Before we went to bed on Friday evening, Steve and I hoped that we would wake to something warmer than the -45F we've had for the past week. No amount of wishing and hoping made it come true unfortunately.

Because I wanted to be downtown for the race by 10:30am, and we had to stop at the PO on the way, we planned to leave the house at 9:45am. This means we started getting dressed to go out in the arctic freeze 30 minutes earlier. Polypro, wool, liner socks and gloves, fleece, vests, scarves, hats, arctic mittens, parkas, boots. We were both sweating when we got in the truck to leave.

The temperature in the truck read -40F when we left North Pole. I worried about how my camera, and our video camera, would fare. I made sure to tuck a few extra batteries in one of my mittens, knowing that the cold would zap the one in my camera quickly.

We found a parking spot easily enough, but ran a little longer than anticipated, so we didn't have time to go to the staging area for photos of the mushers and teams before the race. We followed the crowd to the starting line instead. I noticed a smaller turnout this year than the one we had in 2006 - no doubt because of the weather. The crowd was a sea of eyes, as most everyone was swaddled heavily enough to cover all exposed portions of skin.

When the first musher (Didier Moggia of Whitehorse) left the starting line, the crowd erupted in cheers and well wishes as Didier and his team passed by. This enthusiasm continued as each team moved through the chute.

Steve and I moved further down the river, where the crowd was less dense, so that I could get additional photos without having to shoot around excited spectators. We stayed downtown until musher #8 (Brent Sass of Fairbanks) passed us. Wanting a change of scenery, we decided to drive up on Fort Wainwright so we could walk down on the river via the boat ramp behind the Outdoor Rec Center. By the time we got there, musher #16 (Bill Cotter) was passing by. We were the only two people in that location, which was nice. We found a spot to set up and wait for the remainder of the teams.

It was so quiet there on the river. All we could hear was the slushing sound of the sled blades as they glided over the snow, and 56 bootie-clad paws running in tempo. We wished the remaining teams good luck as they began the first leg of this 1000 mile race. It was quite an exciting day and, as always, I am in awe of these mushers and their teams.

You can check out the Yukon Quest Update Page to follow the teams as they make their way to Whitehorse. There's a great deal of information on the site; it's quite interesting!

Frosty face Steve	Fox Hat	Fox Head Hat	Didier Moggia of Whitehorse was the first off the line
William Pinkham Glenwood Springs CO	Ann Ledwidge Dawson City, Yukon	Ann Ledwidge Dogs	Phil Joy - Fairbanks, AK
Chena River and Ice Fog	Community Send-off	Bill Cotter - Nenana, AK	Donald Smidt Van Dyne, WI
Donald Smidt's Dogs	Donald Smidt	Bruce Milne Two Rivers, AK	Julie Estey Fairbanks, AK

I put together this little video of the events at the Yukon Quest.

On another note... my journal is now linked on the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer website, with other local blogging sites. If you enjoy reading about life in Interior Alaska, check out what others are saying: http://newsminer.com/blogroll/

Until next time...