Just off the radio from KYUK- Will Peterson gives us the story. Pete is in good spirits and has had time to run the emotional gambit. Just proud of how this Musher makes his way through his career. It is inspiring to watch!
As I was listening to the report it brought to mind the year I was running the officials on the trail. That year we went up to Aniak and back and there wasn’t much sleep to go around. We were leap frogging in front of the mushers as they came down the river. We got to Akiak in front of Myron, who was really moving down the river pretty fast. It was a record pace. In any case, we finally got into Kwethluk awaiting him. We had the Kwethluk Checker with us in the truck. After what seemed like a very short time, rolled down the window and asked a group of guys if they had seen the musher yet. “Yeah,” they said. “He passed by about 10 minutes ago” We had dozed off and not even knew it!!
Bottom line is that sleep deprivation is a wild thing and you never know what is going to happen!!
Apparently, as you will hear, Pete was digging in his sled bag and completely missed the turnoff marker. Listen to the story. (Almost can hear Will get choked up telling it- What a great reporter!) The report is that the team actually looked great coming into the Kalskag Checkpoint.
[audio:http://kaiserracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/petekalskag2.mp3|titles=Pete’s Wrong Turn by KYUK]
You are making up great time! Way to go Pete! We all can’t wait to see you in Bethel!