Good Food, Good Sun, Great Dog Teams

Did I come to Takotna this AM at -30 to see the dog teams or did I come here fo the food.  Either way, its all good.  Its a beauty sunny day here in Takotna.  The teams are all resting out on the sunny hillside behind the checkpoint.    The mushers are in and out eating and talking then taking more time to sleep.

Hans Gatt and Cim Smyth put big runs on last night.  They were the only two teams to travel from Nicholai all the way to Ohir.  THey did this so that they would have better departure times coming off of there 24.  They both arrived around the 4am hour, this is a perfect time to begin the run to Cripple.  Sven Haltmen agreed with me that it is better to hold up here in Takotna if you have any ? dogs that may or may not pull through a soreness or mild injury.  You can leave with the dog in the team and if the dog is not pulling out of it by Ohir, you have the option to drop him/her.  When you leave Ophir there is nothing for a long way to Cripple.

Zack Steer is runinng a nice team, he placed 3rd in 2007 so we know that he could pull off a top five.  Ross and I stayed at Zack’s Sheep mtn Lodge for a night before the race.

Ross – On the GPS Ross is not too far from Nicholai.  I have no idea how many dogs he has in the team, lets hope he still has 15.  The musher standins page showed Ross into Nicholai last night.  As much as i wanted it to be true, the GPS proved that he was actually back in Rohn.  Lets hope Ross is enjoying a nice sunny day of mushing down the Iditarod Trail and lets hope he is not in misery carrying two 60lb dogs with one broken runner travelling over trundra tussoks.

I have over heard several mushers now calling home to their wives and kids telling passing on I love you’s.  There are many reporters here now taking interviews and pictures.  The kitchen is serving burgers now and the pie is unlimited, a good place to gain some weight.  I just learned that Ken Anderson has a unrepairable sled and needs someone to bring his spare over from McGrath, i have been asked but it my happen with an airplane instead of with my skidoo.

The weather forcast from here to Ruby looks good, maybe some flurries, highs of -5 or so and lows to -30.  Perfect mushing weather.  Lets see who can mush to Ruby in two runs.  If Jeff does what he did in 2008, he will be hard to beat.  It is early, but I am prediciting Jef King to win his 5th Iditarod this year.