Join Travis Beals, 2013 Iditarod Rookie and owner of Turning Heads Kennel, at the Seward Brewing Company this coming Thursday December, 6th from 5-7 for family night. Kids will enjoy playing dog sled themed games, and young and old alike will enjoy meeting a few members of Beals’ kennel — including some puppies, and learning about mushing. Beals has lived in Seward his entire life and has owned and operated his own kennel since the age of 14. He is an accomplished racer having placed second in the 2009 Jr. Iditarod. He also received the humanitarian award for best dog care in the 2010 Tustumena 200, and recently finished 3rd in a very competive field for the Northern Lights 300. Beals’, 21, is tremendously excited for the upcoming Iditarod; it’s been his goal since grade school.

“I love mushing and there is nothing more satisfying than sharing my passion.” He is looking forward to meeting the young faces in Seward Thursday night. “I got interested in mushing when I was a kid, so sharing it with kids is something really special. You never know, who you could be encouraging,” he said. “I hope to inspire a new generation of Seward mushers.”

Thursday’s festivities will also include a chance to take a picture with a dogsled and to try on some mushing gear. In addition to racing, Beals recently started offering dog sled rides this summer out of his home on Exit Glacier Road to help pay for his racing.

This Entry Appeared in the December 12, 2012 Edition of the Seward Journal

Mother Nature is such a tease. For the past two months we have had bitterly cold weather without the slightest hint of snow. We are not alone in our search for it. Mushers all over are collectively asking, “Where is the snow?” To make matters worse, until the snow arrives, our trails in town are exceedingly limited. The long runs needed at this time simply cannot be done in Seward. We’ve been forced to do a lot of travelling.

Travis has now spent more time in Knik this November than he has here in town. He’s stayed with mushing friends and has enjoyed the long uninterrupted runs he’s been able to put on the dogs.

The dogs to impress us. We often compare our team to a freight train; they start their runs slow and gradually they gain momentum. At times they seem invincible, roaring up steep hills with a casual elegance that makes us wonder if they are really even working. We suppose they must be, but they simply make it look easy. They often end runs stronger and more excited than when they began. These are things we love to see. Just last week the dogs covered about three hundred miles.

On Thursday, we came home and participated in the Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Sea Life Center by delivering Santa with the dog team. We used our four-wheeler because there wasn’t enough snow. The dogs didn’t mind though, we’ve been training on the four-wheeler for almost three months now. We have to admit that we were a bit nervous though: our dogs have never run in crowds or in parking lots so we were putting them to the test.

We truly were impressed with our lead dogs, Tamere and Boston, who drove the team through the crowd as if they had been doing their entire lives. It was magical giving back to a community who has been so supportive and to see our dogs take right to it. Travis steered them around the parking lot as if that is where they had been running their entire lives. It was awesome. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

If anyone has pictures or videos from Thursday night we would love to see them. You can either post them to our facebookpage: www.facebook.com/turningheadskennel or email them to us at info@turningheadskennel.com

Turning Heads Kennel & The Seward Brewing Company Present Family Night on Thursday December 6th from 5-7pm

Delivering Santa &Training Update

Event