I have much yet to do before we head off for Fairbanks tomorrow. It is time for the annual meeting of my husband’s Native Corporation, a potlatch, visiting with his brother and extended family, and the North American Sled Dog Race. That race is a three day event and at least one of his cousins will be running in the event.

Fairbanks is about 550 miles from here (and it is only in the middle if the state) and it’ll take us a couple days to drive the distance. It is a long way to drive in the summer and although the mileage is still the same, winter driving conditions take a bit longer to get to the same place. There are some very long stretches where nobody lives (about a 100 mile-long area), so we need to be prepared for anything. There are two out-houses available during that stretch and one thoughtful person put in stainless steel toilet seats (a real joy at below zero) and at the other one, it is an old-fashioned out-house and when it is very cold, well, there’s a ring of ice on it. Oh well, at least they are a couple places to stop. I am hoping there won’t be any storms before we are fully at home again next Tuesday evening.

The twins will be staying home and keeping Muppet and the other animals fed, watered, and cared for adequately. Muppet has to have his heart medicine twice a day and needs lots of loving. Six days is a bit long to be away from Muppet and the birds, but I’m fairly confident in the boys’ ability to care for them.

The car is ready with great studded tires, a new manifold, and relatively new brakes. We have blankets and a shovel in the car and will have good snacks and some smoked salmon to eat on the way there and back. I’m going to make my smoothies for the next week in a few minutes. Each day’s smoothie will be in a Ziploc bag, laid flat in the freezer ready to go into the cooler for the trip. As it is still winter and fairly cold, the rear of the car will keep everything frozen. Anything we don’t want to freeze will have to be kept in the front half of the van. It’ll be below zero tonight, here, and about -23 in Fairbanks.

Within a couple hours the Iditarod Sled Dog Race will have a winner. The expected winner is Jeff King form Denali National Park. This will be his fourth win unless something unexpected happens. There were nearly half as many women racing this year as there were men. The race started out with 84 mushers. I’m not sure how many are still in the race. Most will finish the race within the week.

Till next time, somewhere about a week from now…