Thank You for posting Morgana.
Alaska Ping.
Posted on 03/04/2018 5:27:43 PM PST by Morgana
Competitors took to the snowy trail as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race kicked off Sunday in Alaska following a trying year for the annual event.
Musher Cody Strathe of Fairbanks and his 16-dog team were the first to take off across frozen Willow Lake, about 75 miles north of Anchorage.
Before taking off on the trail, Strathe said he was excited to be the first to leave. He said he had a harmonica in his pocket and he plans to teach himself to play during the race.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A good dog team will take you anywhere!
alaska ping
We follow every year. Followed the Yukon Quest too. Our musher came in third.
A friend who is a missionary is moving to a village in Alaska this spring. He was amazed that I knew where it was. It’s a checkpoint on the trail. Now we have a place to stay.
Thank You for posting Morgana.
Alaska Ping.
Excellent article by Danny Seavey ...
Does the Iditarod Need to be Fixed?
https://www.thealaskalife.com/journals-stories/does-the-iditarod-need-to-be-fixed/
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is wonderful.
Each musher starts with a set of 80 dogs and then picks the best 20 for the race. Each team has a lead dog who is super smart. If you meet a lead dog from the Iditarod, then you will think it is like meeting a person: super smart. Each dog sleeps in the snow and gets brushed off in the mornings. The history started with the gold rush in Nome and the need for mushers to deliver the mail.
That was a bucket list thing for me-———sounds wonderful.
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Meanwhile, mushers and their teams (all volunteers) were stationed along the Iditarod trail, along with another trail from Nenana, Alaska, the closest point on the Alaska railroad.
From these two points, the teams relayed the serum in temperatures as cold as -60 degrees, from checkpoint to checkpoint,changing teams along the way.
The team fron Nenana got there first.
I won't say they won, because the winners were the people of Nome.
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