We had a plan to take a six dog team on a six mile run, at about 8AM. As often happens, it had snowed a bit and we needed to re-drag the trail, put up a safety fence (visual guide to dogs to close off a trail) and shovel out an exit from our land (where it had been plowed high). All takes time, but we are methodical and we had our plan. (1st HA!) At 8:30 we took off with the first team, a bit late. All went fairly well, but on leaving the shoveled exit we had to choose the 4 mile trail rather than the 6 mile to avoid a car coming along. Fine with the dogs, they were flying. and after that run, we came back to hook up a second team.
Knowing that a tour of snowmachines was coming on that trail at 10 AM we decided we'd run our own trails. (Plan B). We moved the fence, again, to signal to the dogs that we're not going out the gate. (2nd HA!)
We hooked up five strong raring to go dogs and took off. I was driving the machine and the sled driver had decided there was no need to ride the drag as the dogs would 'get' it, the change of plans, because we had our safety fence as a visual guide. (3rd HA!) I couldn't catch him and next I saw the sled was tipped, he was being dragged and the dogs were going UNDER the safety fence .
The sled hook was bouncing upward. I jumped off my machine and threw my body over the tipped sled (not quite a HA, but ha ha!) I said, "Jim, the sled hook is face up." He was buried under the sled with his hat over his eyes and he could not get up. He said "I can't see."
I planted the hook as best I could in the punchy deep snow (it didn't hold). He managed to right himself to his belly, and there we went, both of us 'old coots' on our bellies, hanging on ( you know, never let go!) taking the doggoned fence right with us. I started to laugh and couldn't stop when he said, " Careful, Julie!"as we barreled through the fence, (4th HA, ha ha ha ha ha... how could I be careful?)
I saw a big brown UPS truck barreling down the road. And, as I was being dragged with the safety fence totally wrapped in the sled, I remember picking pieces of the fence out of the brake, and he kept repeating, "I can't get up" (meaning he couldn't swing onto the runners.;)... kind of like we were on a journey together... me picking out the fence, him trying to drive, like in slow motion, both hanging on with an arm.
It all happened fast, of course, and next I knew he had dumped me off in knee deep snow (somehow) and was flying away with the happy dogs , through the shoveled exit and back to Michigan , again.
So, according to the PLAN, I was the machine driver. I ran back , got on the still running machine and chased him. Other than a few more small glitches, it got just a bit more intense, but I couldn't stop laughing .
The greatest photo would have been of the two of us hanging on to the sled being dragged on our bellies, with the blaze orange safety fence, flying like a sail as we ricocheted toward the big brown UPS truck, dogs laughing. But there is no such photo, just this one of the snow covered driver returning home and his still happy team.
When we returned there was a package on the porch from UPS and I started laughing all over again. Guess you had to be there.
Then, we had a conversation about planning, sled control, clear voice commands, requiring the dogs to obey our commands, the brake versus the drag, swearing, etc. Seriously, all of the drama was preventable if one of us had been in control , ha ha, ha ha, .....!
BTW four of these five dogs have had numerous races (experience).
