Hello,

Sorry for no further updates yesterday. There have been some unexpected logistics for the support team here in Willow that required us to be unavailable from computer access most of the day and night. The computer here in Willow is still in use so I am writing on the laptop to send this to you all in the morning. The story behind all this is for another day when it all has a positive conclusion. We are just asking you all to be sending healthy thoughts to all the human NorthernStar Kennels team members; all the dogs are doing great. Thanks to Karen’s help we were given phone updates on Warren’s progress throughout the day and we did finally check out the gps tracker this evening. It wasn’t working for us yesterday evening. It sure is an amazing way to watch the race eh?

Well things on the race trail are nothing if not exciting. The weather doesn’t seem to be changing Warren’s planned schedule so far, though it does look like he left Finger Lake a bit earlier than planned. My guess is that the dogs told him they were ready to go when others were leaving. I know I said in the last blog that he plans to run his schedule, but the dogs often have a way of changing that schedule. He has been running with some great competition which has to be exciting for him. Hopefully we will all get some good trail stories post race. For now we know that he is running at a good pace and still has 16 dogs.

I haven’t been able to look at the standings page long enough tonight to evaluate anyone else’s progress /strategy but it sure seems that everyone is still moving along at a good clip despite the heavy snowfall coming down. I imagine the snowfall was welcomed for the Steps, unless it was so much that it formed a big trench for everyone to run in, a trench with not much of a bottom to it. Not ideal trail conditions but that is just part of the Iditarod trail, dealing with what mother nature throws out at you.

Here is to hopeful thoughts to a good trail for the teams tomorrow.

Kate