Fort Lauderdale and Heading South

I made it to Fort Lauderdale with my family earlier this evening!  It's nice and warm here, and we got to walk along the beach, eat dinner outside, and

Oh, I made some new friends too.  A little differently built than sled dogs!

On My Way...

Currently reporting live from the SEA/TAC airport and waiting for my final flight to leave from here, make a plane switch in Midway (Chicago), and then be back in Connecticut at 4:30 EST!  I tried to switch my flight to a redeye, but none of the airlines here had any. 

I went downtown for a bit, and then got sick of that because pretty much everything was closed, so I came back.  I went to Pike's Market Place and walked around that area of town, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then went to Target and bought a bathing suit.  A pretty productive layover overall!

Then I decided that I should go out again, so I just rode the train around for about an hour.

Article on Musher's Banquet and Award Ceremony

http://kyuk.org/50000-k300-raffle-winner-announced/#more-15483

Pete Kaiser 2013 K-300 Start

This is the video I was taking when my phone froze!  Pete Kaiser is a local musher from Bethel.  This is his introduction/biography at the K-300 start line:

And here's a pre-race interview that KYUK did:  http://kyuk.org/pete-kaiser-k300-pre-race-interview/

Bogus 150

Casie, the musher I help, ran the Bogus 150 this year.  It's a 150 mile dog race up to Bogus Creek and then back to Bethel.

Me and a couple of other people helped her load up all the dogs, and then got them harnessed, bootied and coated when we got down to the start line.  Then we had to help bring the team to the start line.  Here's a video that KYUK did of the Bogus start:  http://kyuk.org/bogus-150-start-video/

 Teams getting ready for the Bogus 150

 Precious and the sled (and Trick and Oakley behind her)

Putting booties on the dogs

I'm on the right running the leaders up to the start line.  I was wearing two down coats!  It was around -35 with the windchill.  Kaiser Racing Kennel took this picture.

Casie talking to the press after she finished!

And lastly Casie receiving her award at the awards ceremony and musher's banquest last night:

Good job Casie and dogs!!

Leaving on a jet plane...in 8 hours!

I promise I'll have K300 pictures and more commentary and links up soon, maybe even later tonight.  For right now I'm packing and organizing.  Tomorrow late morning I'll be at the Anchorage airport and have a short hour and half layover- right when McDonalds is selling lunch!  YES!!  Then around 4:00 I'll be in Seattle.  I'm planning on going into the city for a little bit.

This evening I tried to tie up some loose ends at work and then went over to the JV's house for dinner.  We compared notes about our weekend (they were at the checkpoints in Kalskag and Tuluksak) and I cuddled with their "pet", Spirit (a fox pelt):

K300 Update

We went down to the finish line and watched the top 7 mushers come in. Then we went to someone's house and had hot cocoa to warm up. Bethe local misher Pete Kaiser came in third place and won the best in the west award. We went back to the finish line and missed Martin Buser's finish by maybe 10 minutes, but then we got to see Katherine Keith and John Baker finish. Taking a pizza break before going back out! Hoping to see Richie Diehl and Mike Williams Jr come in.

KYUK Interview: Pete Kaiser at Tuluksak

From Kaiser Racing Kennel/KYUK:  http://kaiserracing.com/2013/01/9am-kyuk-update-petes-tuluksak-interview/

Akiak Dash

The Akiak Dash goes up the Kuskokwim River from Bethel to Akiak.  It's different than the other K300 races because it has a mass start.  We didn't see the start of it because I was helping with dogs, but we went down to watch the finish.

Reporting live from the finish line waiting for Akiak Dash mushers to come through! Freezing rain. The lead team just went through Straight Slough so we are waiting for them to get here!

K300 Start Video

Here is a link to a video that KYUK took of the K300 Start!  I have pictures of the start and of the fireworks that I will post later.  It was -30ish last night (with windchill factor) when the races were starting.  I helped Casie out a little with her team and came back to watch the K300 racers go.  http://kyuk.org/k300-start-video/

Lewis Pavilla came in first place for the Bogus 150, Jackie Larson in second place, Steve Olive in third and Jen Peeks in fourth!  It looks like Casie will be coming in the next hour in sixth place.  Right now I'm at the Saturday Market and am hoping to get out of here in time to see her finish!

Live from K300 Race Headquarters

Quliriuq

Here is a video I took of Quentin story-telling (quliriuq) at the K300 Concert last night.  Unfortunately I ran out of memory about one minute before he finished!:

Flying Wild Alaska

Flying Wild Alaska is about Era Aviation, which is the (at least "mother") airline company that I fly on when I go to villages.  A lot of it is over dramatized for TV, but the intro to the show gives you a good idea of what part of my life is like.

Hooper Bay Vacation

This weekend I went out to Hooper Bay just to visit (and do only a LITTLE work).  I used that ticket that I got back back in August at the Sudan Gala Auction that I could use to get to any village.  My adventure started with one of the JV's picking me up and bringing me to the airport, checking in, and getting bumped to go on the flight leaving in 5 minutes. 

Here's a video of me landing in Hooper:

The ice at the end is the Bering Sea!  You can also see all the people waiting for us at the "airport".

The teachers brought me back to teacher housing via snow machine, which is really one of the only viable methods of travel right now.  The roads aren't plowed (and it really doesn't matter because there are less than 10 trucks in the whole village) and there are lots of snow drifts that form and reform due to the crazy winds so it makes walking difficult and driving impossible.

Example of some snow drifts at the apartments:

It was pretty windy and with all of the snow drifts I didn't to get out an explore as much as I would have liked, but on Sunday I did go for a little bit around the Hooper Bay which is located in back of the school.

If you've seen "The Boondock Saints", the scene where Rocco comes back to his apartment and neurotically starts yelling "PACK YOUR SH!#!" while grabbing random things around the house in his arms is the closest thing I can compare getting on a plane leaving a village.  There are technically schedules, but you really find out when the plane is coming when you hear it on the radio.  And since the "gate" is outside, you really don't want to get there early unless you really have to.  Sometimes the plane comes a half hour late, and other times it comes 45 minutes early.  Sometimes it doesn't come at all.  I ended my mini vacation with a slightly more controlled Rocco moment (it's still rushed though when it takes a minimum of 5 minutes to get dressed in your gear), snow machining to the airport, taking off, landing five minutes later in Chevak to pick up more passengers, taking off again and heading to Bethel, circling around for a little bit (when I realized we had been making left hand turns about about 15 minutes I started sending frantic text messages), and then finally landing on the ground.  It's nice to get away but it's even nicer to be back.

YK Delta Vocab Word: So _______

"So _____" is used to comment on something or give a compliment.  The "blank" is an adjective (or something perceived to be an adjective), and can be filled with words like:

- expert (it means that you are really good at something or look like you know what you are doing)
-cute
-cheap (used by students to comment on something they don't like)
-excellent
-mischief ("mischief" refers to anything deviant and can range from kids just acting like stupid kids to kids lighting things on fire.  It can also be used to describe a "fun weekend"/partying)
-boring
etc etc

"So ______" is either used by itself or as the beginning of an inverted sentence.  Example:  "So expert!" or "So expert you are!".

Sometimes the adjectives are made into superlatives.  Example:  "So cutest!"

YK Delta Vocab Word: Aspiaq

"Aspiaq" is used usually as a an exclamation in response to something you think is great/excellent/good news/fantastic etc.  It is Yup'ik Eskimo and comes from the same word that means "good" (assir-).  It is also used a lot to comment on Facebook posts and pictures.

Example:

"I will get too see my family in a week."
-"Aspiaq!"

Warm Weather

Recently we've been having some warm weather Alaska and it's been wreaking havoc.  I came back from Hooper Bay to a very wet and icy Bethel, and Anchorage is no different.  It should be interesting how the races go this weekend and if they will have to change the course.  Right now everything is just very very messy.  It's better when everything is frozen.  Anchorage Daily News (ADN) posted a pictured of a girl ice skating in a street in Anchorage, which got turned into this internet meme:

Some Morning Inspiration/Reality Check

"In the end, I've come to believe in something I call "The Physics of the Quest".  A force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity. The rule of Quest Physics goes something like this: If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you."

-Eat, Pray, Love

Today I am working on a quarterly report, eating total cereal, and signing up for a retirement plan.  Days when I feel like I'm 40!

K300 Race Volunteers

Here's an article that Angela Denning-Barnes did about the need for K300 Volunteers.  It should give you an idea about how big this race is and what goes on to put it on in our community:  http://kyuk.org/k300-looks-for-volunteers-to-help-with-large-field/

There are a lot of mushers coming here for the race this year, 28 as of right now.  http://kyuk.org/mackey-among-28-teams-signed-up-for-k300/

I've volunteered to work at race headquarters a couple of days, at the banquet, and then during the race I'll be dog handling for Casie and then helping with the finish line on Sunday.

Adventures in Dogsitting

Sometimes, all you can do is laugh.

This is Nolan, an Irish Red and White Setter.

This is one of his sisters, a Goshawk.

I've been working on blog posts for a while that are still drafts about what I've been doing for the past few weeks.  I've been on a quasi- break from my position because of the holidays and the university being closed.  Christmas and New Year's were good and I will post more about them soon.  The Holiday Classic dog sled race was on the 29th so I got to see that and drove up the river to follow the race.  I went on my first dog run and fell completely in love with mushing.  I just got my Carhartt bibs in the mail today so that was pretty exciting.  A lot of the JV's went home for the holidays, so just a couple of us were here for the whole break and it has also resulted in lots of trips to the airport.

My next trip is to Hooper Bay this weekend.  I joked and told someone that I should just buy a vacation home there.  I might be going in February and then in March but I'm not sure yet.  I was going to go just because I had bid on a cheap round trip village ticket on Era and hang out with all of my Hooper Bay friends, but I think there's going to be some working and networking with more people involved when I go there.

The week after that is going to be really crazy because it's when the K300 race and activities all start.  A lot of them are being hosted in the Cultural Center (concert on Wednesday, Fiddle Dances Friday and Saturday, Saturday Market on Saturday, banquet on Monday), and then there are 3 races on the weekend (Kuskokwim 300, Bogus Creek 150 and the Akiak Dash).

Monday the 21st could also turn into a crazy day because it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day and us VISTAs are encouraged to do a special service project on that day.  Not sure what mine will be yet but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

...and THEN I leave on the 23rd to start my trip back to the east coast!!!!

I have so much that I want to write here and in my journal about but by the time I get back I'm exhausted.  I think I'm going to have to start doing audio recordings or something so I can write it down later.