Sixteen years ago today, I moved to Willow and decided we were staying. Earlier in July of that year. Nicole was twelve. We stood in a cabin outside; it was pouring rain, looked at each other, and she texted Michele: “Mom, we are moving to Alaska.” That decision was never only about snow or dogs. It was the first clear step out of the shadow of the years that had come before. I had already paid the legal price, rebuilt a business from nothing, and refused to let the incomplete internet version of my story be the final word. Moving north was the next proof that the rebuild was real. Sixteen years later, to the day, the work has a new shape, and Nicole is stepping into the operating seat at Alaska Dog Works. We are stewards of Mushing Magazine, and we are returning to the trail in earnest. Starting with the 2026–2027 season, @TeamIneka will train and race with deliberate focus again. Not as nostalgia but as the logical continuation of the same decision made in that cabin: Leave the gray behind and claim the spark that led us here. The full record is public, and the next chapter is already in motion. #TeamIneka #Alaska #AdventureStrategist