Hi Mom

Our first ever "triple synchronized 'Hi Mom'" glance from the end of this morning's skijor :)

"Hi Mom!!!!!" says the silly trio looking up to Nancy with the camera
instead of at the musher (me) with 'end of run' treats!

We gave Zorro the entire outing off this morning as he had a short-lived & slight limp in one leg yesterday afternoon. He was walking fine later and this morning and it was very short-lived; but we'd rather be safe than sorry with our fun old man and give him a day off today for many more later.

So, it was Jack, Rudy and I going out for a fast skijor atop Rabbit Ears Pass. We did not stay out too long as we wanted to rejoin Zorro; but the kids made the most of a high intensity outing!

At one point, we were cruising along a fast trail at a nice clip when Rudy launched himself off trail. Rudy, what are you doing?!?!?

"Boing - launching off trail to the right!" demonstrates silly Rudy.
Notice that Jack is in a 'sprint tuck'. As I said, we cruising along pretty fast
when Rudy launched into this off trail antic!

As you can tell from Jack's glance above, he was certain to interrupt his sprint and see what Rudy had discovered. Likewise, I snowplowed to a stop as fast as possible. Although I am not as quick and coordinated as the kids so I glided past them before coming to a stop :)  Once stopped, I backed up to see what was the big deal. Well...

"MOOSE!" says the intense pair now lined up off trail where Rudy leapt.
It is camouflaged in the trees in front of us in this photo as moose
camouflage SO well. But, all three of us saw it before she wandered
deeper into the forest!

Rudy's off trail launch, while not encouraged, was perfectly understandable once I saw it was directed at a moose. So, how about that, young Rudy found a moose before either Jack or I! If I'd been with just Jack, we may have skijored right on by without ever noticing it. Young Rudy becoming the professional mooser - who would have imagined 6 months ago :)

Anyway, back to skijoring. Here is an amazing photo showing what is so great about Rabbit Ears Pass in March, April and May: a firm crust across vast and endless terrain!

Skijoring the crust with Jack & Rudy as the wide photo shows just
how vast and endless skijoring the crust can get atop Rabbit Ears!
Love the little footprints in the crust behind Jack & Rudy :)

As I was enjoying the endless crust with Jack & Rudy, I had a sad realization. This is the first time in my life I have skijored a spring crust without either Max or Zorro :(  So much fun to do it with the youngsters but so sad to realize Zorro really is slowing down and SO sad to be without Max :(

Off the crust and back onto the set snowmobile trails and Jack & Rudy know what to do - zoom! Look closely and you can see Rudy's tongue flapping in the air to the left of his face. Anyone who followed Michael Jordan back in his NBA heyday knows this action. Whenever Jordan was "at his best" his tongue was always hanging out. I've noticed Rudy doing this more & more as he has progressed this season (his first full season skijoring). How about that - Rudy is a little Jordan :)

Flying Jack with Rudy Jordan hovering alongside :)

So, here we go with flying Jack and Rudy Jordan zooming along the snowmobile trail atop Rabbit Ears Pass! Wheeee!

[watch on youtube if no video loads below]

Done with the day and time to let Zorro join in with the group for 'end of run' treats. As you can see in this photo, Rudy is to the right of Zorro versus being to his left in the first photo. They all had a couple of 'end of run' treats in this configuration before they decided I was reliable enough to give them all out so they could move a little and flash a smile at mom :)

"You have our attention, let's get started with the treats!" says the focused trio.

A very entertaining day with young Jack & Rudy atop Rabbit Ears: moosing, crust touring and imitating jordan: 7.2 miles traveled with 500 feet of elevation climbed and a top speed of 22 MPH.

2019/2020 Season to Date: 124 days on the trails covering 842.2 miles with 76,500 feet of elevation climbed.