Happy New Year! And... 2021 CB

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3rd Place in our first Ryno Kennel CB in 2015

3rd Place in our first Ryno Kennel CB in 2015

First- HAPPY NEW YEAR! We celebrated the New Year by hanging with dogs, making cookies, and promptly falling asleep at 10:00 PM. It was glorious.

With Copper Basin only a week away, we made a decision-

It was a very tough decision, but we opted to withdraw from the Copper Basin 300. BUT IT’S OK! This is NOT a sad thing. For the past 6+ years, the Copper Basin has been one of our favorite races. The volunteers, the trail, the community- we love our annual trip down to Glennallen for the CB300. Not to mention, the dogs always perform spectacularly at the CB; however, this year, for a variety of reasons, we’ve decided to change it up. Rather than ramping up training so that the dogs peak at Copper Basin then have another peak at Iditarod, we’re trying a little more gradual build up to Iditarod with run/rest series that aren’t quite as intense as a Copper Basin race. Who knows if this will benefit the team or be a bad decision, but it felt like a good year to try something different! So far, the dogs have been looking strong and enthusiastic in training. We’ve gone on a couple campouts and have another one planned for next week. We’re sticking to distances that we will more likely travel during Iditarod (at least for the beginning of the race, meaning no 70-80 mile runs like in CB). I’m excited to see how this change up in training works for us in Iditarod!

On sad note, long time CB trail breaker Jamey Kemp passed away suddenly earlier in December. He was the Trail Boss for the Copper Basin from 2013-2020, and I was always impressed with his commitment to provide the best trail possible. After each race, he’d seek out individual mushers and ask their opinion on the trail, were there any areas that needed improvement, if they were happy with the conditions. He’ll be greatly missed. If you’d like to support Jamey’s family, the Copper Basin is selling special t-shirts in his memory:

Christmas Eve Campout by Mandy

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Any adventure with Ryne and the dogs is a great time—leaving under the auroras and spotting moose within the first hour are just bonuses!

Our day begins with me hooking up a little bit before Ryne. You might not know this about her, but she’s incredible and much faster at dog booting than me so I need the head start to keep pace. It also lets me sneak hellos/pets to the nearby dogs that aren’t on my team! All said and done, we mush out of the yard together at 7:05 am.

The first time I did the Angel Creek trail, I didn’t have enough snacks and became Hangry. I made sure that wouldn’t happen this time around and came well prepared: dark covered espresso beans, cliff bars, fig newtons, crackers and pretzels, two possible lunch options, and a large thermos of honey black tea. So tasty!

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For away camp outs, a lot comes with us. Dogs need straw to sleep on, meat snacks, the cooker pot with an insulated bucket and kibble for their meal, and extra booties. We have gear backups and the usual essentials. Everything packs into the sled—which will be lighter on the return leg after the camp out break.

The sky is breathtaking and comes alive with color. It’s like being inside a robin’s egg; the blue only broken up by the pink poking through the mom’s wings draped over the shell. The temperature is lovely and the team looks great.

We’re approaching over 45 miles when our trail ends in a tight turnaround of deep snow. Ryne’s team of 12 dogs is almost out of the turn around with my lead dogs half-way touching her sled runners. Her lead dogs are not even two leaps from touching my own sled runners! It takes careful maneuvering of the gang lines and dogs but we make it... and stop right out of it for our camp out break of four hours.

Snow begins to melt in the cooker pot while dog booties come off, straw down, and neck lines are unclipped. The more experienced dogs settle quickly while the newer ones flirt with their running mate or mark every snow spot within reach. Some eat moose poop too! Oops. Once the dogs have their soup meal of kibble, meat, and warm water, we work on our own camp fire.

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We trade snacks and swap stories. The warmth feels amazing and the smoke made me cry a few times. Our topics range all over the place while our eyes peek at the sleeping dogs throughout it. Camping with someone definitely makes the time go by quicker and soon(ish) we’re on our way again.

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The sun set during our camp out and once the extended dusk passes, headlamps click on. It’s the same path back and a smooth run overall. I love that even after a full day of mushing (it’s after 9 pm now!) we still pull into the dog yard with wagging tails and smiling faces. It’s a special way to spend Christmas Eve! And one of my favorite memories of the season.

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Rosebud Adventure

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Recently, the whole human crew (Kalyn, Mandy, Derek, and I) took a day adventure up to Rosebud summit. Accompanied by three dog teams, one snowmachine, and one crazy Griffon (Sasha) we climbed up to Rosebud, searching for caribou along the way.

The Fortymile Caribou

The Fortymile Caribou herd travels throughout eastern, Interior Alaska and crosses into Canada. During last year’s Quest, I shared videos of the dogs chasing caribou down the Yukon River, as the strange critters came hurtling right at the dog team (or in the video I joked it was because of my newfound ability to call in caribou after listening to our pet reindeer). See the video below. Portions of that same herd are now on the other end of the Yukon Quest trail, near Two Rivers and Rosebud Summit.

The Fortymile Caribou herd is one of the most important resources for many First Nations and Native Alaskan communities. In the early 1900s, it was one of the largest herds in the world and had a far-reaching habitat as shown by the graphic below. The herd has varied in size over the past 100 years with its peak in the early 1920s of 500,000+ animals to a low of an estimated 5000 in 1973. Biologists believe the changes in size are due to reduced nutrition from overgrazing, predation from wolves, and excessive harvest of caribou by humans (more roads made for easier harvesting combined with incorrect population estimates). With the herd at abysmal numbers, Alaskan and Yukon officials worked together to better manage the herd. By 2002, the herd had grown in size to 46,000 and for the first time in fifty years, the herd crossed the Yukon River by the Fortymile River, once again expanding its range into Canada. In 2017, the population reached almost 80,000 animals; however, biologists believe this is likely the herd’s peak based on current environmental conditions. In an effort to reduce long-term impacts to the environment from overgrazing, Alaska Fish and Game has increased the harvest quota for this year. Hunters must submit the lower jaw to ADF&G so biologists can reassess the herd’s nutritional condition.

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Before the word got out that the herd was so close to Chena Hot Springs Road, we decided to try our luck hunting by running the dogs up to Rosebud. I would call it a 80% mushing trip, 20% hunting trip. While we would be opportunistic should the caribou cross our path, we were more interested in just getting outside, mushing with the dogs, and seeing Rosebud in the daylight. I’ve mushed this section of the Yukon Quest trail SEVEN times and never once seen it in the daylight!

Smoky and Etta

Climbing UP!

Goblin and Bull leading Kalyn up to the saddle.

As I was looking for the video of running with the caribou during the 2020 Quest, I passed over this Rosebud view from the plane. So I guess I have seen it in the daylight! Ha!

The caribou stayed just out of reach during our mushing adventure, so we didn’t bring any meat home for the freezer, but wouldn’t you know, we had to slam on the brakes as a couple caribou crossed the road on our way home! More than anything, I love seeing all the tracks and sign left by the caribou. I’m not a biologist, but it seems like life and diversity follow the caribou wherever they go. Whether we’re in the Brooks Range with the Porcupine Herd or in Two Rivers with the Fortymile Herd, there is SO MUCH LIFE. In addition to the caribou tracks, wolf, lynx, fox, and moose tracks crisscossed the trail. And for a few moments, as we held onto our sleds behind beautiful huskies, our faces wrapped in fur of wolf and wolverine, our hands toasty inside mitts made of beaver fur, smelling the musky odor of caribou hiding in the black spruce, I can imagine myself living in a bygone era, at one with nature, traversing the Arctic.

DISCLAIMER- I tried to get all this info from reputable sources (government sites and research papers). That being said, I am not an expert on the Fortymile Herd. This info was researched to the best of my ability, but I’m just a girl blogging about things I like.

"Meat" the Bandsaw by Mandy

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Cutting meat is one task out of the large ocean of tasks required to keep a race kennel running smoothly and happily. But it’s a fun one!! At least to this handler. The job has two goals: meat blocks used for dog breakfast and meat snacks for long runs.

Starting with a 50lb block of frozen beef, it gets cut down into five pieces. One piece will thaw inside for about 24 hours before hot water is added, creating meat soup that will be served for dog breakfast. How many buckets it takes to feed 45 dogs depends on the amount of mileage they are averaging. The higher the distance, the more meat soup they get. Currently, Ryno Kennel is at 30lbs per day!


Meat snacks are the extra fun ones to cut! They can come from the frozen 50lb beef/chicken blocks, whole salmon, bundles of smelt, and so forth. The blocks are more straightforward: cut into thin 1/2 inch strips that are breakable. Frozen whole fish are cut into slightly thicker length-wise strips. Don’t forgot to cut off the head and tail first!! The fish head can be used as a push block... meaning, it can push the fish against the blade when there’s not much left to cut (protects your fingers from the blade). The long strips are then cut in half or thirds for more manageable eating size.

At Ryno Kennel, we use a bandsaw machine to cut the meat. It’s set up outside under a Shelter Logic tent and runs off a generator. The tent is the same temperature as the outside air (cold), which is good because it keeps the frozen meat frozen. No one wants raw meat to start melting and clogging up the blade. Ew!
The meat snacks are stored in empty dog food bags while the meat blocks are stacked under a tarp. The entire setup (uncut and cut meat, bandsaw, and tent) is surrounded by a fence to keep the Assistant Coaches/ off-leash dogs from eating all the goodies. Don’t tell Ryne, but if Cartel sneaks in with me I always give her a bite of frozen meat before kicking her out. After all, it is hard work to be so cute!

How Covid is Like a Runaway Dog Team

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I lost my team a couple of weeks ago. Everyone is ok. I just had to write that down before I continued. Losing your team is every musher’s worst nightmare. A lot of books or blogs that are written by novice mushers joke about losing a team, but there’s absolutely nothing funny about it. It’s exceptionally dangerous for the dogs. A small team might stop with just a verbal “WHOA!” but most larger teams will not. And my team was no exception. I’ve been mushing for 11 years now, and I knew it would happen some day. I always figured it would be more dramatic, like I was skewered on a branch and let go of the sled only because I had a stick through my gut. But it wasn’t anything nearly that dramatic. We stopped to snack. I walked up the team petting the dogs and feeding everyone a chunk of beef. They got excited and popped the snowhook. I leapt on the sled and rode briefly on the bag. Then I tried to set the hook from the sled bag and fell off in the process. The moment of seeing the team run away as I yelled whoa…I wanted to vomit. I immediately began yelling for Mandy (who was running a team behind me). She mushed up, jumped in her sled bag, I hopped on the runners, and we mushed as fast as we could after my team. I handed my phone to Mandy and she began calling. Within minutes, Kalyn, Derek, Matt, and Will were on snowmachines racing towards us. I was on the phone with Aliy as she was firing up her snowmachine when I came around the corner, and there was the team in a big, tangled ball. Miraculously, everyone was ok. My body trembled as all the anxiety and stress of those few minutes came surging out. As Derek says, it was a cheap lesson. And one that I’ll never forget or take for granted.

The reason a loose team is so dangerous is because it’s exceptionally hard for them to stop. All 10 or 12 dogs have to consciously decide to stop at the exact same moment, and even then, the sled will probably slide into the back of the wheel dogs if a tree or deep snow doesn’t slow the sled first. And as we all know, sled dogs love to pull, so the pressure of the tugline is their happy place. It’s how they feel secure and at peace. That’s why Covid is like a loose dog team. We’re all running along, working, but we’re out of control. Sure the fast and healthy dogs can sprint all the way home. The dogs who don’t need to poop, they’re good to go. But the older dogs or the dogs who really need to use the bathroom or the dogs who accidentally misstep- they’re about to get tangled and be seriously injured or killed, but we’re all still running along. The leaders could decide we need to stop and slam on the brakes. It’d result in a massive mess of tangles and lines. Dogs might get grumpy with each other, but at least we’d stop. And everyone would be ok. But here I am in team, running along, pulling. Giving tours to people from out-of-state. Planning to compete in races that will bring together large groups of people and travel to remote communities. And I’m doing it because this is what I know and love and feel comfortable doing (and we are taking precautions like masks and congregating outside). But is it the right thing? Maybe I need to put on the brakes and stop pulling. I might not be able to stop the team, but maybe I can slow us down enough so that one more dog can keep up. Alaska’s Covid-19 case count has hit an all-time high. We had a record 933 new cases reported Saturday. Our ICU beds are more than 75% full, with only 30 beds remaining of the 128 in the state. And while I love Alaskans, the “you can’t tell me how to live my life” mentality makes it really difficult for the general populous to support a mask mandate. Even though my job (tourism and racing) is essential to me and feeding our pack, is it essential to society? Probably not.

But our decisions in these next few months will have many repercussions. Repercussions for our business, Chena Outdoor Collective, a major way we support ourselves. If we close down, how will we remain financially stable? Repercussions for our kennel and sponsorships, the main way we support the dogs and our mushing lifestyle. If we don’t race, will we loose sponsors for future years? This winter is probably the last season of racing for some of our older all-stars; would we miss out on what promises to be one incredible race team? And repercussions, most importantly, for the health of the people in Alaska. If we keep giving tours and racing, will our health care system become overwhelmed and people die unnecessarily? Would we be contributing to the problem?

I’m writing this blog post not as an announcement of what we’re going to do but just as a window into what’s going on in our lives and how Covid-19 has impacted us. It’s a way for me to look back in several years and remember the winter of 2020-2021 for Ryno Kennel.

I try to keep Ryno Kennel from ever having an opinion on topics that aren’t mushing related, so I hope this post doesn’t upset sponsors or discourage fans from following, but also we live in crazy times.

In the meantime, we’re training for the races and enjoying the Two Rivers trails with this rockstar team of dogs.

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Then and Now

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Has anyone been playing with the “then and now” hashtags? For some of you, that sentence probably sounds like a different language, but for those social media savvy folks out there, you know what I’m talking about! People have been posting photos of themselves, their dogs, their children, whoever from years ago, and then a recent photo of that same person/dog/animal/child to show their transformation.

For example, here’s a middle school Ryne on her first ever dog sled ride in Durango, Colorado that set everything in motion. And Ryne 18 years later, choosing to stare at dog butts for a profession. Ok, I’ll stop talking about myself in the third person. But you get it- Then and Now.

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Looking at those two photos, I honestly don’t see much change.

But do you know who does make a HUGE transformation in the course of just a few months? REINDEER.

Between the summer and winter months, the reindeer look like completely different creatures. Why the drastic change? Well, a few reasons. The winter coat of reindeer and caribou is exceptionally thick. Their wooly undercoat traps heat against their bodies and a coarse, heavy duty outer coat made of hollow guard hairs sheds water, snow, wind and everything else that gets thrown at them - keeping them completely dry and warm. They shed their heavy coats come summer and don a lighter, thinner layer for the heat. Believe it or not, the weather in Interior Alaska can get quite hot! While 90 degrees F may not seem that hot to some of you, consider that there’s a 150 degree difference between the coldest temps and hottest temps of the year in parts of Alaska! The color change can help them to blend in with their environment a bit better. So with that explanation- are you ready for some Then and Now Reindeer photos?!

Tap on the Photo to See Each Reindeer’s Transformation

Captain Kirk

Pilot

SAILOR

PEEPS

The Fire Litter's First Time in Harness!

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We recently took Spit, Fly, and Fox on their first run in harness! All three were such EASY puppies to harness. They calmly stood in place and let us place the harnesses over their heads. Normally puppies will stiffen up their legs in excitement, but the Fires willingly let us place their legs through the leg holes of the harness. They struggled a bit with facing forward (meaning they spun around and got tangled when we walked back towards the sled), but once they were straightened out and the hook was pulled, they all lunged forward and pulled! Spit was the most natural. He was completely unfazed and by the second time we stopped, he was harness banging and barking. Fly pulled hard but was a little spastic during breaks. She would spin around like a top and get in a big tangle if we waited too long. Fox was the most intimidated. He wasn’t sure what was happening. He liked adventuring down the trail but it was a little overwhelming, so he got extra love and comforting words during our breaks. He reminds me of his uncle Smoky: beautiful build, curious, and loving but also a little more sensitive.

Here’s a video of their first sled run being led by all-stars Cooke and Crunch!

Blog Post by Mandy

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I look at the black ears flop against the broad forehead, bouncing in rhythm to the jolts caused by jumping back and forth over the gang line. The dog yard is howling in excitement while the team on the line is pulling in their impatience to go. Everyone is ready but the large dog in front of me. He pauses for a moment to look me in the eye; he doesn’t know what’s coming.

I approach slowly, cooing “easy boy.” I lift his paw and a wide tongue rolls up my cheek. My other hand goes to slip something onto, a foreign object to this pup. He jerks his paw from me and the 80-some pounds of muscle slam into my legs to escape me. I trip over the gang line and almost lose the item to the new snow.

New tactic. I straddle him, tucked right behind his should blades. His head goes up to reach for my face in hopes of another lick. I can feel his body wiggle as his tail moves with energy. My hand grabs his paw—no problem. I try again with the other hand to slip the Scary Item onto his a paw—problem. I’m sliding around his back shouting at him to chill while he throws a tantrum under me. Again.

He gets away. Well, away from me but he’s still in harness attached to the gang line and we still have one last task to accomplish before we can do what his silly puppy wants to do: run.

Sherlock

Sherlock

I straddle him again and get a little farther in the process before he actually bucks me off. He’s a brute of a dog! And a yearling at that! It takes another handler to help out, but we finally manage it. Sherlock wears dog booties for the first time ever.

Kalyn looks me dead in the eye: “This is why Ryne ‘happened’ to have a vet appointment on the day we ‘happen’ to run the yearlings in booties for the first time.” We laugh hard, shaking our heads, and both tell Sherlock he’s a good boy... cause he is!

And we had an amazing run in the most beautiful environment ever.

Winter Patience

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First- I hope everyone VOTED!! Either today or early or absentee- get out and Vote!

Winter has arrived in full force with temperatures hitting at least -25F at night. I say at least because whatever the weather station is reporting, we are normally five to ten degrees colder. And the Fairbanks Weather Station reported -22F yesterday, which is the third coldest November second in recorded history! Of course everything is relative. In just a month or two, we’ll probably call -22F a warm up and be frolicking outside to bask in all the warmth. However, since this is our first real negatives of the season, we’re bundling up and questioning our sanity for living in the far north.

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But really the biggest adjustment I have to make to winter living is to just have more patience. Everything takes longer in winter. The simplest of tasks might drag out into a couple hours or more. Take yesterday morning for example. Goal: bring two dogs to North Pole Veterinary Clinic for a 10:00 AM appointment with Dr. Brown. I knew it was supposed to get cold the night before, so I woke up at 6:00 AM in order to give myself plenty of time to compensate for any hiccups the cold weather could create. My tasks for the morning: shower, eat breakfast, feed the dogs, start my car, and drive the one hour into the vet office. Even with giving myself FOUR HOURS I arrived five minutes late. The morning went about like this:

6:00 AM- Emerge from under the comforters where Jezzy, Sasha, Derek, and I are cocooned in warmth. By the light of my phone, walk downstairs and flip a light switch. Rats, power is out. Note to self, run the generator more often. Stumble around and throw a jacket on. Supai and Cartel do not even move or look up from their pile of blankets. Step outside to the generator shed. Try to start the generator. Oops. Needs gas. Bumble around the yard, kicking gas containers and looking for a full one. Grab a half full container and start filling the generator. Curse myself for not bringing gloves as I try not to freeze burn my fingers on the metal gas cap. Start up a generator and go inside.

6:30 AM- Cartel, Supai, Jezzy, and Sasha all still completely ignore my movements and pretend it’s not morning yet. The water pump kicks on, but no water is coming up from the well. Pipes must be frozen. I plug in the heat tape. It’ll take about an hour, but the pipes will clear up. Pack firewood into the woodstove and open all the vents to get it cranking and warm.

7:00 AM- Start breakfast. Have a delicious breakfast and drink a big mug of coffee (ok it’s really creamer with a dash of coffee).

7:30 AM- Go try the water. Success! There’s movement in the pipes. Shower time. Oops. The drain is frozen and the base of the shower is collecting water. Plug in the heat tape around the drain pipe. Attempt to start my car knowing full well it won’t start. Yep, it’s too cold. Normally, cars are plugged in, but since we are off-grid, we just heat them up with a diesel blower (or for the trucks, turn on the Webasto which is an internal heater). I go and wake up Derek and ask him really nicely if he’ll get my car ready to go. I need to leave at 9:00 AM.

8:00 AM- Head out to feed the dogs a warm broth of meat. We’re feeding about 30 pounds of beef in warm water to the dogs in the mornings. The dogs gobble up their breakfasts then curl back up in their straw beds for a bit more sleep.

8:30 AM- Shower drain is good to go. I hop in the shower. It’s been about a week since my last shower, and I have a hunch the real world would appreciate being around a clean, nice smelling Ryne.

8:55 AM- Derek has warmed up the car. I turn the key and presto! We have a running vehicle. I wait ten minutes for engine to warm up before driving. I load Cooke, Faff, and Cartel into the car and off we go to the vet! Kalyn (with Fire, Ham, Rucu, and Blue) and Mandy (with Perm) have arrived in the yard to scoop, walk puppies, and work with the reindeer.

10:05 AM- We arrive at the vet! SUCCESS!!!

So there you have it. Four hours to do morning chores and arrive at the vet office. And this is the norm in winter. Things break, freeze, or won’t start. You just have to have patience. And I should note, we are still working on the cabin. Our routines will get easier once the house is finished. Although even then, many houses have issues with frozen water pipes or septics. Many people choose to live in dry cabins (meaning no running water) not out of poverty, but out of a desire to not have to worry about leaving for a few days and their homes freezing up. Oh the joys of living in the far north! And for those wondering about the vet visit, the dogs are just fine! Cartel came along because she likes to ride in the car. Cooke has a sprained tail (his brother Smoky must have grabbed it and not let go when they were playing in the yard), and Faff has allergies. When you have this many dogs, it’s always something! Good thing winters are beautiful!

Sailor munching on lichen.

Hopefully one of the last atv runs!

Midnight (Mandy’s dog) dressed up for Halloween.

Fire pups playing in the snow.

Fire pups playing in the snow.

First Snow! And an update.

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Peeps enjoying the snow on a sunshiny day! Photo credit- Kalyn Holl

We have received the first snow of the season in Two Rivers! One day we’re planning to go pick lichen for the reindeer, then BAM! We wake up to fresh snow! So while our lichen collecting adventure was foiled, the dogs were ecstatic about the cooler temperatures and fresh, soft snow on the ground.

We’re currently training three teams: two adult squads and one team of young guns. Since the young guns team is really only seven dogs (Tobin, Rose, Watson, and Sherlock coached by Rucu, Ham, and Crunch), we rotate the race dogs into the youngster team so that they all have an easier training day occasionally. The two adult teams tend to be divided based on each dog’s location in the yard, but otherwise, no choices have been made yet for A Team versus B Team. Training schedules can vary from two days on/one day off or one day on/one day off.

And then we have TWELVE puppies!

Fly, Spit, and Fox all live in the yard with the big dogs now. Every day, they go for a loose run totaling about five miles by ATV. The puppies, of course, probably run double that distance as they dart through the woods, run back and forth, and chase each other down the trails. These three are the sweetest. Without any training on our parts, the Fire litter knows to run back to their houses at the end of the run.

The Cheeses and Office litters also get walks every day. For most of their lives, they have lived in two separate pens: the Cheese litter in one and the Office litter in the other. Recently, we’ve had to get creative and separate the three boys in the Office litter. Big Tuna, Mose, and Dwight are FEISTY. Tensions started running a bit high between the three boys, and they were getting scrappy. I have never had a litter of puppies get in such squabbles. To settle things down, we separated the boys (one in each pen) with the other puppies dispersed randomly. But then the Cheese litter (who are all very attached to each other) were quite upset to be living in separate pens. The current solution? Holly and Mose in one pen, Dwight and Beesly in another pen, and the Cheeses and Big Tuna in the largest pen. Phew. So many personalities!

Pilot, Peeps, and Sailor

Photo by Kalyn

Big Tuna

Photo by Kalyn

Training run with the adult squad. Goblin teaching his daughter Yoshi how to lead!

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Are any Ryno Kennel followers also Office fans? You’ve probably guessed that I’m a big fan of the Office based on the fact that the youngest litter is named after characters from the show. A bit of back story- I’ve always loved to watch the Office, and then a few years ago, Paige Drobny told me how she has it downloaded onto her iPod and listens to it to help her fall asleep during races . She doesn’t need to watch the show. Just the soundtrack puts her in a good, happy headspace as she falls asleep. Hm… I had never considered doing that! While I don’t listen to the Office on the trail (mostly because I’ve been too lazy to download it) The Office has become a major crutch for my brain in every day life. If ever my brain is caught in a silly anxiety trap that I know is highly irrational but I can’t break the loop (I’m sure many of you can relate), then I pop on The Office and listen. It’s dry humor and sometimes a bit crass. But at the end of the day, all the characters still care for each other. So here’s to the Office Litter!

The below is a video of Dani at the Outpost Cafe bringing hot London Fogs to Kalyn and I as we passed by the Two Rivers Outpost! Thanks DANI! You can see Louie, Bert, and Ernie wanted to go say hi!