March 16, 2012 - The Iditarod So Far - Bet

They're getting closer to the Burled Arch, are you getting excited???  I am!

When we last left you, Donna Q was waiting for See and Q to arrive in Anchorage to take them back to Willow.

We're pleased to report that Roscoe, See, and, Q are getting a well deserved rest back at North Wapiti Willow now, and thank Donna Q and Pat Schue for bailing them out.

Q getting back to the relaxing life at North Wapiti Willow

See doing some snow nose cleanup

Roscoe isn't happy, they put him near Tramp and he can't sleep with all of her yammering

The team arrived in Elim at 17:46 (5:46pm Alaska time), and there was much rejoicing because we still don't have a GPS on the team, so its kinda like a whole math class figuring out average speed, miles and timing.

That means the Team was here

They rested for 4 hours and 45 minutes before checking out of Elim at 22:31 (10:31 pm) and headed toward Golovin.  Here's the route from Elim to Golovin.

I've been informed that mushers pretty much don't check into or out of Golovin, and about all they do is stop long enough to grab some coffee, sign some autographs and talk to the locals, and head toward White Mountain.  Here is the route to White Mountain.

We've been informed by the Iditarod Trail Commission that they are scrambling to find a new GPS tracker to put on the sled so we can follow the team on the last part of their journey.  We certainly hope so.  They have also turned off her old GPS unit (which now has 473 fans) because people were calling concerned about why Karen was stuck on the ice with Dan Seavey.

So, without the tracker, we waited.

And waited.

And sat around and waited.

Then fans started to panic a bit.  It seemed oddly familiar, waiting on the team at White Mountain... yes... oddly familiar... sorta like back in 2006 actually.

But then the Iditarod Coordinators updated the stats and Team actually checked into White Mountain at 8:20 (8:20 am)!

Hehe, never doubt the Musher and those Pretty Curly Tails.

The Musher and team is here in White Mountain.

Once at White Mountain, everybodies have a mandatory 8-hour layover, and then its off to Safety, where we hope Richard has obtained (through legal means) a snowmachine and can report to us.

We also hope a new GPS has been secured to the front, so we can watch her trip to Safety and then to the Burled Arch in Nome!

While we wait for the 8-hour layover time to pass, here are some wonderful videos of the Iditarod for you to watch from ADN.