March 12 Iditarod - Meanwhile Back in a Lot of Places - Bet

HOO BOY everybodies, we have a lot of ground to cover tonight, so let's get going!

Meanwhile Back in Anchorage

Photographer Minion Dan took these pictures of Iditarod Headquarters, housed at the Millennium Hotel.  These exclusive behind the scenes shots are the first ever photos from the super secret lair of the Iditarod HQ... ok, its open to just about anyone, but we have cool photos and others don't... so there.

Here is the state of the art "big board" that has all of the musher's information on it, and someone comes out and writes all of the checkpoint information on it.

Here is Polly, friend of Minions Dan and Heather pointing to the Musher's name for dramatic effect while wearing an awesome North Wapiti fashion ensemble available in the North Wapiti shop! (Thank you Polly)

Here are all of the mushers posted to a state of the art door!

 This is the busy communications center.  Always on the cutting edge and just bristling with energy, all calls to the MUSH number come here... just look at the excitement!

Here are two Iditarod officials updating the BIG BOARD... and as this picture was taken, they were updating the Musher's line!!!  How cool!

Sparing no expense, this technological marvel captures all of the weather conditions throughout the trail and is updated as weather conditions change.

Seriously now, the Iditarod staff does an amazing job organizing, planning, and running the race so that not only are all of the Mushers and dogs safe, but have an enjoyable time during their stay.  It also shows that no matter what technological advances, doing it the good old fashion way is reliable, dependable, and probably a lot easier than beating on a cranky computer with a hammer after it crashes and eats everything for the first 5 days.

We would like to applaud all of the Iditarod staff and volunteers, from the people in the HQ, to those at checkpoints, snowmachines, those things that make the trails, the vets, and EVERYBODIES involved in the race, we thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to the sport of mushing!!!

Meanwhile Back in Willow

So, Richard took the Willow PCTs on a run yesterday afternoon with Donna and her pups.

Here is the list of Willow PCTs:
Bingo
Billie
Beauty
Casey
Kelly
TopDog
Runner
Irving
Tramp






Languishing in Drop Dog Jail:
Charge

When Charge finally makes it to the Willow Jail, here is what he has to look forward to:

We woulda gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids!

So, picture this:

 here is Richard and the Willow PCTs on a trail, and the phone rings...

"So, here's me gliding along in the wilderness of Alaska when the phone rings, it's only the Musher in the wild checkpoints of remote and harsh Interior Alaska chatting away to me - Something is just not right about that to me !! (he laughed)

Anyway, Charge is coming home "just not having a good race" - my interpretation from his 'performance' in the last few runs before leaving is that his concentration centre is..."

Unfortunately we were cut off and I never did learn where Charge's "concentration centre" is... oh well!

We had a very good question from fan Joann Solberg who asks: "When mushers scratch, what happens to their drop bag supplies?"

Excellent question Joann!

We asked Donna Q Photographer Minion and here is what she said:

"In each checkpoint the musher has a return bag in their checkpoint bags. They use that to send personal items (clothing usually) back--in Karen's case, to me at my PO Box--I know cause I addressed all the bags.

Food is left for the locals,  however, other mushers are allowed to go through drop bags left at checkpoints looking for dog food.  

That is how Karen found food for her dogs in McGrath, because her bags for the 24 hr layover were in Takotna.  She used DeeDee Jonrowe's bags because DD also has Eagle Pack as a sponsor, so the dogs are the same kibble.  Frozen meat was also in the bags--and DD sends good meat.  It was either moose or beef--not sure which, but I'm thinking moose. 

People food is left for the locals as a thank you as well as any other dog food.

Sleds that are left can be sent to another checkpoint if needed or will go back to ITC HQ at the end of the race."

I hope that answered your question Joann and others.

She also asked: Will Donna and Richard be going to Nome to help with the dogs when its time to fly back to Willow?

Sorry, you'll have to read tomorrow's Meanwhile blog to find that out :)

Meanwhile Back in Perryvale

During a break off guard duty, Cricket made Richard's bed in the guesthouse

I had a momentary panic attack and tried to run to Nome... but in my rush I had forgotten my matching and stylish ensemble and my toes got all cold so I came home.

That's it for tonight!  Don't forget the pizza fund!

- Bet