Greetings Race Fans!
Well, it seems the crew made it through Canada! They arrived back in the states late Thursday evening and got into Jackson with about 3 hours to spare before the “better be there” musher meeting on Friday. It seems that they saw quite a lot of snow on the way down, but all around not a bad ride.
The Stage Stop Race (IPSSSDR) began at 6 pm on Friday with just a short 3 mile run through town, ending at Snow King resort. Jeff ran a ‘big’ team of 8 dogs, while most mushers ran teams of 5 or 6 dogs. People were lining the streets and the town was all lit up to welcome all the mushers. I’m pretty sure that Jeff managed to get some video on his helmet cam of the start ~ we’ll try and get things loaded onto YouTube, but that most likely will be after his return home. We’ll keep you posted!
Friday night the town hosted a musher reception/party. Jeff said that Jason & Dave needed a bit of chaperoning to get out of the place without being arrested… hmmm? I didn’t ask for more information, but instead decided to leave it at that! Snow King Resort hosted a Torch Light Parade with a magnificent fireworks display. The sky was crystal clear, the mountains were lit up and a 5-piece Jazz band was playing! In the words of the man himself “What a hoot!”.
Today was a drive day, all the teams made their way to Lander, WY, where tomorrow the race starts in earnest. Jeff & Dave stopped off to purchase a couple of pairs of winter tennis shoes, as it seems those are a bit easier to run in… and it sounds like they may have to do some running to keep up with Wendy Davis – a hard core woman who loves running the Stage Stop and loves running in her home state of WY. I guess Jeff & Dave will have to “Shake n’ Bake” a little harder to keep up with her!
As for the race itself, Jeff says that it is unbelievably organized and that Frank Teasley and his crew have done a great job getting so many people and communities involved with the race. Our hat’s off to you Frank!
It should be interesting to see how the first stage goes off for the crew tomorrow ~ but one thing we do know for sure is that they are having one heckuva great time down there!
We’ll keep ya posted!
Husky Homestead mushing in Wyoming! You aren’t going to believe this, but I checked on getting my class there in conjunction with our pen pals from Douglas, Wyoming. Wendy Gamble is their teacher. Jeff will remember her from a prior visit to Sidney. Unfortunately, there is just not enough time to get all of our i’s dotted and our t’s crossed. You know how it goes when you want to take fourth graders overnight over 500 miles from home. My principal is out of town Monday and Tuesday. We were planning on going Wednesday & Thursday. We were going to meet in Rawlins and head on to Kemmerer together. First her school said no and then mine did! Darn it, we tried. Anyhoo!Good Luck! We will watch the website for updates!
P.S. Wendy could be heading that way, she was checking into leave time. I have to save mine, we are hoping to be in Omaha for State Wrestling.