by Kim Slade
Today’s the Day!
Racers are off on the 2007 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race! 82 Mushers met at Willow Lake for a 2:00 p.m. Restart. As I walked along the frozen lake, the teams were pretty laidback and taking it all in strides. As the day progressed, and the early numbered teams started hooking up dogs, the more intense it got. The excitement was catching! I spoke to a musher who commented on that phenomena saying, “the dogs communicate better than we do.” By the sound of things out there, I think he was right!
It takes a lot of volunteers to run a race of this size, so I helped check microchips, which all dogs must have. I worked with some wonderful volunteers and we checked using a special machine that reads the numbers electronically. With a quick, simple wave of the device across the neck area of the dog, it automatically read the information on the chip. This was very exciting for me, because I had the opportunity to meet one of the people who designed the microchip. The gentleman told me there was a problem initially when the chip was first developed. When vets went to check the dogs, they could not find it. He said they found the chip had moved down the shoulder and leg of the dogs as they ran (of course this never hurt the animal). I meet him a few months ago – he is retired and living in my hometown – what a small world!
As I walked around wishing teams good luck and taking advantage of some awesome photographic opportunities, I overheard one spouse saying the first night after her husband leaves on the trail, is difficult – she feels a little bit guilty sleeping in a warm, cozy bed when she knows her husband cannot. I am getting ready to see first-hand how mushers sleep out on the trail. Matt Rossi showed me his sled – it has a tent big enough for his sleeping bag attached to his sled bag. How cool is that!!
Where is Jack?
Jack is still with me! Saturday he got to take his first sled dog ride, so I wasn’t sure he would end up with me, or if he was going to jump onto a sled and head out on the trail without me!
Keep checking back to see what is happening out on the trail!