March 6, 2012 - The Iditarod So Far - Bet

Hoo boy everybodies, its been busy, busy, busy around here at North Wapiti!

I'll get right to the most important parts, and that's an update on the most important thing going on.

Ok, so I woke up early and ... oh wait!  You mean the Pretty Curly Tails and the Musher, right?

hehehe, had you going there.

Before I get into the update, I have to say SORRY that I forgot to report about the tasty snack bags at Skwetna!  Faithful fans Shelly Lewis and Donna Finner prepared wonderful tasty treats and things for the Musher to snack on at Skwetna and for that we thank them!!! If they care to share what they packed, e-mail The Cartoonist and she'll tell me... unless she's swigging Nyquil again to calm her nerves.  The Cartoonist

Ok, so when we last reported, Team North Wapiti was at Finger Lake and there was some speculation that they may hang out there until it got light out because going to Rainy Pass meant going through those icky not so Happy River step things and other stuffs and it wasn't good to do at night... well that didn't happen.

As near as we can tell, the Musher and Pretty Curly Tails took off from Finger Lake at 4:18 and hit the trail heading to Rainy Pass.  This made my hackles raise a bit because eeeeep!  Tackling those steps in the dark is very scary, especially if you read that whole oogie description of them here.  Read the whole thing, I mean SERIOUSLY!

Thankfully Donna Photographer Minion and Richard let us know a few things about Alaska right now:

From Richard:
"What people  don't realise is it's not that dark when you are out there, especially with the moon reflecting off the snow. I've run with out headlamp on even in middle of night."  Yep, he said that!  Don't make fun of his spelling... he's from England!

From Donna:
"Richard and I think she did them around 7 pm, which would be after sunset, but still slightly light outside.  Remember, with all the snow on the ground and an almost full moon, it's pretty bright out there. I can walk outside at night and see rather well with no lights on. If the moon is out, it's quite bright out there."

WHEW!  So now we know!  We also think that because of all the snow there, maybe the steps got filled up with the snow and it wasn't so steppy. 

The Team made it into Rainy Pass at 11:04pm and we all thought... ok, they're probably going to rest up and everything... but NOOOO!  At 3:41am the team took off again to go to Rohn!  Look at those Pretty Curly Tails GOOOOO!  Here is everything you wanted to know about the trail from Rainy Pass to Rohn right here.  They probably stopped just long enough to enjoy the snack bag prepared by Joice Himawan for their Rainy Pass stop, and THANK YOU Joice!

The Team, and when I say Team I mean all 16 of the Pretty Curly Tails and the Musher made it into Rohn at 8:53 am this morning!  WAHOOO!  Once they got there, they opened up the tasty snack bag prepared by their North Wapiti brother Skookum and Brittany (Handler most runned over by the team) Wiest.  THANK YOU Skookum and Brittany!!!  I heard that the Musher snacked on her favorite: chocolate covered pomegranate!  Yeah, if those things are in the house, you don't EVEN look at them or feel the Musher's wrath. 

So, once again we all thought... well, are they going to rest there... apparently not because I just checked the Musher Tracker and the Pretty Curly Tails are on the move again, this time going from Rohn to Nikolai!  Here is everything you wanted to know about Rohn to Nikolai here.  According to that link thing, it says it takes a long time to get to Nikolai, with lots of camping out, roasting marshmallows, setting fire to your pants, and relaxing in the snows.

That's it for tonight... well, except for the obligatory "Behind the scenes" post, which is coming up soon!  Until then.. enjoy some pictures from the start festivities.

Oh look, its a friendly Polar Bear hugging the Musher

OHMYGAH THE BEAR IS ATTACKING THE MUSHER!!!!!  GET IT OFF!!!

Oh... its a person in a bear costume... ok.. hehehe... I wasn't scared at all.

Here are all the cool peoples and minions that helped Team North Wapiti at the finish line.... hey wait... where's the Musher???

OOH There she is!  Funny, she seems smaller than everyone else... she looks really tall to me

These starting line photos were taken by friend and handler for the team at Iditarod Keith Blaha.  The Cartoonist put the wrong copyright on there, so she promises to fix that soon... and stop swigging Nyquil.

Here are the pups at the starting line.  You know they want to pee on that tree right there.

This was taken right before the official start when the announcers were saying really nice things about the Musher and the Pretty Curly Tails, but the Musher couldn't hear all of that... she's beaming because she knows she and her Pretty Curly Tails are going on an adventure together.  Richard, as usual, looks like a rock star.. he's dreamy... um, I mean very professional... yeah... professional... nothing to worry about Mrs. Richard, nothing at all!!!

-  Bet