This is my entry to the weekly freaky Friday contest organized by @pete, who is striving to help bloggers and give them their desired recognition, to join the contest hit the link below

https://scorum.com/en-us/ski/@pete/freaky-friday-november-16-2018

It was my birthday, and it was pretty much an uninteresting one, a small party with my friends, we drank, merried and of course brought down the entire neighborhood,with our loud music and hilarious frenzy,got a nice birthday gift from my friend Sheldon, which later became a not so nice birthday gift as the squealing Alaskan dog delved into my birthday cake, well it was a dare as Sheldon wanted to make me see how easy it was to train the dog,well I forgive her for that

And then came my mum, what exactly was she doing at my apartment, i couldn't tell, don't get me wrong we weren't enemies, but I was at home earlier and she had seen me, she was probably coming to beg me to come home for winter vacation, yeah its been a while since I stayed there, but this holiday I definitely was in no mood to be babysitted by an over protective mother

She walked briskly through the front door, wearing a suspicious smile, which kinda dissipated a bit the moment she took in my, messy apartment, trust me that was even an understatement.

"I see you had a bash" she said as she scanned the entire place

" Well if you could call it that" I replied

She stood still and kept scanning the room like she was looking for something and then her eyes finally landed on the Alaskan dog

" oh how cute, she said as she walked up to it and lifted the white hairy dog up, such a cute little thing, a perfect fit for a dogsled race,.

" Yeah " Sheldon said after her, which made things looj strange now, especially with the way my mum was looking at me,alright what was she about to say

"I just got you the best birthday gift ever" mum said now approaching me

"Okay, didn't know that, thanks for letting me know" I said seeming unperturbed by whatever it was my mum was getting at, she lifted the dog's leach and brought out a piece of paper

"This here, is your 18th birthday gift" she said handing me the paper

A dog, and now a paper, a pretty weird birthday your having travis, collecting the piece of paper, I soon realized it was no ordinary piece, but it was pretty blank, I flipped it and then I saw an opening, I dipped my hand inside and brought out a small card, which read

You've been chosen for a wild adventure camp trip to Ontario, Canada

"Are you fu**ing kidding me, this is the best birthday gift ever" i exclaimed immediately, mum was smiling at me, I guess I wouldn't have to tease her about how bad she was at surprises, definitely didnt see that coming, and of course sheldon could not have bought such, we were both college students, and that was probably worth a lot, camp trips were usually organised by the loto lottery group in Indianapolis, this was going to be my first one, I finally got lucky

I made further enquiries and found out my trip to Ontario, was in a week's time and the camp was for 14 days, my mum suggested I go with my dog as a companion, I rebuffed the idea initially, cos I didn't really like dogs and she knew that, but she insisted that I needed to go with it and so I had no other option, than to oblige

First day at the camp

I arrived at Ontario at 6:45 pm, Monday night, it was an exhausting 7 hour flight, we all quickly settled into our tents, while I decided to stroll with my dog, the camp trip was actually a survivor of the fittest challenge, whereby your given a daring challenge, I had gone through the adventures of past camp trips, and had seen challenges like hunting, dogsled racing, my dad, though now separated from us was a multiple time dogsled champion, and had tried to make me follow in his footsteps, but unfortunately I hated dogs and I found the sport creepy, so I really hoped I was never gonna get it as a challenge during the camp, cos I was good as gone, I covered quite a long distance, and i noticed a brunette girl, strolling behind me, she looked pretty from afar, I slowed down a bit, to enable her catch up with me, her eyes though were fixated on my alaskan husky dog

"I 'm Travis Duncan" I said in my most polite tone ever

"I'm Taylor carter" she replied in a sweet tone as we shook hands (Nice going Travis, your about to have the best winter camp ever)

" what a cute dog, you got here, you must be into dog sled racing, I love dogsled and I love guys that are into it you know"

"hehehe, I mean dogsled racing that sh*t, hehe its not easy at all you know, you have to put in your best hehehe"

I said buying into the impression she already had of me,it could work for me you know

" yeah I know, i'm a three time slegdog champion" its never been more easy

" Awww" I said feeling a bit intimidated

"My dad's a multiple champion also" I told her

"Wow nice and what of you"

" well, like father like son, what else can I tell you, you know" I wasn't letting this golden chance slip, I was already liking taylor, we exchanged digits and chatted for a while as we strolled back and forth, she was fun to be with, but very daring and so you had to up your game to get this one

The first week of the camp went well for me and a host of other competitors, I and Taylor were part of the people that survived the first week's competition, which was a treasure hunt in a thick and scary forest, so as a result we qualified for the final week's challenge, we were an even number, boys and girls were equal, 6 apiece and hence, this time around we were to work in pairs, the girls chose whichever guy they think they'll be compatible with, the field captain announced that, it was gonna be a dogsled racing much to my dismay and like that wasn't enough trouble to do with, Taylor had to pick me, I hated and liked it, but at the same time had no other option and that was how I ended up, doing all the research I could do about the sport,so as not to dissapoint Taylor, we were to begin training the next day, with about 5 Alaskan dogs, I now knew the basic skills and the commands like "gee" and "haw", I also knew how to position them, and the importance of each one, from the " swingers" to the "wheelers" at least I won't look like a novice in front of taylor, but that's way below the least expected from a multiple time champion and so I had to actually be grounded in my online tutorials, which was going pretty well , training went smoothly during the week, I had done just enough to please Taylor I suggested we use her style to train the dog's, I learnt a lot of stuffs from taylor, we had a good bonding time.

The D-day

Finally the day of the competition was here and I was freaking nervous, the arena was set, it was full of thick snow, people were readying there teams to go, when Taylor walked up to me, with the dogs and a snow shoe

" Are you ready Travis"

"Of course why not"

"Alright then, wear this" she said handing me the shoes, I took them and put it on, to complement, the big overall cardigans and tracks I was already wearing, I looked at her in contrast, and surprisingly she was only wearing a jean jacket

"Your not gonna compete with that right? I asked curiously

" Of course not, there's only one musher allowed Travis, so I decided to let the man and the multiple time champion go you know"

"B-u-t.....B-" I tried protesting and before I knew it her warm lips were crashing into mine oh how awesome, how long I had waited for this, we stopped short almost immediately and I found myself asking

"What was that for". She didn't reply but instead handed me her cellphone after unlocking it, I was pretty confused until, she asked me to " read it" her voice made things look strange, it was a WhatsApp chat apparently, I was pretty uninterested till I saw my name, that drew my attention, and I started reading everything, she looked at me soberly, after a few chats, I raised my head in utmost shock

"You, my mum and Sheldon planned all of this just to

" it was the only way to get back with your father"

"My father" I shouted even more confused"

She simply tilted, my head towards the spectators section, and I immediately spotted, my complete family, sitting in the stands, oh how amazing, I finally got to see my father after seven years, it was no secret, my mum still loved my dad, and this competition had finally brought them together, after a long time and they could rekindle old feelings, how genius of my mum

"Did they come together" I asked curiously

"It was also planned, your dad didn't know he'll bump into your mum here, right now the only thing you should do is win, now imagine how your father would feel about that

" my mum probably told you my family history "

The voice of the announcer interrupted our conversation, it was time to start the competition and my nervousness returned, Taylor drew away from me into the stands and I was left overwhelmed by everything, alone with the dogs and the sled, I felt challenged to pull this off, I could, but what an experience this would be, it was incredible

The race

It was going to be a "mass start" annoucer announced, all teams were to start at the same time, i was an adrenaline mess at the moment,nervous excited, in shock and was about to lead a team of dogs, one soothing thought in all of this now,was that I realized, my success depended on the dogs ability to outrun the others, I and Taylor had done a lot of work on the dogs, the only work left was to actually lead the the team, which I was just about to do now, the announcer signalled for us to go and away we went, it was a 40 km race, it was a tight race between all 6 of us, maintaining a steady pace, the bulk of the race was yet to be covered, once it was done, there would be a significant change of pace, and that's actually what wins you the race, the Alaskan huskies were performing brilliantly and I was more like a spectator,listening to the cheers from the crowd and the incessant barkings of the dogs the moment the annoucer, announced the final lap, I mushed the dogs to be faster and let them move at their own pace, and the moment they changed pace, I knew there was no stopping them, it was looking surreal, they were far ahead of the chasing pack, twisting and turning through the dangerous curves, we slowed down suddenly and I realized it was because one of the sled wheelers was weak and injured, thus enabling the others to gain significant grounds on us, I quickly pulled out the injured dog, and continued the race, it was now a close battle between,three teams, either had a fair chance of winning, it was now I needed the intelligence of my lead dog, to engineer the team, the finish line was drawing nigh, with three teams level, we eventually crossed the line at the same time, we had to wait for a while to determine the original winner, it was a nervous moment awaiting the result, the officials kept watching the replays, and after a little deliberation, seemed to have agreed on a decision, and the next thing I heard was this

"The winner of the sled dog competition is team Travis"

I couldn't believe what I heard, I emerged winner despite everything, I could see my mum, dad, taylor and Sheldon hailing me, I still couldn't believe it, soon I and taylor were on the podium receiving our medals, flanked by second and third placed teams, my mum and dad together with Sheldon, proceeded to the podium, for a photo session, I could see the proud smile on my dad's face, and the sheepish look on Sheldon's face, Taylor kept flirting with me as we took the shots, it was undoubtedly the best experience of my life