Wednesday, 12 February 2003

February 12, 2003


Due to weather conditions (it is unseasonably warm here in Alaska), the route for this year's race has been changed. Someone asked me if this would cause our team much hardship. It will not, in fact, I think it will be fun. 

The route through Nenana is very historic in terms of the original Serum Run - as a friend and fellow Iditarod musher said to me 'that trail should be full of apparitions'. And it should be. It is fun to share the trail with spirits of the past and I think they love seeing dog teams still active on 'their' trails and provide us with safe passage. :)

It has made food drops a little more interesting, but I have done them with a few different game plans in mind - so lots of room for flexibility.

I will miss some of my favorite parts of the Iditarod Trail, like the Rainy Pass summit, but I'm sure this new route with be inspiring in it's own way. I also will miss 'my tree'. It is between Happy River and Rainy Pass, I broke my sled on it in 2000 and damaged my sled on the very same tree in 2001. This year I was DETERMINED to make it by the darn thing - now I won't have a chance!

Oh well, it's going to be a historical and interesting Iditarod and I'm THRILLED to be a part of it.

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