rd to set up camp with Ian’s dog trailer (ahem, my horse trailer converted to hold huskies and humans) and check out the trail. Typically Ian has no issues with running a trail he’s never seen before. Carly listens to his commands so well that Ian doesn’t get nervous about running a course blind. He would’ve done well in jumpers if he had continued with horses. Oh well… But since the course was open Friday afternoon, we had the chance to walk all the dogs, even the non-racing Balto and Jenna, and give everyone a nice long evening to settle in and sleep well.

Ian had to be up early Saturday morning for the mushers’ meeting. Brinn sometimes attends the meetings, but largely, Ian goes to these meetings on his own. He’s the musher. Brinn and I are merely his handlers at races, so it’s up to Ian to find out what his requirements are for the weekend. He pays attention well, and carefully considers everything the race officials share with the mushers. Anna, the director of this race, made the decision for juniors to run the full trail rather than a shorter version, AND she had juniors run right after the comparable adult class. So junior 3 dog rig ran right after the adult 4 dog rig class. This was FANTASTIC as it meant Ian’s dogs got to race before 9:00 am instead of having to wait through 6 dog rig, 4 dog rig, 2 dog scooter, 1 dog scooter, 2 dog bike, 1 dog bike, and adult canicross. The dogs are used to running early in the morning at home to get ahead of rising temperatures (Tennessee’s winters can still be warm) so they were pumped and ready to go by 8:30. We walked the dogs individually to the chute with the help of Nana who took Carly, while Ian wheeled his rig on up. Once there were only 2 more teams ahead of Ian, we clipped everyone to their tugs and necklines. When it was time, we walked the dogs on into the chute and helped Ian to line them out. I worried if Falcon felt up to running the two miles, but when Carly started screaming, Falcon started jumping and trying to tug us forward. His brain was on running! When the timer started the countdown, Falcon screamed and was ready to GO! We turned the dogs loose and I held my breath, worried that Falcon would change his mind. But all three of Ian’s dogs charged out of the chute and loped on down the trail. Sawyer soon caught Ian and lapped him with speedy hounds, but that’s okay. Sawyer is a great kid who drives dogs well, and does a great job handling passing. Soon after Ian and his 3 wonderful huskies came around the last turn and headed for the finish chute. Falcon ran an entire course for Ian that wasn’t one of his home trails. If only this dog could understand how much gratitude I had as he finished well.

Ian spent the rest of the day helping handle dogs for mushers he knows, and playing with friends he has made on the circuit. He always looks forward to seeing Val, and they typically go out together to potty walk dogs. Ian charged hard all evening, and came to bed exhausted. His parents completely failed him, as we later realized he had eaten nothing with protein for the entire day. I’m pretty sure the only food he ate was a basket of fries from the food truck. Ian carries his own money and debit card at races, so he usually eats a hot dog or two, and guzzles water or gatorade all day. But we didn’t check in on him and cook anything at the trailer. We camped in a large gravel parking lot, with gravel dust in plenty. Around 11:00 PM, Ian woke up asking for pepto and sinus medication. His belly was upset and he couldn’t breath. We found some medication in the dog’s first aid kit, and he crawled up into the gooseneck area of the trailer. It was already crammed full with Balto, Jenna, Carly, Brinn, and me. Once Ian climbed up, Shallot pitched a fit to join us. Then poor Falcon got lonely and howled about being left in a crate. I moved his bed to the floor of the gooseneck area so he could be close by. I climbed back up to get into my area of the bed, and found that Carly and Shallot had taken it over. And they were not about to move. I convinced Jenna to move down just enough for me to squeeze in by the window while Ian lounged in between his girls and Brinn.

The next morning, Ian woke up feeling even worse. Brinn and I potty walked all of the dogs and harnessed them for Ian, who sat on the side of the trailer nursing a ginger ale. When it came time to head to the chute, Ian stepped into the woods to throw up. I offered to load the dogs in the trailer to go home straight away, but he insisted he wanted to run. We got him into the chute, and Ron joined us to help hold the dogs. Ron owns Shallot’s brother, Pirate, so that makes us dog-in-laws. Ron gave Falcon a great back massage to get him ready to run. The timer counted down. Falcon and Carly screamed and jumped. Shallot ignored them both as she always stares down the trail and waits to hear “one” so she can RUN. The count down ran down to one, then the dogs were charging out of the chute…and Ian just stood on the rig. He didn’t crouch low to eliminate wind resistance, nor did he kick through the softer areas to help his dogs. He merely held on for the entire two miles. Those three dogs slowed down and gave Ian the easiest possible ride they could. He came in slowly to the finish chute with dogs trotting instead of loping. I hugged all three of those dogs after they came out the other side of the chute. They were the best baby sitters and nursemaids they could’ve possibly been. Ian walked his rig back to the trailer as we handlers unclipped tugs and walked his dogs back. As soon as we arrived at the trailer, Ian asked if we could pack up and go home. He was completely beat and just wanted to find a Walgreens. This was the first time he’s ever asked to skip awards. While Ian finished Allatoona feeling pretty rough, it was a great weekend for his dogs, and he enjoyed himself despite feeling unwell.

3. January 18-19, 2025: Capitolina Dryland Challenge in Rome, Georgia.

Capitolina was supposed to take place the weekend directly after Allatoona, but it snowed! You would think that snow would make a dog race better, but dryland equipment runs on wheels. Wheels slide through slick surfaces when you hit brakes. And Georgia doesn’t handle snow well on the roads. Salt trucks and plows were out, but roads still stayed slick. And don’t forget that we’re still in the Appalachian Mountain chain with lots of steep climbs and descents that are compounded by snow. So Mackenzie ended up having to push her race back by a week. Unfortunately the weather delay caused some people to not be able to attend, so the rig classes ended up being small, and Ian was the only junior in 3 wheeled rig, but what a fun race this was! Classes started right after daylight, and since Ian was the 3rd or 4th team to go out, he was completely finished with dogs loaded before 9:00 am.

Capitolina was a three hour drive from Cookeville. We debated on taking the trailer and camping, but honestly I didn’t feel like setting up the generator to run a heater through the night. It was a cold weekend! Ultimately I decided to take my car with Ian’s rig tied down on the back. We were able to drive down and back both days so all five of us (Ian, Falcon, Shallot, Carly, and me) were able to sleep in our own beds. This seemed to be a great strategy for the dogs and Ian, but a little stressful for me since I had to drive down the Cumberland Plateau through snow and sleet. We picked Nana up in Chattanooga then finished the drive. Ian is a great car sleeper, and so is Shallot. Carly kept me company while Ian snoozed, and Falcon screamed from the back of my car for the first hour of the drive. He’s not a calm traveler.

At the race, Falcon was all business until we got in the chute. Ian thought it was funny to ask his dogs if they were ready to go. But he said it with the same tone that he says “ready” before saying “okay!” All three of his dogs jump in the air and tried to lunge forward. Ian laughed, but I may have given him a look after I hauled Falcon back while Nana and Jessica hauled the girls back. But then the count down started and the team got to go for real. This was a tough race for spectators because Ian immediately dashed from the chute into the forest. Then he stayed in the forest for the 2.3 miles, coming out only at the very end to run through the chute. I wouldn’t have seen any of it if another musher who was out on trail help hadn’t sent me videos of Ian. Thank you, Anna!

Ian came out of the woods completely covered in mud. Falcon caught quite a bit of mud too. Carly and Shallot definitely faired better being in front. We packed Ian’s equipment and dogs up after a good drink, and pulled out. 30 minutes up the road Ian asked to stop for breakfast so we found a Cracker Barrel and pigged out. The dogs are a bit finicky about eating when we travel, but they were pretty happy to suck down the bacon and scrambled eggs we ordered for them.

On day two, Nana decided to sleep a bit later than 5:00 am, but Alanna came out to watch Ian race. She was able to fill in as handler to help get Ian to the chute. She drove Ian’s rig while Ian handled both of his girls, then Alanna held the neckline of the girls in the chute while I kept a hold of impatient Falcon. Ian and his dogs dashed off to the still muddy trail and had a great time making turns through the mud and running across wet bridges. Ian finished with a slow time, about 25 and a half minutes for the two days. This put him about 6 minutes behind the first place team in 4-dog-rig, but Ian’s a cautious driver and he finished with happy healthy dogs who didn’t slide down or crash.

After finishing, Ian was asked to provide trail help, so Alanna and I took care of his dogs for the day. We considered watching other mushers, but it was cold! So we sat in the car in between potty walks and our efforts to get the dogs to eat some breakfast. Eventually it started snowing! When all racers finished, we joined the group for awards (Mackenzie did a great job with nice awards!) while it snowed some more, then we were ready to head out. Ian was hungry (no surprise) so we stopped for an early dinner at Waffle House with Alanna and had a lovely time before hitting the road to head home. The snow stayed with us the entire time we climbed the plateau. I followed my usual protocol and followed a salt truck up the mountain, but at the county line he turned around. Boo! After that it was just me driving on the white roads while Ian and dogs slept. Despite the snow, it was a fantastic weekend and Ian had a ball at Mackenzie’s race, especially since he stayed healthy the entire weekend.

4. March 8-9, 2025: Jersey Devil Dryland Challenge in Browns Mills, New Jersey.

My brother lives in Newark, Delaware. New Jersey seems entirely too far away to drive for a dryland race, but when I looked at the distance from the race to my brother’s house, I found that it was only an hour between the two! We were long overdue on visiting Preston, so after checking with Nana, we decided to take her offer to drive up in her truck to visit Preston and take Ian to a race. Since we were traveling with dogs in the cab of the truck, on a 12 hour drive, Ian decided to leave Falcon at home and just run the girls. You’re allowed to run 2 dogs in a 3 dog class. We left early on Friday morning and arrived to Preston’s house late afternoon. Ian took the girls for a short rig run around Preston’s field to stretch their legs, then we settled in for an evening of doing nothing but hanging with Preston and eating dinner.

The next morning we woke up early and snuck out of the house to not wake up Preston. Ian wouldn’t race until later in the day, but he had to be present for the drivers’ meeting at 8:00 am. We made the first part of the drive with no issue, then found ourselves going off the main road and following sandy bumpy paths through nothing but forest. We wondered if we were even near the right location, but eventually the forest opened up a little and we came up on dog trailers and faces we recognized. Ian checked in for his meeting, we potty walked the girls, then settled in to hang out for the day. This race shortened the course for juniors and ran juniors at the end of the day, so it was a long wait. But we did get the opportunity to volunteer for trail help and learn a little bit more about what all goes into running a race.

This race was an important one for Ian because for the first time, he was dog shopping on his own. He made the decision to fully retire Falcon at the end of this season, and he needed to line up a new wheel dog for next season. He got to meet 2 eurohounds to consider adding them to his team. After watching these dogs race, and an agonizing day of deciding what would be the best fit for his needs, Ian had a long phone conversation with Shantel, and ultimately decided that he wants to stay with huskies since he’s trying to transition to mid-distance in the next year or two. Ian decided to tell Emily himself that while he very much liked her dogs, he was going to decline from buying either of them. That was really tough for the kid.

The trail was great. But it was very sandy. Ian said his rig tires kept sinking in the sand, which created a lot of resistance for the girls to pull, so they had a hard workout. It got up to 50 degrees, and some dogs were having trouble with the heat. Ian took both of his dogs to the creek to dip their paws in the water before running, and let them go in as far as they wanted in the water after his run. He’s a smart kid and neither of the girls had any issues despite the soft footing.

On day 2, Preston got up to go with us since we didn’t have to leave as early. Once we turned off the main road and entered the forest, he realized where we were at and said “this is the Pine Barrens!” I didn’t realize the significance of this location. But Preston, an avid fan of the Sopranos, instantly started telling us about an episode where Paulie and Chris were lost in the Pine Barrens all night. I hadn’t watched much of the show, but later that evening we watched the episode and I understood Preston’s enthusiasm a bit better.

The girls ran well on day 2, despite being slow, and Ian finished first since he was the only junior. The hosting club ran a raffle for several items, and Ian got lots of tickets to enter since he went out for trail help in almost every class except junior rig. He ended up winning a nylon 30 foot leash he’d had his eye on all weekend. After awards, we piled into Nana’s truck and headed back to Preston’s house to hang out for the rest of the day. The girls were worn out and happy to lay around for the rest of the day. This ended up being a really fun race since it’s the first time Preston got to see Ian race, and we got to spend time with some great people.

5. April 5-6, 2025: MUSH Fort Custer Spring Dryland in Augusta, Michigan

Fort Custer is one of Ian’s favorite places. It’s a state park near Battle Creek, Michigan. There’s water AND electricity at each campsite, a bath house with hot showers, and some of the best people in the mushing community. The Mid Union Sled Haulers host this unsanctioned race every fall and every spring. This year we had to leave two days earlier to make this 10 hour drive because we had to drive all the way to Gaylord, Michigan, which is almost at the top of the lower peninsula. You might ask why we would drive so far out of our way? Because Ian found his new dogs! Shantel suggested Ian consider Colt, a 4 year old Alaskan at Coyote Run Kennels. Colt had already run mid-distance races and was a young, strong dog. He checked all the boxes, and also had a short coat, making him a great candidate for Tennessee. Ian called Larry, Colt’s owner to discuss Colt. Ian had a long list of questions Shantel had coached Ian to ask. Ian asked Larry ALL these questions. Ian decided he needed to think about it, and he called Larry back a day later to confirm that he did want to buy Colt. Larry suggested another dog in case Ian wanted to buy 2 dogs. Uzi wasn’t officially for sale at that time, but Larry thought she might be a good fit for Ian. Since Ian is hoping to run 4-dog-rig this fall, he kind of needed a second dog, so Uzi turned out to be a great option for Ian. She’s got a little bit more hair than Colt, but nothing like Balto and Jenna!

After driving to Gaylord, Larry and Joann took Ian to meet his new dogs, then he took all of his dogs on a short rig run to stretch their legs. He even took Colt and Uzi out for a short runs to get to know them. We had planned to camp in the trailer that night, but the Fortiers very kindly invited us into their home for dinner (the best smash burgers I’ve ever had) and warm beds. We woke up well rested the next morning and loaded two extra dogs into the trailer and headed south to Fort Custer. Alanna and Nana soon joined us at the campground, then a couple of hours later they took Brinn and Ian with them to a local place to have dinner with several other mushers. I volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on all these dogs.

Saturday’s run went fine for Ian. Juniors can only run two dogs, so Ian took Shallot and Carly. They had a slow run. Ian’s getting a lot taller and heavier, and they’re slowing down when pulling his larger frame. Later that evening, he took advantage of the open trail so he could take his new kids out. Living in Tennessee, we never know when summer is going to move in and end Ian’s training runs for the year. So Sunday morning, Ian found Annie, the race marshal, to ask if he could take a DQ but be allowed to still run so he could take Uzi out with Carly to get an extra training run in. I’m glad he did this, as it was a great chance to get extra trail work in on a trail away from home. Uzi was a little confused about having wheels behind her, but after having run around Fort Custer for two great laps, she started to realize that it’s just an oddly shaped sled and she still gets to do her favorite thing, which is RUN! Colt went into canicross both days with Ian so he could get some trail time as Ian figured him out and vice versa. Ian hates canicross. HATES it. He wasn’t thrilled I signed him up for it, but Colt enjoyed strolling around the trail since Ian takes the scenic speed. Ian developed plantar fasciitis a couple of years ago, and he’s having a devil of a time getting over it. As soon as he starts running very much, the inflammation flares back up. So he tries to save his running for rig races, and has no motivation for canix. And that’s okay.

It was a busy race season. We spent a lot of days getting up before dawn so we could be at the trails by daylight so Ian could run his dogs in colder temps. We would also go out in the evenings just before dark to get more running in. I’m not sure Ian could have done all this if he were still in a traditional school setting. Sometimes he had to complete his school work on Saturdays and Sundays, and he didn’t get a spring break or fall break. School started in June for Ian, so that he could get ahead on academics before mushing season started for him.

We met so many wonderful people this season. Ian encountered new struggles with shopping for his next dogs. This was the first time we let him make the decision himself. I think he chose pretty well. Nana traveled to every race Ian competed in, and Bonnie and Jim even came to Lodi! Ian got to see Val several times, as she quickly became his best friend on the race circuit. It was a long year of running dogs, but now that we have 7 stir crazy huskies inside the house, I find that I’m very eager to return to cold temps!