The Winterfest in Damascus, VA

The Winterfest in Damascus, VA
Jan 22nd 2008
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
 Location: Northwest GA
Time - 5:14pm
Temperature: 35 degrees F
Conditions: Cloudy, freezing rain
Forecast: Rain tonight, partly cloudy tomorrow. Lows in the 20s

We left for Abingdon, Virginia at noon last Friday and the trip went very well. Calypso was exceedingly happy to be in the car with me and my parents and really seemed to enjoy the ride. It was after dark by the time we arrived at our motel (a Super 8 - VERY pet friendly and not at all run down like some might assume. Stayed there last year too and would definitely stay there again). Some other mushers (Jenny and Sam)Â were already there and others arrived soon thereafter (Christine, Jeff & family from KY, and Marcia and Bob Horne who weren’t staying there but dropped by to say hello) . At one point, we were all standing out in the hallway with our dogs and being given some odd looks by guests who were non-mushers. I swear I heard a comment about “some husky-owner convention going on.”

The Serum Run re-enactment began in Abingdon on Saturday morning. A whole crowd of people gathered on the Virginia Creeper Trail to watch the teams take off. First went Chapin and Cathy and their passenger. Then, with the “serum” secured on his dryland sled, Jim took off down the trail. Iditarod veterinarians Al Townshend and Sonny King (also an Iditarod musher) were on site helping with teams. The dogs were READY to go - they were leaping and barking and pulling at their tugs. I’m sure the observers left with no doubt about how much the huskies love to run.

The several inches of snow did not happen. The forecast changed and most of the snow went East of the Bristol area. GA was still supposed to get a good bit but I have no idea if we got any at our house. It’s all melted now and we aren’t getting anything but ice. Anyway, on Friday night they were still saying there might be around a half-inch accumulation but all we saw were a few tiny, wind-driven snowflakes.

We skipped most of the Serum Run relay stops and went straight to Iron Horse campground, which is around two and a half miles from Damascus, VA. A few people and dogs were already there. Even people who weren’t running brought their huskies and there was a group of rescued huskies on a dropline. There was this one young pup named Bella who was SO CUTE! Apparently she had broken her leg at a young age and her owners didn’t want to pay for medical care! She ended up in a sanctuary in Alabama where she will have a happy life.

The crowd grew and I talked to lots of people. Calypso is great with small children - she loves it when they come and fuss over her! Jenny calls her the “Goodwill ambassador of Siberian Huskies.”

A large parade of dog teams ran from Iron Horse to downtown Damascus. It was like the event of the year for the onlookers. Damascus, which is a small town, was dealing with major traffic jams. People were pulling over on the side of the road, taking pictures, sitting on the side of the trail. Good publicity but Calypso was very distracted. And it wasn’t just the people, she was just moody. She developed a slight obsession with (of all things) covered manholes along the trail. She kept wanting to stop and sniff them. And then she had to stop and sniff every single fencepost or mailbox post and every tree, every stump, every blade of grass. She acted like she needed to go to the bathroom but she never did. About halfway to Damascus, a car pulled over on the side of the road in front of us and a reporter got out. She was very nice and we spent a good while talking. I just sort of rambled on, trying to hold Calypso and talk at the same time.

We came into Damascus very slowly and it was just plain cold with tiny snowflakes. I watered Calypso and watched some of the other teams come in. Right about then I realized that Calypso and I were both very tired. I said hello to Fayth and she showed me her dog (who has REALLY grown a lot since last year). Robin and Jesse were over at Jeff’s truck and Calypso was really determined to go see Jeff’s dogs, especially her “boyfriend,” a black husky named Steele.

We hung around and talked for a bit and then went back to the motel. I took a shower and rested a bit. Then we got ready for the dinner. I loaded Calypso into her crate, got into the car with my parents and was ready to go. My Dad tried to crank the car but it wouldn’t start. He ended up spraying some starter fluid on it and it started (later we learned that this may have just been a coincidence).

Calypso did fine in her crate in the car. She was still tired and slept while my parents and I had dinner. They served really good food at the restaurant at Iron Horse and I talked to a lot of people who were there. There was a silent auction going on and that was fun. I won a T-shirt autographed by Lance Mackey that I have no earthly clue what I’m going to do with (as Jeff said “you won’t be able to wear it.”).

After supper, Dr. Townshend did a great presentation on the Iditarod. It was full of information and I think a lot of us learned new things! Later in the evening, several of us had a meeting to discuss the creation of a Southern mushers association/club. We talked for a while and had some good ideas but nothing was finalized. We’re still working on it and I think it will come together. I am going to be putting together a newsletter for this group.

We all slept very well Saturday night.

Sunday morning it was 11 degrees in Abingdon. Good for running dogs. There was a big article in the Bristol newspaper about the Serum Run and the Winterfest. I was quoted in it and I realized, in retrospect, that I’d been pretty incoherantly. I guess it wasn’t that bad, I just wish I had said things better.

That morning, the car wouldn’t start again. We tried everything and it didn’t work. Jenny and Sam were nice enough to take my scooter to Iron Horse but I still needed to find a way to get Calypso and myself to Iron Horse for the race.

We tried calling taxi services, bus services, shuttles…no answer at any place. It was Sunday morning. Feeling frustrated and disgusted, we all sat around in the motel room and discussed options. We could have called AAA but by the time we went through their 800 number, we’d be too late for the race.

We ended up calling a towing company. The guy said he could help so we stood around out in the parking lot that was 11 degrees without windchill (and there was windchill) and waited for him to come. He was late getting there because most of the towtrucks wouldn’t start.

He arrived in an older truck with a bench seat in the cab. We decided that my Mom and Calypso and I would ride to the race site in the tow truck and my Dad would wait back at the motel for the towtruck to come back. So there we were - three people clad in heavy cold-weather gear, toting bags full of equipment, and one fuzzy husky (who did NOT want to get in the truck) sitting on us. And the passenger door wouldn’t shut properly in the best of circumstances.

Somehow, we made it to Iron Horse and I felt SO MUCH better when we got out of the truck. We thanked the driver and then got ready for the race. The one and two-dog scooter races went from Iron Horse to Damascus. The two-dog teams went first. I got Calypso and myself ready while a TV crew from channel 5 in Bristol filmed some of us. When it was my turn, I took Calypso up to the starting line. The woman at the line said “she’s so pretty” to Calypso and the silly little dog went bounding over to her. “No, no,” the woman said. “You’re supposed to be going that way.” I took Calypso back to the trail, explaining “you said she was pretty. She liked that.”

When the timer said it was time to go, Calypso took off like a shot! It was such a change from the day before that it almost shocked me! I quickly recovered and focused on getting to Damascus as fast as possible. There were some patches of old snow on the trail in some places, which is not easy with a wheeled rig. We blew across it without any major problems though. I kicked along to help as much as possible. Calypso kept up her pace but we lost sight of the team in front of us. I hoped Calypso wouldn’t tire out in the middle of the run. I shouldn’t have worried, she was no longer interested in manholes and fenceposts. It was a beautiful sunny morning in the mountains. It was cold. It was time to run!

About the time Calypso started to slow, Jenny and her dog, Jack (an Alaskan husky from the Second Chance League in Fairbanks) caught up. Calypso did NOT like that and picked up her pace. The race was on between the Siberian and the Alaskan. I kicked harder and Calypso was really flying. So was Jack. Eventually they passed us and I thought ‘Jack has a really nice gait.’ We stayed right behind Jenny and Jack right up to the finish line in Damascus Park.

By that time, what with all my kicking and scooter driving (who says a musher doesn’t work?) I was no longer cold AT ALL. First thing I did after watering Calypso was to take my mittens off. My hands were literally steaming.

Soon, other teams arrived and the park filled up with mushers and dogs. We all hung around and talked until the results were announced by Marcia. I will post the results soon. I think we came in 5th. I was disappointed that we didn’t place [in the top 3] but that was okay. We’d had a near-perfect run and that was what was important. I really couldn’t be much more pleased with Calypso’s performance.

My Mom and I rode back to the motel with Will, who is a musher too - though he didn’t race this year. When we got back, the car had been fixed and all was well. I took another shower and slept the rest of the day.

We watched the evening news and they did a really nice piece on the Winterfest. Jenny did an excellent interview! The very last shot showed me and Calypso taking off down the trail! After the news, we went and got Chinese takeout. Since we’d slept half the day, we weren’t very tired by then. Oh well.

More coming soon, including our snow adventures on the way back!