Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

Still no internet access in our room but at least I have it in the lobby and the bar.  So, Sonny and Ashley are planning our next trip for 2013 (train trip through Canada) while I am on the computer.  We are also catching up on laundry .... real exciting stuff!!  We are now in Fairbanks, which is Alaska's 2nd most populated city.  It is not anything real special so far but we just arrived around 5 pm and walked around town and through the Cultural Center.  On Thursday night while at Denali, we took a tour out to a Mush Camp.  It was so interesting.  It is run by Jeff King who is recognized as the "winningest musher in the world."  He has won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race 4 times.  The Iditarod starts in Anchorage and ends in Nome on even years and goes the other way in odd years, covering 1000+ miles and going for approximately 10 days! All of this with the average temps 25 degrees F!!  Not a race for the faint of heart!!  The teams average 16 dogs so that means that about 1,000 dogs are leaving from Anchorage. A red lantern is awarded to the last musher to finish Iditarod. The longest time for a Red Lantern was 32 days, 15 hours, nine minutes and one second by John Schultz in 1973. The quickest Red Lantern musher, Celeste Davis, with a time of 13d 05h 06m 40s.  Jeff told us that he races the dogs for 6 hours, then rests for 6 hours.  He spends 4 1/2 hours while the dogs are resting getting things ready and he only rests for 1 1/2 hours - usually sitting outside in his sled.  He doesn't go inside because it takes 10-15 minutes to get out of his gear and another 10-15 minutes to get back in and by that time, he's wasted 30 minutes.  My question (although I didn't ask it!) was how does he take care of his bodily functions during those 10 days!! 

Aren't these puppies so cute??

Jeff King - looks pretty cold, huh?

Here's a link to information about the race if you are interested.  It is pretty fascinating.

Well, it's 11:00 and they are closing down the bar here in the hotel so heading up to bed!