When Jim LaLonde of Farmington Hills tells people that his daughter is competing in the Iditarod sled dog race over more than 1,000 miles in Alaska, the first thing they ask is why.

They want to know why she would travel for more than a week in the cold and wind of the Alaskan wilderness, sleeping outdoors at night with just a propane heater for warmth.

“It is surprising and it’s also not, knowing her,” LaLonde said of his daughter Samantha, 29.

Jim LaLonde got his first exposure to the sport when he watched coverage of it as a child on television.

“I’d think, ‘how crazy are these people?’ She falls right in line with that,” he jokes.

Joking aside, LaLonde and his wife, Sally, are proud of their daughter. From their home in Farmington Hills, they help with fundraisers, as the cost of participating in the race can be as high as $100,000.

They will go to Alaska next week to see her compete. The race will have a ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, March 1, but the official departure will be two days later in Fairbanks, about 350 miles to the north.

It’s the fourth time the world-famous race has been moved because of lack of snow. The starting point was moved to Fairbanks in 2003, 2015 and 2017, according to an Associated Press report.

But conditions on the rest of the route through the Alaskan wilderness are still challenging and include windblown gravel sandbars, high winds, rivers, a glacier, slippery conditions and ice at the bottom of a canyon.

The winner is expected in Nome about 10 days after the start.

Samantha LaLonde, a 2013 graduate of Harrison High School, could not be reached for an interview, as she is in Alaska preparing for the race.

Her dad said she was always passionate about the outdoors and animals.

“Ever since she was a little girl, she loved animals, and she really loves dogs,” he said.

After high school, she went to Northern Michigan University in Marquette to pursue a degree in outdoor recreation management.

She graduated from NMU in 2017 and later got a job as a dog handler for a company that runs sled dog tours in Alaska. Many people in that industry also race dogs, and that’s how she was introduced to the sport, her dad said.

She has worked for several sled dog tour companies. Her current employer, Dallas Seavey, has won the Iditarod six times, LaLonde said.

Her preparation for Iditarod involves practice runs of about 100 miles per day. In the past month, she has run two 300-mile runs, he said.

Her study at NMU included survival skills, which have come in handy as she prepares for her rookie appearance in the Iditarod, he said.

Firewood is too heavy to carry on the practice runs or Iditarod. She uses a small propane stove to heat her food.

To go to sleep at night, there usually isn’t time to set up a tent, so it’s only used if the weather is particularly inclement. She uses a sleeping bag rated for temperatures of up to 50 degrees below zero, sometimes supplemented with a hot water bottle or heat packs.

“It’s quite an operation,” Jim LaLonde said.

The entrance fee for Iditarod is $4,000. Feeding 16 dogs for up to 10 days and providing gear like booties for their feet can add up. If you’d like to contribute, LaLonde’s Venmo username is sclalonde.

Samantha LaLonde is one of two mushers from the Detroit area who are competing in the race. Her dad said she knows Dane Baker, a Royal Oak man who is also making his first appearance in the race.

Baker planned to go to college after he graduated from Royal Oak High School in 2018, but instead took a job at a dog kennel in the Upper Peninsula.

He planned to take a gap year and learn how to race dogs. But after the year was up, the then 19-year-old got a job driving sled dogs to Alaska.

He jumped at the chance to “get paid pretty good and get a free trip to Alaska.”

“I took a trailer and 40 dogs, and we drove up to Alaska in three days. And we hung out there for the summer and ran tours for the cruise ships,” he said.

He returned to Michigan, but missed Alaska. He reached out to friends to see if he could get a job there, with the idea of getting into mushing on a larger scale.

He got a job offer from musher Matthew Failor, originally from Ohio, who had raced in the Iditarod.

He also started picking up the finer points of dog sledding. He ran some shorter distance races and qualified for this year’s Iditarod.

“It takes mental acuity. You’ve got to be physically in shape. You got to learn how to traverse danger,” Baker said.

“I came up with the agreement with Matt that I’d like to try a long-distance race — anywhere from 100 miles to 1,000 miles. He’d teach me how to run a 100-mile race. A couple of months into the winter, he asked if I wanted to run a 300 instead of a 100, which is a pretty big difference. And I ended up doing my first Iditarod qualifier.”

The Iditarod is divided among many checkpoints and requires mushers to take frequent rests.

“There’s a minimum number of hours you have to rest. That way, everyone’s on the same playing field; it keeps the dogs well-rested, no one can overrun their dogs, per se, and you’re allowed to take more rest than that,” he said.

“We had a rookie meeting in December, and we were told that a lot of checkpoints are hospitable and provide food but pack as if none of them do,” he said.

Some villages have caribou stew or pies and leave some cooked moose out but when you’re in the back of the pack, like Baker believes he will be, there may be slim pickings by the time he reaches most checkpoints.

Baker hopes to compete in more races but without sponsors, he’s relying on himself and the generosity of friends and family. His Venmo is Dane-Baker-9.

For more information on the race, visit https://iditarod.com.

Freelance writer Mark H. Stowers and The Associated Press contributed to this report.