January 24, 2008

ast night on the 23rd, we went to a community talk about local history of the area we will be traveling with the sled dogs and the heritage of sled dogs. It is one of a series of bringing the museum into the community.

Picture above: The second part of the museum seminar about sled dogs in history in our area last night. This is a team that probably came from up north further and came to the Hudson Bay building in our town to pick up and drop off letters. Note how the dogs have padded leather harnesses on and hitched single file. This picture was taken about 140 years ago. 

Elena showed up from the States last night and we just made it to the seminar. She gabbed with people she has not seen for the last year and met at the Mail Run in 2007. We also met alot of new mushers from out of country. 

I busted my rear end to get all my work done for my employer before I left. I basically did a weeks worth of work in 1 1/2 days. We made it to the "Meet & Greet" by 3 pm and schmoozed with other mushers, talked for awhile to someone who is the equivalent of a State Senator, talked to a lady from a German newspaper, and many news media. There was a lovely feast by one of my favorite caterers. It was also locally grown on alot of it. 

After the "Meet & Greet" we headed over to another building close by and was greeted by a live band. This is where the large opening event was. As this Mail Run event is the kickoff for the BC150 events and also being filmed for the Olympics this summer in China, we had camera crews everywhere.

Tonight is when me, Elena and about 40-some other mushers were sworn in as official Canadian Postal carriers to be able to carry real mail on the dog sleds. There was (at this count) over 5,500 pieces of mail being carried. The dog teams/mushers came from Minnesota, Australia, California, Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Washington State.

We finally got packed and ready  to go by midnight. We will load the gear and dogs in the morning.

Picture Above: Me with a bag of mail after being sworn in as a Official Canadian Postal Carrier.