The remnants of a full moon are casting long shadows in the dark woods around the kennel tonight.  It is a black night in those dark recesses out of the moonbeam's reach, but I just looked out the window and saw the bright flames of a fire burning in a new cooker Paul is working on this evening. He is testing this important piece of race gear, just as he has the rest of the final elements that are coming into place as the calendar pushes us ever closer to the start of the 2008 Iditarod.

His project tonight is to refine the "cooker" that he will use throughout the race.  Paul's is a modified metal five-gallon bucket with a stainless interior pot that is used to heat the water for feeding the dogs.  This required piece of race equipment has some specified size elements, but all else is up to the musher as to the design. Paul's is fueled by a wick at the base that burns "Heet" (the same stuff those of us living in Northern climates will pour into our gas tanks to eliminate water in the gas).  This pure-burning alcohol is capable of super-heating the container to allow Paul to convert snow into boiling water in less than 10 minutes for the dogs' meals. A small piece of fiberglass insulation serves as the wick at the bottom, and as he passes through the checkpoints, Paul will pick up additional bottles of Heet to fuel his cooker during the race.  The demonstration tonight is to test out any final design considerations, and to make sure this is ready to go.

Earlier today, Paul went through the same exercise with the testing of his new dog sled.  He plans to use this modified "sit down" sled from the starting line on Sunday, so today's run with it on the trails was to give it a regular crash dummy test before he loads it up.  He just completed this sled, which is made of bamboo with aluminum runners. The run today simulated what he expects to put the sled through, including a heavy load of dog food and a bale of straw - which is what he would carry out of a checkpoint if he elects to camp along the trail. He reported that it handled great, and he was very pleased with his new design.  There are not a lot of mushers that build their sleds anymore, so Paul puts a little extra pride into his work when he crafts his own.

This sled will be one of three that he will use throughout the race.  He will ship two more sleds out to strategic checkpoints along the trail, each geared towards the trail conditions he is expecting.  Iditarod rules allow the mushers to use up to three different sleds from the time they leave the official start.  Paul designs the sleds to sequentially be lighter as he gets closer to the finish line, as the bulk of the rough terrain and big obstacles are along the first half of the race. That is not to say that the balance of the trail is not without dangers that would eagerly gobble a sled up, I recall one year when DeeDee Jonrowe's sled was splintered along the Bering Sea Coastline near Elim by some driftwood.  It is sometimes down to bad luck.  Not unlike last year when Paul's sled broke on the run through the Blueberry Hills between Unalakleet and Shaktoolik.  Paul had left Unalakleet in first place - leading the entire Iditarod field at that point, when the damage to his sled forced him to stop for repairs - a crucial juncture in the race that gave Lance Mackey his lead. You can bet this has Paul double-checking his sleds this year.   (see picture below)

Paul is also looking at the gear he will wear.  We are very fortunate to work with Mickey's Custom Sewing for the various projects that Paul envisions.  She has been busy with custom elements on the sled bags as well as on Paul's parka.  Recently, at our send off event hosted by The Crossing in Soldotna, Alaska, Paul demonstrated the functionality of his modified sleeping bag.  It has arms and legs designed into it, that allow him to move with it on. His parka has a thick new ruff around the hood, with some added straps to help squeeze out the cold. (Recall that Paul suffered frostbite on his neck last year when a bead of cold worked its way in along his collar.) Paul also took the preventative approach in his own health, getting a flu shot earlier this month in addition to some very positive lifestyle changes this season.  

We plan to head north to Anchorage on Wednesday, and for the first time ever, I won't be driving the dogs up Thursday morning like I have in the past.  Tyler will be bringing the dogs up on Friday, the day after the long pre-race banquet, so that the dogs have one more night at home in their houses. Paul and I will have everything set up for their arrival at the scenic hillside home of our friend Ken Stegman, who plays host to us on an annual basis this time of year. Paul and I will be shipping out some sleds and taking care of other details, including Paul drawing his starting position at the musher banquet.  I believe they do some coverage of this event on the Iditarod Insider program.  If you haven't subscribed, you should consider checking it out.  They have some neat features.  http://www.iditarod.com/

I don't know if I will be able to get another update off before the race gets underway.  I will be posting the updates on our website, so you may want to check under the mushing updates tab if you don't hear from me. I will be back late Sunday night after the re-start and will have regular updates off throughout the race.  Until then, I will leave you with a reference to a story that appeared today in the Anchorage Daily News about Paul, Govenor and our kennel.
  http://www.adn.com/iditarod/2008/story/326491.html

Until later - Life is a journey, enjoy the ride! Evy