February 4, 2003
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Northern Nuttiness
Here in the Formerly Frozen North, it has been raining all night. The path to the outhouse is so slick, with the rain on top of packed snow, that I felt like a billiard ball in a bank shot as I slid out there, caromed off the side of the house and skidded down into the privy… not all the way down–stopped short of disaster. But the experience almost made me forget what I was out there for.
The sponsors of the Iron Dog long distance snowmachine race have cancelled it for this year. That has some of the more rabid motor mushers up in arms, claiming that they don’t really need snow to run their race, and threatening to run it even without the support staff, the prizes, etc. This comes as no surprise to me. That particular group never did impress me with their smarts.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Committee has said that race will go on as planned, no matter what. That’s a little bit scary, given the hazards of the trail even in normal conditions. The Dalzell Gorge, for example, is a steep slide down and then a rugged climb back up the other side. Every year at least a few mushers lose control and slam into trees or slide right past their dog teams on the way down and get tangled in the lines. If that trail was in the same condition as my outhouse path, it would be a killer.
Several days ago, the weather report from Finger Lake, one of the higher elevation checkpoints on the Iditarod Trail, was 43°F and mosquitoes… skeeters in January up in the mountains of Interior Alaska is WEIRD. By the end of this month and the start of the race, who knows what the dogs and their handlers might encounter on the trail? It’s anybody’s guess.
Comments (12)
Nuttiness!
Great site you have here, I need to check it out more throughly, you have so much stuff to see!
Thank you for your comment on my bra blog!
crazy..I feel sorry for the poor dogs
Outhouse in Alaska??? Wow, you are one tough lady!!
Wow…seems the weather has changed all over the planet this past few years, eh? I think it must be something to do with the ozone layer but hey, what the hell do I know?
I’m just bemused by some of them being prepared to race without snow…
~~~Angeline~~~
I still have tears in my eyes and cramps from laughing. I share your concern w/the Iditarod, my main thing being that if some dogs die due to bad trail conditions, PETA will be all over us like white on rice.
I find it incredible that you have to use an outhouse, especially in Alaska. That must be cold on the extremities.
Yikes…glad you made it back okay from the outhouse!
-M
Slip sliding away….Slip sliding awayeyey…..
Everything has a music soundtrack for me and this is the song that drifted through my warped mind as I read about your venture to the outhouse.
I think, for those of us down south, your area holds so much promise, adventure, and thrills. I like that you make it all so much more human.
My kids are huge fans of the Iditerod. They have the Balto movie and book (we just watched the movie yet again tonight). I wonder how much of that story is true? The story we have is a sort of real-fiction style story.
mwuahahaha! irreverence from the daughter…i like that in a kid.
you know, had I been headed to the outhouse and ended up banking like a billard ball on my arse and whathaveyou, it wouldn’t have been a matter of forgetting what I had headed out there for…it would’ve been a moot point by the time I stopped sliding. Would’ve become laundry day…pronto.