Canadian Challenge Trip and Vet Checks - Bet

Howdy Ho everybodies, it's your Roving Border Collie Reporter, Bet, here, reporting from the site of the Canadian Challenge 2013, Canada's Premiere Mushing Event!!!!

I'm very excited to be here everybodies, because HOOO that drive over here was a bit scary!  We were awfully glad the Richard took the wheel, he's very good at the driving thing, so we didn't end up stuck in the big snow drifts or in a ditch like a lot of the other peoples did.

As you can see, I was very tense during the ride

zzzzzzzzzz

Um... what are you doing?  I'm trying to sleep here

Briffany, are you drinking my latte?

I'm giving you the evil eye!

Are we there yet?

Yes, you can clearly see that it was a nail biting scary scary drive!

Of course we made a few stops, and since I had packed most of my cold weather fashionable ensembles, the Musher made sure I kept warm by tying me into a blankie

I'd like a sip of MY latte now Briffany

Of course, after all of my work helping to navigate, give advice, direct, and snuggle, by the time we got to the hotel, I was EXHAUSTED!!!

mmm, fleeeeeecy pillow top bed with down honk honk goosey downy down fluff

Has anyone called room service yet?  I'd like a pizza

Of course, there was work to be done, so off we went to get the Pretty Curly Tails to their vet check.  Molly was not really impressed with this part of the race.  Since this was her first ever EVER race... EVER, she wasn't quite expecting the famous Dr. Ruth Sims to pull her arms out of her sockets.  Here's an article about the health checks she did for the race.

IEEEEEEEEEEE

Oh, geez, thanks for putting that back in where it belongs

Here is Rocky getting to know Dr. Sims VERY well..

Ok Rocky, turn your head and cough!

Richard is there for emotional bonding and guidance and to keep repeating Rocky's new mantra: "Snowmachine rides are bad, chicks love finishers"

Rocky apparently needs more mentoring as he attempted to drop out of the race on the table

Once again, all of the Pretty Curly Tails passed the vet exam with flying colors and are ready to race... this also means that they were officially marked as ready to race... with green paint... oh the humanity!!!!  Thankfully having had my annual physical a few months ago, nobody dared paint me... it would have clashed with my fabulous ensemble... harumpf!

They painted my white head stripe green... I kinda like it

What's that spray bottle doing in your hand... why are you smiling?

Does this green stripe make my butt look big?

don't look at me!  I'm hideous!!

Ok, so we're all ready to go and will spend tonight double checking and checking and double checking the gear again and again and again and order pizza or something nummy, then when we wake up tomorrow... we'll be busy busy busy getting the Musher ready.  I hope to have more news for you later tomorrow... but in the MEANTIME....

All of the Mushers will get a GPS put onto their sleds!!!  You can follow the race with everybodies!  I certainly hope that all 4,147 of you don't all click the button at the same time, but you can watch the whole race live and as it happens on the GPS things... you too can follow the little dots around the course and watch the fun as it unfolds... and freak out when the dots stop... and ask why the dots aren't moving, and ask why the dot hasn't moved for a long time...

Go to the Canadian Challenge website and there's a 2013 Canadian Challenge Live Tracking button in the middle... ish part of the screen.  If you don't see it, then you may be using a Firefox, which was having issues, or Chrome, which was having issues, or... just try to empty your browser cache (don't ask me, I have no idea, someone told me to say that) or try another browser.  I know it works using  IE, some people can get it using Firefox, and Safari works... just keep trying... steal someone's computer if you must.

Rules of the race, let's just get it over with now:
1.) We'll tell you when we know.  If we don't tell you, we don't know
2.) I don't know who the GPS is.  I had heard that Wayward got demoted from Iditarod because he fell off, and had been working as a GPS on a meat delivery truck in Tupolo, Mississippi...
3.) You can ask questions, we'll try to answer them, but we won't answer "why aren't they moving, why is the sky blue, or if you could be any tree"

Until later folks!

-Bet