Here is a note from Kathy about the dogs over at the kennel.

FROM KATHY:

Denali is in a new home with a friend of mine — a semi-retired physician and his wife who run dogs recreationally and want to do some 100 and 200 mile races before they get any older. So, she gets to sleep inside all the time now as they keep all eight of their sled dogs in the house at night (they have a very big house). She will be a star in that kennel. Ursa, Chilkoot, and Nutmet moved to Question Lake in Talkeetna with a lovely young couple — Pete and Anya. Anya was a handler for Melanie Gould, a mid-distance and Iditarod musher before marrying Peter, who works on the North Slope and originally came from southeast PA (just like me!). The dogs seem very happy there — at their lakeside kennel — and Peter and Anya have taken them camping before the snow melted. They plan on doing some 100 mile and under races next year, which is a good fit for Chilkoot and Nutmeg; Ursa is capable of more though. Anya is using Nutmeg to train her as a leader.

Schilling will be leaving at the end of the summer — going back to Matt Hayashida, who originally owned him. Chinook will leave in the spring of 2011, and will return to Claudia and Frank Sihler, who raised her. Moby is still looking for a new home. Ruby just flew off to her retirement home in Indiana. I hated to see her go and she was showing no signs of flagging, but she was going to be 8 this summer and at most, she’d be running in races another year. Good retirement homes are not easy to find, so I did the right — but painful thing — in letting her go into retirement a year early. I found a home for Nome with a recreational musher, but at the last minute could not bear to part with her. She was my first leader and is one of my favorites. So, she will be the chief puppy/yearling trainer next year (now that Nutmge is in a new home) and she is also my new hiking/walking/jogging partner. We are doing four miles a day, three times a week and it is working out well.

New faces in the kennel include Racket (brother of Relay and Vault), Volcano (another Sven Haltmann dog), and three rescues from a retired Iditarod musher who has a serious health problem. One of the rescue dogs is Charlotte (a Raymy Brooks dog) and her son, Jake (a Brooks/Mackey breeding). The third dog is Cozy, and his background is somewhat unknow. I plan to neuter him; not sure if I’ll keep him until I run him. As you know, I’m short on male dogs, and with two males leaving and one more probably leaving (Moby), I needed a few good men to replace them. Net gain in male dogs will be one male, if I keep Cozy.

At this point, all the weaker dogs in the kennel are gone and what remains is a core of 9 dogs from my Iditarod team plus Douglas (verdict still out on him) and his two siblings plus three unproven puppies (Dawson, Sparkle, and Gouda) and the three new rescues. I hope to have a core team of 16 by the end of December and then will place the ones that don’t make the grade. It’s the day after day 40-50 mile runs and the 200 mile race that basically separates the keepers from the rest.

Andrew and I finished clipping nails and giving the dogs their shots today. We have packed away all the dog stuff in the shed, and Andrew is busy cleaning out the handler’s cabin. Tomorrow is officially his last day, although he’ll probably be back on Wednesday and Thursday to gather his things before leaving for Juneau. I take the dogs down to Juneau on May 5-7th. Relay is expecting; she was (intentionally) bred to a Mackey dog that Ryan’s father owns. He will take most of the litter; I will take one or two pups depending on the size of the litter. I plan on taking a male, who will be named Rohn.

I have to be honest these last five months have been one hell of a ride. Even being in Alaska there were some rough patches trying to deal with all of this stuff back in Los Angeles. I realize it doesn’t matter how far you go because things eventually catch up to you.

Throughout my time in Alaska I had many people say that they went there to run away from something or to something and I know that for me it was both. I was running to a great story, but away from my life in LA. Though I have great friends, a great boyfriend, and a good support system, I had had my fill of a lot of the BS that I came up against in my day to day life. I wanted a break, I wanted to go somewhere, anywhere that was not southern California. Now do not get me wrong I do not want to sit here and bad mouth Los Angeles. There are amazing things about the city or I would not have been here for almost 8 years. However, as I have come to find out running away has consequences. Friendships struggle, relationships fall apart, everyone’s lives keep going even if you are 3000 miles away living a wonderful journey.

So it’s been two weeks since I have been back and I realize everything has changed, from local hang outs closing shop to friends not speaking to each other to people breaking up with their significant others and in the midst of it I changed too, a lot. I came to realize what was really important in life, people you can count on, a sense of community, helping out those in need even if they are complete strangers. The idea of being a good neighbor is something I value much more than I once did. Last year I was pretty pissed off much of the time, about anything really from the guy in right lane who cut me off to clients to friends to anyone and everyone. Post Alaska I have a newfound sense of life and learning to really embrace everything that comes my way. It’s not worth spending time being angry all of the time. Sometimes you just have to simply let it go because if you don’t it will succumb you, eat you up inside and you will just become a completely miserable person.

I am working as a line producer on a web series currently and it is the least stressed I have ever been on a shoot in my life. It certainly isn’t for lack of problems and in fact there are 8000 hurdles every second of the day, but I frankly don’t stress or worry about it like I once would have. I know I give all I can, do a great job and it all will work out. I am moving June 1, to where, I don’t know. In the past I would be having a complete and total freak out, but not now. Now it’s about living each day to the fullest, taking life in stride and just being happy. A lot more is about to change for me in both my personal and professional life and I am excited to see what happens. It is scary as hell and I know in my heart things will be difficult the next month or so, but it will all work out how it is supposed to.

I want to really thank everyone I met in Alaska and the experiences I got to have because it changed me, it made me a better person, and made me appreciate life a whole lot more…I do not know what the future brings… perhaps some heart ache, perhaps some tears, but I know no matter what that the experiences I have had and those I have shared with you have helped make me a better person and for that I will be forever grateful…

The live broadcast will be at 10:30pm tonight due to a prior commitment. Stay tuned and check out USTREAM link for the show!

And here it is Episode 10. In this episode Kathy attends a mandatory meeting before racing in the Don Bowers the following day. It was amazing to see the sense of community with these mushers and really opened my eyes to how tight knit everyone is. It was also my first encounter with Joe May who you will see interviewed in a later episode. I found a kindred spirit in Joe and am excited to show more of his story in a later episode…

So the last 10 episodes are coming up. Episode 10 will be posted THIS FRIDAY and then every Friday a new episode will be up till the finale, which will be the first Friday in June, June 4th! I will also be relaunching the Ustream broadcast next Tuesday night, April 13th at 8pm PST/11pm EST so that each week you can ask me questions related to Friday’s episode. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbors. The 1150project story continues this Friday!!

This past week having been back in the lower 48 has felt like a month. My apologies for not updating as frequently as I would have liked. I know I sort of dropped off the planet when I left Alaska, which was not my intent. Before I left everything happened so quickly I really had no time to do anything. Then I left Alaska, was back in Los Angeles for a day and I began editing episode 10 when I got sick and had to take a break to focus on just getting better. I am very bummed I have not been able to get to it, but unfortunately I had to take care of my health. I return to Los Angeles on April 5.

Kathy called me tonight to check in, but unfortunately I was on the road and missed her call. I just sent her an email and looking forward to her update tomorrow! When I left she was headed to the Into the Wild bus with her son Chris for a weekend camping trip so I am excited to hear all about it.

As for me, besides getting a lot of rest, a lot of fluids and being high on Sudafed, I have been able to really reflect on the last couple of months and what it all meant to me. I have made some realizations and discovered though I have loved doing my own project, I have to say I miss collaborating with other people. Having this week to rest has also given me some time away and the perspective I needed, taking a step back and moving forward on the project. I started over on Episode 10 and decided rather than rush to put it together when I wasn’t well, I should put it aside and wait till I was well enough to make it great. I had hoped to be able to get episodes up quicker, but the truth is I am just one person and doing it all yourself takes time so I want to honor that, not just throw something together and make the next 10 episodes better than the first 9!

Lots of personal stuff happening as well, which has been great. Again just a lot of opportunity to reflect and find peace. Looking forward to what is ahead (hopefully a paid position somewhere), finishing the episodes the next two months and then trying to put together something a bit lengthier perhaps.

Thanks for everyone’s patience as I recoup and regroup and will be updating more frequently the next two months

Well it was bound to happen. After being the energizer bunny the last few months I am spending my final time in Willow in bed. I am trying to feel somewhat better before I drive out to Anchorage for my last night in Alaska tomorrow.

Nome was awesome, despite the fact that I blame Nome for being bed ridden today; it was worth it. To give you perspective Nome has a population of about 3,000 or so people, but thousands come into town this time of year for the end of the Iditarod. One of the women I met said she didn’t mind the people so much, but she just wished they didn’t bring so many germs with them. I did my best to not cough in her presence as I was one of the culprits for bringing in those pesky germs. I met a Native Eskimo woman who taught me how to make Eskimo Ice Cream. It isn’t the ice cream that you and I know. It is made with reindeer fat, sugar, seal oil and salmon berries (salmon berries look like TRIX cereal clumped together). I will post picts either later tonight or tomorrow.

I ended up meeting a bunch of the Inditarod Insider crew, the guys that work on the footage for the Iditarod website. They were a hoot and I wish I could have stayed a day longer to hang out with them after their shoot. However, based on how I am feeling today it was best that I came back to Willow, got lots of rest and plenty of fluids!

I have very mixed feelings about leaving Alaska. On the one hand I am excited to get back to life and well back to reality as I search for my next job and next endeavor. I am sad to leave all the wonderful people I have met, but hope to do justice to each one of their stories as I continue editing. I am also excited to take a few weeks to bang out several more episodes as well as start to put this together as a longer story, to see how this takes shape.

ok back to bed!

Kathy is still recovering. She has had a cough that just won’t go away, bronchitis at the beginning of the season doesn’t want to leave and she has been dealing with some other issues, not to mention the sleep deprivation. I think she needs to sleep for about a month to recover.

I fly out to Nome tomorrow! I am only there for a night and I am hoping I can catch some of of the early teams as they come in, but I may need to try and bump my flight. I am rooting for Lance Mackey personally. We will see if my bad timing holds up or if I can at least catch Lance or Jeff King (both currently in the lead) before I leave Tuesday night. I was able to get a room RIGHT at the finish line. I am excited to talk to some of the volunteers as well as some of the people who follow the race religiously. Perhaps I will even bump into some of the people I met in Skwetna. I am shocked I got a flight and a room. I was ready to sleep in the airport so I am pretty grateful.

The other day I had the opportunity to meet Joe May. Joe and his wife Sandra host the Don Bowers Race check point at their home, a wonderful 60 year old cabin that Joe fixed up and his wife helped paint. Joe and Sandra are really great people. It’s hard to describe the energy Joe exudes, but he is 74 and has a zeal for life most 20 year olds don’t have. I felt a real connection to Joe; he is someone that seems to always follow what his heart tells him, including how he proposed to his wife, a story that I want to save until I post my interview with him. Joe is an incredible storyteller and he appreciates, values and is passionate about history. He told me his motives for having me talk to him weren’t necessarily pure. He is looking for a writer to come to Alaska for a year so that they can write a novel. I told Joe he should write it, but he said “Oh no I don’t have much time left and I just have too much to do.” Personally I think Joe’s book would be better than any novelist who comes up to Alaska and I am going to still try and convince him to at least write down all the stories he shares with everyone!

Joe wrote me an email yesterday after I thanked him for speaking to me. This was the email he sent me in response to my email.

Leslie
Glad you had an opportunity to see a bit more of back woods Alaska yesterday. The road system and city are much like anywhere else. Perhaps one day you can make it into the villages and travel some of the River. It’s where the flavor and reality of Alaska are most evident. Trapper Creek isn’t but a half way camp between here and there.
Some good reading: Coming Into the Country, A Land Gone Lonsome, The Last Great Race, and Yukon Alone.
Must run. Take care, stay in touch, and follow your dream.
Joe

The very last sentence has resonated with me since I got that email. The whole point of this project was just that, follow your dream. For me, following Kathy, it inspired me that no matter what I need to continue to pursue my own dreams, my own passions. It’s easy to get disheartened. I have, like many people, taken a lot of hits this past year. Life isn’t easy, it’s hard work and I always believed that if you work hard enough and fight with everything you have you will succeed. Now Kathy may not have finished this race, but she accomplished more than many will or have at her age. She had to use a different skill set to make it the day her sled crashed into a hole. She could have fallen into the water, she could have broken a bone, and she could have gotten frostbite or hypothermia, but she and her dogs made it out unscathed. To me, to anyone looking at the situation, she won!

Kathy got farther than five other people this year. She should be proud of that accomplishment. There were a lot of people that didn’t think she would make it to the start and she had a lot of strikes against her going into the race including not being in the best health, yet she went as far as she possibly could. She even tried to keep going; she stayed up all night trying to get rid of the ice that had built up outside and inside her sled bag. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to get rid of all the ice that had accumulated and Kathy fell further behind. So when the race marshall told her she was too far behind and had to either scratch or be withdrawn, Kathy chose to scratch. She didn’t have a choice. Perhaps if she had more time, if her sled had not skidded on a patch of ice, if her sled didn’t go into a big hole filled with water I would be meeting her in Nome. However, I am happy to have her back here, resting, trying to get better.

Follow your dream. My whole life I have attempted to do just that. There are days when the chips are down and you feel like nothing is going right, you may ask yourself what are you doing with your life and is it worth it? Maybe you should follow a different path, maybe you should follow someone else’s advice. Go get a “normal” job, go back to school, go do anything else, but that one thing that your heart is telling you to do. I have to be honest, there have been lots of times, especially this last year each one of those things have come to mind. Then you get an opportunity to meet someone like Kathy, or Joe or Mike Santos or Lou Packer and his wife Ellen, and so many other people I have had the good fortune to get to know in my time here in Alaska and you realize it IS worth it. The struggles, the hard times, the sadness and the fear, it’s all part of it. So I am going to follow my dream. Maybe I will crash into a giant hole too, but hey at least I tried…

I suddenly feel like I am living the movie CLUE with the three different endings…

At about 6:30pm, while I was in Anchorage, we heard Kathy would be coming back into Anchorage today. On the way back when we were in Wasilla we got a call from Caleb that Kathy was flying into Anchorage in 30 minutes (we were now about 50 minutes outside of Anchorage). So I turned the car around and booked it back to Anchorage to arrive at Pennair to meet Kathy. We miss her by about 5 minutes (story of my life) and then go over to the Millennium to catch up with Kathy as she was eating dinner to get the scoop.

Essentially once she was past Rainy Pass, and before she hit Rohn, Kathy’s sled got caught in a hole and tipped into the water. She DID NOT go into the water. Her sled was tipped upside down and she could not get it out. Her dogs hunkered down and Kathy paced to keep warm as she waited for the trail sweepers to help her get her sled out. It took 5 people to get her sled out and Kathy was on her way to Rohn. Once at Rohn Kathy tried to get her sled bag as warm as possible, but to no avail. The accommodations in Rohn were essentially a tent and she did not have enough time since she was so far behind to really get her sled bag to thaw out. Rememeber all of Kathy’s essential items, her food, her dog food, her axe, etc are all in her sled. Unfortunately she just got too far behind and the race marshall asked Kathy is she wanted to scratch or she would be withdrawn.

So she made the hard choice and scratched. I know Kathy said she cried on the plane ride back home, but she was in decent spirits when I saw her last night. Now she is sleeping soundly at the hotel and will see her in the next few hours.

Everyone is asking what is next and to be honest for me I still have to finish this story, as for Kathy well I think getting back to her life a bit. We are both in a boat of having to find a job, we both need to move, and I think we both have to figure out now what. I am pretty certain and Kathy has said this many times before this was her one shot. She had one shot to compete in the Iditarod and she knew going in that this was a possibility, to not finish. There will be other races, there will be other excursions and she will continue to have dogs and mush on a recreational level. For me I want to complete this and see what comes of it. Maybe I will develop it into a feature, but I also need to find a way to support myself and get a job and live my life… we shall see.

Below is a picture of Kathy at the ceremonial start. More to come…