A Call from Allen / Aliy’s 8 Hour Stop

Aliy is currently just out of Eagle Island. That should be her 8 hour mandatory rest. We will have to wait to see if she dropped any dogs. There hasn’t been an update from Eagle Island since 1:22 pm. Aliy was interviewed on KNOM. Very cool. Here’s the link.

http://onthetrail.knom.org/2011/03/11/in-anvik-aliy-zirkle-running-her-own-way/

Allen is through Grayling with all 13 dogs and on his was to Eagle Island. He talked to Bridgett from Anvik twice this morning. I talked to her this afternoon. She had tried to check in earlier, but the Hospital in Nome has been very busy today. She has been saving lives!

Bridgett reported that Allen sounded wonderful, excited and fresh. She joked that he sounded better than he did at the start. He kept saying over and over. “I’m the slowest team on the trail.” We know that’s not true, but the heat of the day has been effecting his team. He is running much smoother and fasted at night. He hasn’t stopped racing though. He kept asking where people were and whether they had done their 8 hour rest yet. Always ready to go!

The trail is very hard and set up, but snow is melting during the heat of the day. He did run into 2 ft of overflow going into Iditarod. He had to stand on the seat on his sled to keep from getting wet. Cha Cha, who usually hates overflow, charged right in and dragged the team through. Cha Cha and JJ have been in the lead for the last 100 plus miles. Mother and son, rocking the lead! There is a bit of a breeze on the river right now, so maybe it is cooling the dogs off a bit.

Allen’s biggest challenge right now is not the trail or the heat though. It’s Scruggs. Every time he stops the team, even if it is just for a minute, Scruggs is taking off his booties. He takes them off. Allen puts them back on. Scruggs takes them off. Allen puts them back on. Maybe Scruggs thinks it a game!