Nov 11, 06

I did not run the dogs during the past week except turning them loose in the yard to run free. I had several that had injured pads and I wanted to rest them for the upcoming weekend. By Friday pads were looking good. So Friday we packed up and headed for Damascus, Va where we stayed at the Iron Horse Campground and had a cabin. The cabin was beside a beautiful river and the Creeper Trail ran in front of the place. This is about the mid point of the Creeper Trail. Fayth and her family came up and her grandparents came up to watch. We had a great time. Saturday we ran the dogs from the campground west to Alvarado. The run was aprox. 4.5 miles in each direction. Fayth and I ran Cosmos-Kenai, Bear-Yeti, Sasha-Sloppy Joe (JoJo), Ulric-Dancer. We ran to Alvarado and rested the dogs for about 30 minutes and ran back to the camp. The dogs did well. I had JoJo's front feet in booties. After resting for several hours and having lunch with several other mushers as we planned the Serum Run on the Creeper Trail for Jan 27, 07 we drove and looked at each of the points along the trail. When we returned we ran the same team 3 miles out and 3 miles back. By the time we got back it was dark and raining. We put up the dogs and went to the resturant there at the camp to eat. The dogs had ran a total of 15 miles for the first day.