Greetings Race Fans!

Still winter here at Denali. Snow & icy. Anchorage is expecting 5 inches of snow today. Jason has a team of yearlings out on the Denali Hwy getting ready for the ’09 race season. We’re not letting the grass grow under our feet here!

Dog sales have been brisk – but some of the best are still here!

Check ‘em out! I’m off to Palm Springs with my daughter Ellen to check out a fine arts boarding school. By the time I get back next week I’m guessing the snow will be starting to melt quickly.

I wanted to answer a few of the questions that have come through on the blog...

-As for what does POTUS stand for? If I told you that I’d have to kill ya! Figure it out...!! ;)

-A couple comments about Lance’s dog Zorro. We hear he is home safe & sound in Fairbanks after being hit by a snowmachine near the finish of the Sweepstakes. There was a comment that possibly Zorro shouldn’t have been being carried, and that possibly Lance was acting irresponsibly by not stopping or something. I wasn’t there, but I know Lance well, and I also know that it’s not uncharacteristic to carry a dog that can’t keep up with the rest of the group. This does not imply that the dog is in any way uncomfortable, suffering, or such. It is way more humane to give a ride to a dog that can’t keep up, than encourage a dog to go faster when he can’t. I have no reason to believe Zorro was injured prior to being hit by a snowmachine, and have made the assumption the more likely reason was that he could not keep up with the speed that the balance of the team was capable of going.

-Salem is happily training yearlings with Cali. His littermate Houston will be going to his retirement home outside of Bend, Oregon. And Rumba has recently moved to Northern Sweden.

-The harnesses I used in this year’s races were modified PULKA harnesses from Howling Dog and made in the Czech Republic by ManMat. I love them, and clearly intend to continue using them. There are two things I like about them more than the distance harness I’ve been using: 1.) I can select one side or the other for the dog to stay on. This gives me an opportunity to influence pressure points on the dogs – it does not require me to remember which side of the tow line that the dog has been running on. It sounds insignificant when I say it and see it typed, but I cannot emphasize how much benefit I believe I have reaped for the dogs because of this. 2.) The harness pulls slightly further back and lower off the dogs body, producing and even straighter “tension line” from towline to far shoulder. It also is less prone to rubbing.

I will be attending a Cabela’s Grand Opening in Scarborough, Maine on May 24^th & 25^th. I’ll also be attending the California Iditarod Fan Club’s meeting (at my Mom’s house!) May 17^th.

That’s all for now folks!

POTUS (haha)

**Check back soon for new & updated puppy pictures!!

For Sale - Brokaw

Brokaw (M) – [Tahoe & Lindy] Great in swing. Showing promise as a leader. Good eater, keeps his weight, has a nice coat and overall an easy keeper. Low-key dog that will do great in your yard next to anyone. Intact. $600

Direct inquiries to: info@huskyhomestead.com.

For Sale - Budget

Hertz - $750 - SOLD!

Hertz (M) & Budget (M) – [Merlin x Salem] From the “rental car” litter. Energetic, good eaters, great coats. Two of their littermates were yearling standouts after their first winter of training, and these guys are not far behind – just need a little more experience and some more time on the trail. Both are intact.

Please direct all inquiries to: info@huskyhomestead.com.


--Budget $600

For Sale - Badger

Badger (M) – With parents like Rumba & Demi, you can’t go wrong. Badger is from the “critter litter”and just marked his 1 yr birthday. Even though he is still pretty young, he shows tons of promise. He's great with people, super friendly and always ready to go. With his long legs he's bound to go far. $750

Please direct all inquiries to us at: info@huskyhomestead.com.

Sweepstakes Re-cap...well kinda

<<-- Getting ready for the start!-->>

Whew! Was that just a dream, or did I really just run 408 miles in 61 hours? Good lord, what a rodeo we had in Nome for the All Alaska Sweepstakes. I don’t really know where to begin – or finish…it might be material for another book!

I’m in Denali, but just for the day as I fly back to Nome for the Sweepstakes awards banquet tomorrow. All flights in and out of Nome were cancelled today due to stormy weather, so I’m on the edge of my chair in anticipation of tomorrow’s departure. Donna encouraged me the other day to come spend a couple of days at home and head back for the banquet, and it has been wonderful to be in my own bed.

<<--Jeff & Jason on the trail, pre-race.-->>

No doubt anyone who’s reading this knows Mitch Seavey passed me in the last miles of this $100,000 winner-take-all event, and as a result it was bittersweet – my team was so awesome! My team IS so awesome! Wish I could take a little fountain of youth juice because I have so many things that I want to do with my dogs in years to come. I feel like we learned so much about them ~ in this race in particular, and I look forward to using what we learned for future generations of dogs and mushers.

<<--Jeff & team heading into the Council checkpoint on race Day 1.-->>

We had a little champagne toast with family and friends Sunday night. Jason and I gave a blow by blow account – I wish I’d have recorded it because I don’t have the energy to do it again now (there will be a $5 fee for whining!).

<<--Jason & UConn outside the "Mobile Dog Unit"...-->>

There’s been a lot of interest in dogs for sale – we did spend a little time on it today. Look for it soon – very soon!

I promise I’ll try to share more Sweepstakes stories in the days to come.

jk (alias POTUS)

<<--...and what's inside the "Mobile Dog Unit"?? The team - ready for a snooze.-->>

In Lieu of GPS - Some Fun!

Well hey there race fans! While we're all sitting at our computers hitting the "refresh" button and waiting for updates on the Sweepstakes Race ~ I thought I'd share some fun stuff with you and try to answer some of the questions that have been coming in.

Many of you have asked where the dogs are that used to be on our dog page. Well, if you take a look at the picture above ~ you'll see three of our favorites: Texas, Tin & George. They are happily residing in Northern California and living it up with a friend of ours there. Jeff has kidded her and said that there appears to be an empty spot in there... The rest, well they are still here!

And moving on:
-Jeff does not watch American Idol ~ we do not have TV where we live. (Although he is a fan of The West Wing - we have that on DVD!)

-While Berkeley and Bronte spent a lot of time running in lead during the Iditarod, many dogs in the team are capable of running in different positions, and do.

-Jeff started the Iditarod with 16 dogs, and finished with 14.
He will start the All Alaska Sweepstakes Race with 13:
Berkeley
Bronte
Call
Charles
Deets
Dickens
Dublin
Guiness
Kilarney
Lobben
Solomon
Sussex
UConn


The motto around here... along with that one, there is also the "$5 fee for whining"...
<<<<---------------------
-Jeff has been frostbitten - but getting frostbitten during a winter in Alaska is like getting sunburned in Arizona.

-Mushing is definitely a family sport for the King's:
Jeff met his wife Donna while she was working as a volunteer ranger for the National Park Service. They were both running teams in Denali National Park when their teams became entangled - short story is that they've been entangled ever since. :)
All three of the King daughters are seasoned mushers as well. Cali, Tessa and Ellen are all veterans of the Junior Iditarod ~ and Cali even ran the Iditarod as a senior in high school! Tessa is also a veteran of the Junior Yukon Quest, and even though Ellen keeps herself very busy with dance - she's still a musher at heart.


-Jeff doesn't have a favorite dog - or so he says... I secretly think that he's very fond of Liza - one of the house dogs. :)
<<------------------ Alright ~ hopefully that's enough to keep you checking back for more... I do see that they have updated the Sweepstakes website with a few pictures and some information from the first few checkpoints. Check them out at www.allalaskasweepstakes.org.

So until next time...watch out for that yellow snow!

-Carrie

Sweepstakes: Pre-Race

The 100^th Anniversary of the All Alaska Sweepstakes begins Wednesday morning (tomorrow) at 10:00am. Exciting! Jeff and his crew have been in Nome since Friday in preparation for the event. Chris, Kurt, Jason and Jeff spent the weekend out on the trail exploring and getting their bearings. It sounded like quite the adventure and they reported that the race will be “challenging”. The wind will be the critical key in the trail conditions for the race.

Jeff’s 14 dogs flew to Nome yesterday and are ready and raring to go.

At the turn of the century, beginning in 1908 and running annually until 1917, this race followed a well-worn trail between Nome and Candle; a trail that was used as a mail and supply route. However in 2008, there is not an established trail between these villages. The population of Candle is 1. The population of Council is 1 (down from 20,000 during the gold hay-day). His name is Art and he is 72 years old. Art was very welcoming to Jeff and the crew as they passed through there twice in their quest to acquaint themselves with this legendary race route. The checkpoints in between these flourishing metropolises are, to my knowledge, uninhabited. For the race, each checkpoint will be staffed with a race checker armed with a HAM radio, along with race judges and veterinarians passing through. The stellar cast of judges includes, but is not limited to, Mark Nordman and Joe May.

After the mushing meeting this afternoon, the Husky Homestead team is busily working on snowmachines, finalizing plans, packing and repacking. Jeff reported that Chris is in “attack mode” in preparation to lead the support crew’s charge on tomorrow’s trail. Both Chris and Jeff are getting massages to extinguish a few aches, by-products of the past weekend, and to loosen up for the trail ahead. There are still a list of unknowns concerning the race and logistics, but that is what adventures are made of!

It is 20 degrees, sunny and calm in Nome today. There are some rumblings of a storm moving in, but Jeff did not see it on any predictions that he could find. Their host family in Nome, Amy and Larry Smithheisler, have been welcoming and generous in their help and support. Jeff, Jason and Chris were surprised yesterday to be presented with hand-made skinning knives engraved with “All Alaska Sweepstakes 2008” by the artist himself. “Klondike” Kurt, among his many talents, created these heirloom knives for each of them to honor this truly Alaskan adventure. Very cool.