It was a whirlwind turn-around, but I arrived in Gettsburg in plenty of time to set up for the 2008 National Siberian Specialty. We arrived home from the Dirty Dog Dryland race in Wisconsin approx. 8:30 Monday morning, unloaded then re-loaded the van. I started some laundry, hung dog gear to dry and left for Gettysburg about 12:30 PM and arrived at the show just before 4 PM.

It’s been fun visiting with old friends; but I’ll be leaving Friday afternoon so we can attend the Can-Am Dryland race in Sinnamahoney PA this coming weekend.

Other than the long ride to & from - What a fantastic time, trail and weekend ! Those Wisconsin Trailblazers sure know how to put on a race !

Johnn remarked what a joy it was to turn the dogs loose and see just how fast they could go. It turns out pretty fast - We placed 1st in the bike-jor class, and took two 2nds in both the 2 dog scooter & 4 dog rig. Johnn had the fastest day time on Sunday in all his classes. We’ve been training approx 4 miles, so they speeded up when they realized they were going shorter distances.

We would highly recommend this race to anyone - well run & organized, beautiful safe trails and real friendly folks.

It’s that time of year ! We’re heading out west to the Dirty Dog Dryland races in Wisconsin on Thursday night. We’re both looking forward to the new competition and re-uniting with our mid-west friends.

I’ll be packing both the camera and laptop. If there’s any wi-fi available in the wilds of Wisconsin, I’ll blog some race results Saturday night. If there’s nothing available locally, I’ll try and log in Sunday evening on our way home.

By Monday night, I’ll be at the National Siberian Specialty in Gettsburg PA and staying there until Friday night.

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Originally uploaded by Arctic Star Sleds

We had a successful and FUN 2008 New England Trade Fair. The turnout was great, and the weather cool but clear. We managed to get 8 sleds on top of the van and put 2 more inside.

This group of kids enjoyed trying out our two-person sled - the Galaxy.  My quilts are on display in the background.

Unfortunately, we were so busy we didn’t get to hear Mitch Seavey or the other speakers. Johnn’s “Mushing 101″ seminar had about 25 beginning mushers in attendence and many stayed to ask more questions. The races on Sunday had plenty of competition.