The quality isn’t great, but the content is worth watching. The “Chess Game” continues as Pete says…
Ken Anderson and Michelle Phillips have a different strategy than those ahead of them. They passed through Kaltag with just a short stop. Another twist to what will be an exciting night of dog mushing! It’s going to be a cold one too!
Set your clocks forward at 2am!
It’s about time we met the team! Thanks for all of your kind support! Click a Photo to Enlarge. Go Team Kaiser!
From KNOM Master Reporter Laureli Kinneen’s facebook:
Mushers might be getting a good, long smell of king salmon strips when interviewed. My bag leaked in my parky pocket and now my mic is covered in oil. 🙂 I offered some strips to Pete after realizing he’d probably been smelling ’em, but he said he’s been eating them on the way. So good ah? And by the way – it’s the coolest thing seeing some of John’s sealed food bags – beluga and black muktuk (cut real tiny), black meat & greens. It makes me want to go through his bags after he leaves a checkpoint. 🙂
You Go Girl!! Native way is the only way! Awesome!! I know I live on them! -JW
Iditarod.com was reporting Kelley Griffin into Kaltag. She is just into Nulato. Standings are now corrected and show Pete and the Team officially into Kaltag at 19:50:00 with 13 dogs. His trail time was 4h 20m. He arrived just a minute after Redington. The two mushers both bested Dallas Seavey’s trail time from Nulato to Kaltag.
APRN is reporting that trailbreakers say the way from Kaltag to UNK is good. Fresh snow over sold pack, overflow freezes right up. Zirkle expected between 3-5 am.
Pete and the Team are now within about 4 to 5 hours of advancing positions.
Pete and the Team have reached Kaltag. The three teams that we have been following arrived into the checkpoint about 8 pm. Redington led them into the village.
Times for the group are outstanding and should be pretty close to the fastest time so far posted by Dallas Seavey.
Expect a break here before heading out over the portage. The portage is a tough section of trail and teams will want to be rested before they head up into the hills.
Pete and the Team are now in familiar ground after a successful run, not a month ago, in the Paul Johnson Memorial 450 race.
Weather tonight in the area:
KALTAG.TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 17 TO 24 BELOW. NORTH WINDS TO 10 MPH.
UNALAKLEET .TONIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 12 TO 20 BELOW. WEST WINDS 5 TO 15 MPH.
Dee and Friend
Alot of folks don’t know that Dee Dee Jonrowe started her mushing out here in Bethel. As I watched her mush down the Yukon, chased by a much younger crowd, I thought back to those early days of the Kuskokwim 300 when Dee Dee was part of the Bethel mushing scene.
I called over to Beverly Hoffman to get a few details. Bev, Myron, Dee Dee, and a few others all caught the mushing bug around the same time. Relying on local mushing greats like Peter Jacobs, Mike Chase, and others, they got their start by pulling together whatever manner of dog they could to begin to build teams. “Some of them were Pound Puppies,” Bev related.
In any case, as time has moved forward, Bev and Myron have turned the sleds over to a younger crowd and I can only sit here in awe of Dee Dee still going strong and giving these young guys a run for their money. Pete, Jake, and Ray weren’t even a gleam in their mother’s eye when Dee Dee got going.
Good Luck Lady! We know you got your start out here!
Thanks Girls!
Check out the Kaiser Super Dogs in Mushing Magazine!
