The Parade

by Bryan

4 comments

1 Dizzy { 03.01.14 at 11:21 pm }

Ok I gotta ask. What is the fascination with mushing in these northern climes?

I know here it isn’t very feasible. To give you a clue on why, I don’t even own an ice scrapper.

I’m always trying to figure out when Canadians talk about hockey how a whole team fits on an ice cube cause that’s about as big as it comes here.

2 Bryan { 03.02.14 at 12:16 am }

I was stationed in Alaska when I was in the military, and dog teams are the only reliable form transport in interior Alaska that doesn’t involve fuel that cost nearly twice as much as in the ‘lower 48’.

Sled dogs are the most efficient long distance runners of any species on the planet. Their bodies are simply amazing in their ability to convert food into muscle power, and keep themselves alive in an Arctic environment.

I live on the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle, so there is no way I would ever own any northern dog down here. the heat and fleas would destroy it, but I remember them fondly as they hauled loads around at forty below zero in Fairbanks.

If I hadn’t overdrawn my ‘death and destruction account’, I would have probably gone back after I left the military, but shooting caribou and moose to supply my protein requirements was not something I wanted to do.

Newton Marshall, starting in eighth position is a Jamaican. He is sponsored by singer Jimmy Buffett of Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise fame. Curt Perano, number 1 position, is from New Zealand. There are 5 Norwegians and a Swede in the field. Many of those listed as Alaskans or Canadians are from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. It really is an international sport.

You can ignore the posts on the Iditarod, the Yukon Quest, the Tour de France, and the World Cup, Dizzy, as most of the regulars do. When you have lived all over the world, you develop worldwide interests.

3 Dizzy { 03.02.14 at 1:48 am }

I’m thankful I did not go to Alaska. I had enough problems with frostbite in Germany. Seeing icicles grow parallel to the ground was not what a Florida boy expect to see.

But when you go for weeks at a time on field exercises in the winter without heaters, tracks become huge deep freezes. Sometimes breakfast caught up with us at 2100 hrs. The green eggs were hard, the milk was frozen solid, and the bacon was cushioned in it’s own solid grease. Thank heaven I didn’t have to deal with more cold to go with that.

It was bad enough when we went to the field that the Germans had determined was already too dangerous for driving and sometimes the only thing between you and that steep cliff dropout was a friggin’ road marker keepin’ you from sliding right on off.

4 Bryan { 03.02.14 at 5:31 pm }

If you had gone to Alaska you would have been issued gear that worked remarkably well at keeping you warm and dry in the cold. No one thinks that this stuff might just be helpful in other areas, so it gets restricted to Alaska. I would certainly found it useful in Omaha, Nebraska during the winter.

Winters in Frankfurt or the German border with Luxembourg weren’t that bad, but heaters in aircraft are better than armored vehicles.