Back on the trail

Team Tsuga is back on the trail after a successful stay in Dawson.. While in Dawson the dogs got a lot of rest, food, massages, and love.. I enjoy the opportunity to work with the dogs.. When the team came in, they were wagging their tales and seemed happy.. Mike was not in the best shape and needed to sleep.. I guess the trail over was very tough and Mike ended up breaking his nose in a fall in the jumble ice.. After a few hours of sleep, he was feeling better.. In camp the dogs were in overall good shape and ate well.. Throughout the 36 hours stay the team was fed 5 times.. After each feeding the dogs were walked, massaged and put back to bed and each time they let out a group howl. They were the loudest team in camp! Lotus and Trip had minor shoulder issues and we were able to work on them and both left in good shape. Wilson had a split between his toes and it didn't look like he would be continuing on.. We worked on it and by morning he was ready to go with the team.. Besides taking care of the dogs and catching up on some sleep (not the handlers), Mike also needed to fix his sled.. In the first 50 miles of the race, Mike broke his handle bar on the sled. The pictures will show you the severity of the break.. Tough to drive a sled without a handle bar. The handle bar was taped so it was still attached to the sled, but not really working.. He took the handle bar off my sled and put it on his.. Hopefully this one holds up.. The team was eager to go and looked great..
We will spend the night here and then head down the road to Pelly. Pelly is about 200 miles from Dawson so we will enjoy the evening Dawson style. Hope you are having as much fun as we are.. See you soon.
Tsue and Handler Peggy