Sleds Part 2

So we trading in pulling sleds for driving them at the Willow Winter Carnival. We started off by playing snowshoe softball in the morning. Yikes, the snowshoes were like running around with two john boats on your feet. Then we ran home, loaded the dogs up in the back of the truck and headed back down for the Stampede race. Somehow, Tina talked me into the Leaddog competition (her powers or persuasion are impressive). Lo and behold, Agate took us to second place and out of 1st by only 4 seconds! Below, Agate and I with our 2nd place medal:

After a lot of gnashing of teeth, Dave was ready to partner up with me. I think he had some concerns about the dog hook-up stuff, but he was a pro. Our strategy worked like a charm. the secret? Only have 5 dogs at your house that can run. Takes less time to hook up and off you go. I know I said we were getting better at self portraits, but it was the first time this winter ANY of us were involved with a sledding endeavor, dogs included. So we were a bit off-kilter, excited, but a bit askew:

We took off in the lead, but were passed by an 8-dog team after some turning difficulties. Well, Willow and Cedar were having none of that. After 1/2 mile we took over the lead and never looked back. Here we are, coming toward the finish:

And our winning team, with our manager, Lil D:

My superstar dogs: Willow, Agate, Cedar, Chum and Ashy. Thanks, Bubs!