I am happy to report that Warren has blown thrugh Galena, still with 12 dogs. He has now finished both his 24 and 8 hour layovers and the only remaining layover will be the mandatory 8 hours at White Mountain. From Galena Warren  will be running a few hours further down the trail to a spot called Bishop's Rock where he will rest for around six hours before continuing on to Kaltag. Happily the temperatures along the river are beginning to cool down which will improve the run times, snow conditions, and mental health of mushers and dogs alike. Also a plus is that Warren will be getting back onto a schedule that has the team running more in the nightime and therefore in the cooler temperatures. He is standing in 20th place right now which I am super excited about. 

Frank and Diesel who came back to me in Anchorage are doing great, both eating and resting well, a few feet issues I am working on and some general fatigue and some muscle knots but happily nothing major . A few people have questioned me about the dropped dog procedure during the race so let me take a moment to answer you. When a musher decides to drop  dog, be it because of injury or a mental "hitting the wall", or illness, the dog is checked out by the veterinarians at the checkpoint. After the dogs' condition is assessed, they are given a tag of either red, blue or white, red being the most need of vet care. The dogs are then placed in the care of dog drop volunteers at the checkpoint where they are fed and watered and set up in a straw bed. As soon as there are flights out of the checkpoint by the Iditarod airforce (bush pilots who volunteer to shuttle dogs, supplies, and people up and down the trail) the dogs are flown to either Anchorage or Nome, depending on where the checkpoint is on the trail. When the dogs arrive at either location they are again checked by a vet, taken to  a local vet if further care, surgery etc. is needed. Once the vets have checked out the dogs they are again given to dog drop volunteers who call the handlers to alert them of their dogs arrival and then the handlers pick them up. The dogs in Anchorage are first taken to the Millenium Hotel where a space is set up for their care, often the planes fly directly to the lake in front of the hotel. If the handlers have not arrived by nightfall the dogs are transported to the women's prison outside of town where the inmates have turned their common outside yard into a big doglot. It has been a program that has been super beneficial to the women in the prison, some have become mushers after their release . It is not a hard core prison from what I am told. I have not gone yet to the prison to pick up any dogs as I have been at the Milennium this week to pick the dogs up as soon as they arrived. But I have heard that it is quite the experience to have the gates shut behind you as you enter. I can probably be ok without having that experience! Plus, the sooner I get the dogs back on to our truck the sooner their TLC time with me starts. The dogs dropped in Nome are taken to the dog lot there and cared for again by volunteers until the mushers/ handlers arrive in Nome. There are a great group of people that are volunteers for drop dog care and we thank them all for all their care of our dogs and everyone elses!!

On another dog care note, we visited sweet Lena today and she is doing better, the swelling is less and she was weight bearing a little bit on her sore leg. We were hoping she would have been released today but we will know more by  Monday morning. Thank you to all  who have sent get well wishes to her, I passed on your messages to her.  She was very excited to see me today and cuddled up immediately and had no intention of leaving that space. It was hard to leave her there but I know she is in good hands.

Karen and I are very happy to have come in to WIllow late this afternoon. It is great to be back at John and Mari's with Mari's delicious home cooked meals - corned beef and cabbage tonight - and to be able to do some laundry and just be in such a welcoming, comfortable home. We are blessed tohave such good friends as they. Their home and kennel offer a spectacular view of Mt. Denali as the locals call it, it is Mt. McKinley on all the maps! I am amazed at how much the snow has melted here since last Sunday  morning when we left here for the restart. Global warming definitely seems to be a reality here this year.
All for tonight as the late night dog drop is calling me to duty again.
Cheers,
Kate