JOHN MATTHEWS - 2007 SNOWMACHINE SUPPORT

I have always had a love of snow and winter. This feeling became more entrenched in the 1990. It was Memorial weekend and I was delivering my sailboat to my ex-wife and her fiancé at Ft. Gordon, Ga. It was 100 degrees outside as I stopped at a gas station to refuel and I noticed a dog sitting in the shade. It was a Siberian Husky and looking beautiful and aloof. I asked the attendant if the dog was friendly and she told me she did not know, someone had stopped for gas and threw the dog out of the car. “I could have the dog if I wanted it” and she went on to note the dog seemed to like Slim Jims. Two Slim Jims later I had my first dog and a new best friend. This led to many a winter back packing trip, eventually a 2nd dog and then the slow descent into dog mushing. The logic works like this. One dog is a friend. Two dogs keep each other company when you’re gone. What’s a third dog if you already have two? Then you discover a dog sled and while 3 dogs can pull you sometimes, what you really need is at least 5 dogs if you don’t want to be running next to the sled all the time. Then of course you need snow and Pittsburgh, Pa. does not have much snow and you have to drive 500 miles into Canada for your winter trip. That is stupid so you move to Alaska in 1997, the home of the “free” sled dog which is like a free horse.

I now have a bunch of recreational sled dogs, two small children and a very understanding/supportive wife. I have been dog mushing since 1993 and snow machining on/off since 1997.

I was born in 1959 and spent the first 9 years of my life growing up in Pennsylvania Dutch country. We then moved to Pittsburgh, Pa. where I lived until I went to collage. I returned to Pittsburgh after one unspectacular year of school and went to work as a railroad brakeman in the steel mills. This lasted (with multiple lay offs) for 1 ½ years until I joined the army for adventure. After the army I went back to school almost completing a bachelor’s degree, went back on active duty, then unexpectedly came off of active duty to take care of my parents. This led to nursing school, my RN degree, amnesia as to why I disliked the army, a commission in the army reserve, working as a flight nurse in Alaska (cool job) for Providence Hospital. In 2005 I was activated by the army reserve but with the uncommon luck of staying in Alaska (although not home). I recognized one of my new co-workers (Patty Tucker) because she was an ER nurse at one of the hospitals I often flew to. Patty Tucker has done the Nome Serum run before, a trip that has always sounded like something I would like to do. Furthermore, she was planning to do it again and her former teammate (Jane Faulkner) and Jane’s friend, Robb Bear was planning to go. That meant the group of 3 needed one more and I am lucky enough to be that person.